Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-11-02
Tonnage Of British Merchant
men Destroyed Is Still DAN
gerouSIy High, According to.
Figures.
YOUNGER OFFICERS
STRENGTH TO NAVY
Swift Changes in Wars As
poets Make Forecasts Un-
reIiab|eii Enemy Ignorant of.
Tonnage Sunk,
ray MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED WIRE,

ray MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED nussi
London, Nov. l.--Sir Eric Geddes,
who recently succeeded Sir Edward
| Carson as first lord of the admiralty,
made his first address in parliament
| today and gave interesting and anx-
iously awaited figures on the work of
the navy and shipping in general.
His declaration that between forty
and fifty per cent Of the German
submarines operating in the North
isea, the Atlantic and the Arctic oceans
| had been sunk was not the least in
: teresting Of his announcements, and
! there was an indication of the un-
ccasing war the British and Ameri-
! can patrols are making on the sub
/ marine in his statement that during
! the last quarter the enemy had lost as
many Submarines as during the whole
! of 1916.
| The first lord, speaking of his de-
/ partment, said that. In addition to an
! increase in the personnel, the services
| of younger officers had been requis-
| toned to add strength to the expert
ence of the older officers of the naval
staff.
Enemy Would Profit.
Referring to the question of pub
/ fishing the tonnage of British mer-
chantment lost through submarines,
Inc said ia had made a most careful in
vestigation and mad approached the
subject with the idea that 1t was de-
sira Bile and it ought to be possible to
give the public figures, because, he
added, ''it is hardly conceivable that
the enemy does not know what he is
sinking"
He regretted to say, however, that
he had not found it possible to arrive
at any form of publication which
would not convey most valuable in
formation to the enemy, which he did
not now possess, if information were
given in regular sequence for specific
periods.
II have studied from variety of
sources" said the first lord, the
statements made from time to time
by the enemy as to tonnage and po-
sition and have come to the definite
conclusion that not only does he not
know what is being sunk, but that he
would like very much indeed to know
what is being sunk regularly month
by month, or week by week or even
exactly for a period
Outlook Still Uncertain.
Sir Eric, supplementing the recent
statement by Premier Lloyd George
in Albert hall said that he could give
certain information which would show
that I'VE are making reasonably sat
isfactory progress in overcoming tho
menace of the enemy's activities"
He added that the house would rea-
lie that however great the loss of
mercantile tonnage is--and the fig
ures are still very fOrmidable-we can
not at this stage of the war pick
any one item to deduce therefrom
that the war, even any phase Of tho
war, is going well or badly"
The Kaleidoscope change which
goes on in actual warfare, he added,
Is continually occurring in workshops
and shipyards. To the uniformed OBJ
server it must appear sometimes that
there is no method in the madness OF
those who control these matters.
Country's Confidence Asked.
But" said he, Il would appeal to
the country for confidence. There is
a method in what we do.
THE general situation regarding
submarine warfare can best be de-
termined by the following figures:
"Since the beginning of the war be-
tween forty and fifty per cent of tho
German submarines operating in the
North sea, the Atlantic and the Arc
tic ocean have been sunk. During the
last quarter the enemy has lost as
many submarines as during the whole
of 1916.
"As regards the sinkings of Brit
ish merchant tonnage by submarines,
the German official figures for August
are SOS,0O0 tons of all nationalities
They sank a little more than one
third of that amount of British tom
mage and a little more than half of
all nationalities.
For September their official fig
ures were $4,000 tons They sank faf
less than one third of that amount Of
British tonnage and less than one-half
of that amount OF all nationalities.
Sinkings Grow Fewer.
The Germans claim that our tom
mage is falling so low that there are
not enough ships on the sea to enable
their submarine commanders to
maintain their bag. Let me give you
the facts. In April last, the heaviest
month of British losses by enemy
submarines since the war began. our
trade flowed presumably in satisfac-
tory volume for the enemy submarine.
In September last, his lowest month