East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1917-12-25
Naval Activities Not Made
Known Because News
Would Help the Enemy.
ENGLISH SECRET
SERVICE is BEST
Solidarity of Briton Shown
BY Upholding Lloyd
George.
orc ED /. KEEN.J

European Manager, United Press.)
LONDON, Dec. 25.--The close of
the year 1917 finds the people OF
Great Britain grumbling as usual but
determined as usual.
Despite the war-weariness which
necessa rily has affected all the bel
ligerents, there is no more serious
talk in England today of stopping
short OF a decisive finish than there
was In 1914. The paciflsts may be
bit nosier, but they are no more
numerous nor consequential than
they ever were.
But other folks are nosier too. The
chief symptom OF war-weariness in
England is the steadingly increasing
number of yociferous amateur strate-
glsts. Most OF them are fault-find-
erS.
One very considerable source of
popular complaint Is the mystery
which surrounds the anti-submarine
campaign. Britishers generally would
have n greater appreciation of their
ravy's work If they knew about it.
Now, there are two main reasons
for the retlcence Of the British ad-
miralty One is tradition, and the
other is Germany. The working Brit
OF British modesty. 1t has been SO
since the days of Nelson. 1t isn't
good form In the navy TO talk about
your work. II might be construed
as boasting. and II there is anything
the Englishman abhors 1t is this.
The British navy is doing a lot of
things these days that would be read
with utmost interest and profit by
both the British and the allied pub
Iic-bnt with far greater interest and
profit by Germany. This Is why sue
cessive new first lords of the admir-
atty have speedily been persuaded
that their previously conceived no
tions regarding the desirability Of
publicity were all wrong.
II is difficult for the public to un-
derstand why, for instance, weekly
detailed figures Of tonnage losses as
well as the number of submarines
sunk should not he published. You
say the Germans must know these
things themselves. But they don't!
The British secret service Is the fin
est OF its kind in the world today
yes, better than the kaiser's ever was
even in the days Of Bernstorff-and
il knows the Germans don't know.
Therefore it is policy to keep them
guessing.
The British admiralty is convinced
that II would be folly to give the
German admiralty opportunity to
check up on the data furnished by
its submarine commanders some of
whom are known to be a trifle over
enthusiastic about their own exploits
Likewise it Is most useful to conceal
from Germany the fate of its subma-
rines Some are sunk, some are
mined, some surrender. and some
are captured. The Germans know
how many they have LOST but they
don't know HOW they were lost. This
element of uncertainty Is II big asset
to England. It is one reason why
some German sailors recently have
preferred to 20 to prison. than en-
bark on submarines.
The nearest approach to definite
figures vouchsafed by the admiralty
was when Sir Eric Geddes told com
mons that between 40 and so per
cent of all German submarines com
missloned for work in the northern
seas since the beginning of the war
had been put out of business.
In the past year the art of locat-
ing and destroying submarines has
developed amazingly, and in both
tneSe DFlnCntS VI Nblh tilt III lAlsSii
navy has been greatly assisted by
American scientists as well as the
American navy. But, as Geddes re-
Gently admitted to commons although
the weekly toll of submarine victims
has been steadily diminishing, the
mena 0e-the one great problem of
the warts not yet conquered.
Thanks to the tireless vigilance of
the British navy's patrol work in the
past year, the German fleet has stay
ed off the North Sea There are no
more of those sporadic raidings OF
the English coast which so annoyed
the British people in the earlier days
of the war. There was just one re-
grettable slip. when two high-pow-
cred. speedy German cruisers under
cover of a fog, threaded their way
out of their HellGoland minefields.
sank n convoy of Scandinavian mer-
chantmen and their cscortinE British
destroyers and got safely back to
their base.
1t was not practicable for Britain
to combat the German naval opera
tions in the Baltic against the Rus
sian fleet. Granted the British fleet
could have forced the perilous way