Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-12
CAPE MAY LAUGHS
AT U-BOAT ALARM
Hotel Men and Others Prepare
to Take Care Of Throngs
of Guests

Cane May, y. j.. June 12.-Hotelkeep-
ers and cottage ~lessecs are more con-
cerncd over pa~perhangers and painters
than German submarines at this summer
rest. Fourteen miles of shoals are suffi-
cient to keep off the most intrepid Teu-
ton raider, business men say but how Is
any one going to get skilled help when
the cities are competing for labor. with
the consequent high wages as a lure?
This is the condition facing the re-
sort on the eve of the most successful
season II has ever seen. From all parts
of the country men and women. parents
of the sailor boys at Wissahickon Bar
racks. are flocking into the hotels or
renting cottages for the season. AT one
hotel table last night a woman from
San Francisco sat next to a woman
from Detroit. and nearby were others
from Denver. Seattle, Houston and In
~dianapolis, all mothers who have sons
doing scout patrol duty for the section
base of the Fourth Naval District. the
hotel registers show a variety of home
towns. and real estate agents have been
busy all winter in finding accommodate
tons for visitors of this type as well as
for the ordinary type of folk who prefer
Cape May to other seashore resorts Tor
it's fine beach, speedways and golf club.
No Rule of Martial Law
The reports of the submarine actiNi-
ties along the Atlantic coast naturally
caused considerable excitement here. as
they did everywhere else. And when
an excited correspondent wired 10 his
Philadelphia paper that the town hau
been put virtually under martial law,
the anger of the citizens rose to a
high temperature. But, as the Pupilc
Ledger pointed out early last week, the
" 1t r---Es -. l-l SO .aaiE - fnnt :
that it grew out of a friendly scuttie
between n policeman and a sailor sentry
on the Boardwalk, and that the matter
was understood to be a joke among the
townspeople.
And the published statements by one
newspaper that persons were forbidden
from going in or out of town led to a
sheaf of kilograms from all over the
United States from parents wanting to
know whether they could get nto Cape
May or out again when they wanted to.
To all these inquiries Luther c. Ogden.
president of the Cape May Board of
Trade. and Gilbert c. Hughes. a MEM
Der of the publicity committee, made the
same reply:
There is no martial law in cape May.
There never has been and there is no
possibility shat there will be. Come,
and we'll be glad to see you
Beginning on Wednesday people did
come. too. They poured into the resort
and up to last night the hotels reported
the best business they have ever seen
for the first week in Tune.
why Get Excited"
There is not the least occasion for
getting excited" Mr.. Ogden said. I'm
the first place, no one is going to waste
good powder in bombarding a coas,
town along the Atlantic, and in the Sec
ond place. but more important, nc
U-boat could get within firing distance
of the shore. Many miles of shoals be.
tween here and Cape Henlopen would
prevent any one getting to shore with
a craft larger han n launch. The chan.
mel would box a submarine so effectively
that it would neal sure death to the
enemy"