The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-02

recorded In other words. it is prob
able that part of the submarine for'-
of Germany that is fighting the great
est naval battle of the world off the
south coast of Ireland was sent to the
French coast to stop the arrival of
urgent necessities from America for
your daily growing army.
Remember that the army that is
principally menaced by the policy of
operating off the coast of France is
the American army The British
army is supplied FROM Great Britain
to an increasing extent as te meat,
material and munitions, across
chan of twenty or thirty miles, AIDE
quately guaranteed. The French and
Belgian armies are at home on their
own soil. The giant supplies for your
boys have to travel nearly 5000 miles,
and across the very track of suhma-
rine ruthlessness. OF danger to actual
transports there is probably little.
Not one Canadian soldier has yet been
lost at sea out of the forty thousand
boys that have gone from Canada to
France. Submarine attacks on fast
ships are rarely successful in these
days of zig Tagging, camOuflage and
big guns, but the worlds shipping is
sinking so fast, and the demands for
tonnage, owing to your need for ira MS
portation are so rapidly increasing,
that supplies have to be put on any
kind of tramp steamer, irrespective of
its speed.
Require 100000 ShipbuiIders.
Admit the comparative success of
the convoy system; admit the bravery
and ingenuity of the British and
American captains of destroyers; adj
nit the worth of some of Mr. Edi-
sons ingenious devices.
There yet remains the serious
statement by the greatest authority on
shipping in Great Britain that the
United States requires 100000 men
to be engaged in shipbuilding: that
you must build three times more than
year, and five or six times what you
have previously accomplished in like
time.
L am well aware that progress is
being made here and in Great Brit
ain but are you getting the six mill
lion ton a year that your controller
of shipping states to be the minimum
necessary to make successful what he
truly described as your greatest mil
itary effort?'
THE problem is almost entirely an
American problem. The stoppage Of
food supplies from this country to
Great Britain would be trying, but not
fatal So far as our shipping is con-
cerned we are not only able to look
after all our own needs, but we are
cheerfully allocating much tonnage to
France and Italy. We are glad to do
so by reason of our admiration for
their work.
Now Aims at L. ).
1T is vital that hand in hand with
the equipment of the splendid young
men now flocking into your canton
ments, must rise an army of American
shipbuilders. The men who build the
ships in Great Britain regard them
selves, and rightly, as performing
equal service with the men who face
death in the trenches. 1 believe that
the time will come when the workers
in the shipyards and factories-the
men in the mines and mercantile sail
ors-will also get the crosses, medals
and ribbons that are now given to the
soldiers and naval men.
Whenever you set eyes on one of
your fine soldiers, send this thought
coursing thru your brain: All his sac
rifice will be in vain if you cannot
give him the food, the arms and the
housing he will require in France,
every ounce of which has to be trans
ported across the submarine zone.
Let me urge and urge you again
that the increased sinkings of the
French ships are significant; that
what is, aimed at by the Germans Isl
the ruin of your effort to supply your
own men with everything that they
need in France