New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-08-01
DEMANDS truth IN
U-B0AT WARFARE
Daily Mail Believes British Are
Kept in Dark

London, Aug. 1.-The Daily Mail
editorially makes strong demand for
the publication Of tonnage sunk by
German submarines. 1t says in part:
eff the country is to understand
the real position it must know two
things-it must know the merchant
tonnage which we possess today, and
it must know how much tonnage we
are losing. The Germans assert that
they are sinking 100000 tons Of
British, allied and neutral shipping a
month, and that in the five months
from February 1 to June 80 they
daily long lists of ships on which
their calculation is based.
Suppose we were to lose at a
much smaller rate than this-at the
rate of 100000 tons a year, or even
out disaster? The answer is given
that we are building ships to replace
the lost tonnage. Obviously the result
depends on the difference between the
figures of loss and replacement. Did
we build 100000 tons of new ships
last year?
THE GLASGOW Herald returned new
ships built in the United Kingdom as
582, 900 tons, and in the whole
world as 1,955,000 tons. Have we &C
CELEBRATED since then, and to what ex-
tent? Lloyd George stated in Paris
that the program, the execution OF
which had been begun, would result
in the building next year Of some
100000 tons of shipping instead of
100000 which the British shipyards
built in a very favorable year in time
of peace.
I'VE have then on one side the GER
tainty that ships are being sung at a
rate which the public does not know;
on the other side we have a program
but as yet only a program-which
promises some 340,0 tons a month.
Is it certain that this program can
be punctually carried out? Have we
provided the material and labor to
carry out our program? Apart from
material, is there sufficient labor in
sight to carry it out? Has any deci-
sion been reached between the con-
fictng claims of auxiliary ship
building and repairs, warship con-
struction and munition making? Has
it been decided which is the most i'm
portant need, and to which the prior
right to labor and material should be
authorized? No one except the war
cabinet can decide this. Has the war
cabinet considered the matter? If
not, when will the shipbuilding and
airplane programs get themselves
carried out?
Ministers Can't Be Trusted.
'"The country has learned too much
in this war to be blindly willing to
trust it's fate in the hands of minis
tiers and officials. The enemy is sink
Of al
every ship af1oat is an asset to Great
Britain. The admiralty figures deal
only with the number Of ships actual
| ly sunk. Many ships every week are
not sunk, but are damaged more or
| less seriusly, the result being that
they are for longer or a shorter
period useless. The admiralty figures
never mention these, but they are an
important factor.
There is a very strong feeling
among those who know the facts that
the optimism expressed by high au-
| thorities is misplaced. At this mo-
| ment, and for months to come. the
i power of Great Britain is the chief
| obstacle which prevents Germany
| from enjoying her position in COM
| fort. Will not the enemy do every
| thing possible, and continue to do
everything possible, to remove. that
| obstacle? Will any set of figures
carefully framed to hide the truth
| deter him from his efforts to destroy
our very means of life, our merchant
shipping?
THE admiralty figures will not de-
| ceive the Germans, but they are de-
ceiving the people of this country, as
well as the people Of the country on
which we rely, next to ourselves, to
| preserve the freedom of the world
| America. Lloyd George has said that
frankness is the beginning OF wise ac-
| ton Let the admiralty begin by
publishing the facts about our lost
| tonnage"