The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-08-03
BRITISH DEMAND
 END OF SECRECY ON SHIP LOSSES
Lord Northcliffe's aper ASSail Attitude of
 Government.

London, Aug. S-DeSp1te the per- sistent demand of the press and Par | liament, the government still adheres l to 8 policy of secrecy regarding the l destruction of mercantile tonnage.
 The campaign begun several months ago and allowed to drop is now being | renewed with increased vigor, as the | reports from America indicate that l there is considerable apprehension l there. I understand that American naval officers support the British Ad- miralty's decision against the publi- cation of tonnage figures and that they consider the good done by public announcement would be more than offset by the injury to the Allied naval activities. The government has taken strong stand, and will not withdraw, though it fully appreciates the widespread demand for fuller fig ures.
 Lord Northcliffe's Daily Mail" which leads the press campaign, un- der the caption, "Concealment Hides | & Bankrupt System" returns to the attack with an editorial, which, says the question for the Admiralty, the War Cabinet and the nation IS whether the defensive system is to continue until it produces complete | yet time, it is to be changed.
 Until we have officers who are masters of history-which is also the I EcieHce of strategy-and who can ! plan proper offensive in charge of | our staff and operations division," it 1 says, i've have not exhausted every | resource There are such men in fur
 navy on the captains and command
 CTS lists. Petain, who now com
 mands the French army, and Luden- dorff, who directs the German strat-
 egy, are both men of that kind.'
 The latest Admiralty reports show i little improvement in the situation.
 The naval correspondent of The | Times points out that the curious
 features of the last returns is the de-
 crease in the number of ships escap-. l ing after attack, He writes:
 '"The highest monthly averages are
 those for June and April, when 21
 escaped In May the figures came down to 20, and until the present
 month, when the average was only 1 3, ithe lowest had been IA for March. | What exclamation there may be for
 these fluctuations is not obvious. Ap- Iparently 1t had nothing to do with the
 number of oShips passing through the
 danger zone flor there has been no
 great difference in the total for some , time nor does the increase in the
 number of ships carrying guns seem
 to have any connection.
 "Sir Joseph Maclay states that 60
 per cent. of our merchant vessels and all long-distance vessels are now | armed and it might have been sup
 posed that. this would have led to more ships escaping. On the point
 1t is interesting to note the Merchants |Association of New York had appeal ed to President Wilson to arm mer- chant ships with guns of type as to i calibre and range at least equal to , I those carried by submarines. = 'Bonar Law last night again refused to issue statistics of the tonnage losses, yet it is quite clear that a policy of frankness in regard to this |, matter would satisfy the wishes of the country. At present the most ab- , surd staemens on his poin gain cre- dence and will continue to do so until authoritative figures are given. A Fl German paper is widely quoted as as- serting that enemy submarines sank . 5,00O,0OO tons in the last six months It has been shown here that a gener- ous estimate puts British losses al , about 100000 tons and. taking Run ci1nan's figures, about 1.250,0OO tons might be added for the losses of the other Allies and the neutrals. The Germans have, therefore, exaggerated to the extent of nearly 100000 tons 'sLord Beresford was almost cer-
 tain1y wrong when he said, as it was
 reported, that since January we had
 lost 100000 tons. Even if all the
 shipping were included this would be
 overestimated, but if the government . will not give the correct figures there is an excuse for mistakes"
 "HThe truth is bad enough in al a conscience,' says the Manchestel = Guardian While one explanation o1 s the small total of attacks might be 2 S reduction in time for the number o1 tt German submarines on service, ths = high proportion of successful to un e successful attacks suggests as another ,. possible explanations: First, the in r creased difficulty in finding favorable
 opportunities for attack and second l, a great reluctance to attack unless tht = Opportunity is clearly favorable"