New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-17

affair, and, owing 20 our traditions, we would
not make an alliance with Great Britain IL
i. quite possible that our splendid little meet
will have nothing TO do. The fact is, this Is
quite certain. When il comes TO dread
noughts. England needs no help in the COM
mand Of the seas. Her force OF capital ships
outfoots the Germans two and a half times
Our feet would stay close to its base-Just
where il is now, protected in the daytime by
destroyers and at night behind huge steel
nets, with orders to the patrols TO fire first
and ask questions afterward.
Those who think that the German feet Will
dash madly across the Atlantic and spoil the
scenery of Boston and New York should
have no fear. The British Grand Fleet stands
in the way. 1t has always been our life
preserver. Meanwhile, we can safely tend
to our knitting. and not worry about phan-
tom fleets coming up TO the doorstep.
Don't Duplicate Fears of 1898
And let us hope that we have grown up as
a nation and that we will not repeat the
panic of 1898, when the good people of New
England took to the timber and buried their
money and jewels, scared to death OF the
phantom fleets of Cervera. And this, with
the unfortunate result that at the time, the
Navy Department was compelled to detach
the flying squadron from the main fleet to
calm the citizens Of the sacred cod.
Not that actual German raids might not
occur. The Germans might find hole in
. the British blockade, though it is almost air
tight. They have done it before. and they
Il, ~ &c fhat~ Lotto hat
cruisers. 1t will be the job OF the British to
catch her, for as yet our navy is without any
of that type. Should that speed queen escape
and get across, her large coal supply enables
her to give a grand party on Rockawsy
Beach, touching the high spots of the sky
scrapers Of lower Manhattan and dropping a
salvo or two OF ifteen-inch shells into the
Brooklyn Navy Yard. OF course, the German
has, in doing this, to reckon with our sub
marines.
The affair hinges first on how far Germany
wants to go in a war with us. Her main OBJ
jectve is to crush England. Germany has
few batte-cruisers, and will it be worth the
price to rush valuable unit for such an in
significant, unmiitary performance as shoot
ing holes in the Singer Building and rading
few of our unfortifed harbors? The British
mine fields on the fringes of the North Sea
have first to be dealt with and then the
blockade lines II caught below the screen
which England has thrown out between the
Orkneys and the coast of Norway, she will
meet her end under the guns Of division Of
British battle-crusers.
But then, on the other hand, the Germans
have been lucky, or sklful, in pushing through
fF IL.
the British Grand Fleet German battle-cruis-
crs have 5ombarded the British coast, and
three or four times smaller ships have pene-
trated the blockade, all clever and spectacu-
lar performances, but of no military signf-
canoe in the war at sea. You cannot help
admiring the chaps of the prize crew who
took their captive from Archangel right
through the British Gordon, safely to the
German dock, and you cannot but applaud the
shippers of the Eitel Friedrich, Kronprinz,
and Appam, who broke through the English
and French lines off Hampton Roads. 1t is
fine work. but it gets Germany nowhere, ex-
cept in establishing tradition for the navy
and buckng up and encouraging the unthink-
ing
Yet Raid of Our Coast Towns Is Possible
In spite Of the vigilance Of our patrols. our
r
German raiders are supposed to be at large
in the South Atlantic, and bases are believed
to exist in Venezuela and Brazil. These raids
will be but pin pricks on our national pres
tige a house or two may be wrecked, some
ships sunk-all to be expected. When Ger
man destroyers during a night bombardment
plug a hole in a bedroom in Margate, the
Brton wipes the plaster from his eyes and
goes to a neighbours to finish his sleep. But
then the English have had more than two
years of "strafing" and do not get excited.
After all, England is the Kaiser's main
enemy, with the L. S. A. in the background,
big in size, but puny in the possibilities of
an immediate offensive. Germany's objective
is to starve England. A glance at the map
shows that the nearer the British Isles Ger
man submarines can operate. the longer they
can stay at sea. Hence, future submarine
activity will largely be localized within a
couple of hundred miles Of the European
coast line. And every submarine detached
from the main objective. which is England,
to operate against the United States, weakens