The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-04-15

craft that would float in water or ali
at the earliest possible moment. In
stead OF turning at once to the build
ing Of ships, skill and money were
lavtshed upon the building Of plants
Some OF these have already cost mil
lions Of dollars without producing a
single ship; from all accounts, with
out producing enough battle planes
to make q showing on the French
front The United States, one Of
these days, is going to have some
| magnificent Bhipbuuding plants, but
these cannot be used to carry meE
or supplies across the Atlantic. They
are not what the allies Of the natior
are looking for, not what the gen.
| eral Of the United States expedition
airy forces Ia hoping for. The waI
cannot be fought with shipyards.
The answer to this is that ,wher
the plants are all completed and In
action they viii produce ships. The
shipping board was created by act
Of congress on September Z, 1915,
seven months before war with Ger
many was declared existent, now al
most a year and seven months ago
| for the purpose OF restoring the
merchant marine. The suLI OF $780,
100000 was placed at its disposal as
first installment. The appropria-
ton has since been raised TO nearly
81, 900, 100000 The product Of this
board and Of its subsidiary, the
Emergency Fleet corporation, to this
day, so far as actual floating ton
mage is concerned, is nil. Great
things are always going to be, but
are never done. In a general sense
al -
plane construction.
II has been repeated, frequently
and tiresomely, that il the nation is
only patient IL viii have great fleets
OF merchant ships and aeroplanes,
one Of these days. Ordinarily, the
nation would be willing to be patient,
No doubt, ships and aeroplanes can
and will be turned out by the thou
sand, in time. But to be Of use in
this war they are wanted now.
They will be OF comparatively little
value when the war Is over. II they
should be available in swarms after
an unsatisfactory peace had been
arranged, they would constitute
merely a sad commentary on the eff
ficiency OF a nation that had failed,
not only to make the world safe for
democracy, but to make democracy
safe for itself.
The Kansas city Star: In the
Franco Prussiau war the German
government Communicated British
vessels at Rouen to sink in
the Seine in order to block the river
against French gunboats. These yes
sells were seized under the rule of
international law giving belligerent
the right to seize a common carrier
on payment for the carrier and its
cargo. A similar instance was the
seizure Of Swiss railroad coaches for
military use in Alsace. in the same
war.
In the seizure OF the Dutch ship
ping this government is following the
same rule Of international law that
Germany recognized. But IL does not
depend on a merely technical justifi-
cation. As has been pointed out. the
worlds need for shipping caused by
Germany's violation Of all the rules
of international law, and the future
Of Holland itself which can be as
sured only by the allied victory,
constitute the moral ground for
President Wilson's action.
The. Minneapolis Tribune: 1t is
high time for the ranx-and- file mem
bers OF the Nonpartisan league in
Minnesota TO wake up to the kind Of
company they are keeping. Farm
ers who belong to this organization
may have their proper grievances.
but Il is becoming more and more
apparent that relief will not come to
them through a leadership that is
tainted Enthusiastically through and
through with disloyalty. If they are
victims OF evil systems OF any sort
they would better trust the safe
guarding OF their interests to usual
sources Of remedy than TO run after
captains whose designs are question
able.
Into this league are gathered and
gladly welcomed by its organizers
every kind of pro=German rural ele-
ment. The real objective Of the
leagues appeal TO labor r. to those
classes OF workers that espouse the
policy OF sabotage or pin their faith
to the doctrines Of the Socialist party
Ia political organization that has
officially denounced Americas war
cause as villainous and undeservinR
Of free mems support; an organiza-
ton that nominated and promoted
for United States senator in a neigh
boring state a man indicted on a
charge az violating the espionage
act; an organization that has nom
mated for governor in this state a.
man convicted of interfering with
the draft act
We never have believed that the
general membership Of the Nonparti-
san league Is dialoyaI at heart, but
we are quite sure THAI an the Mem-
bara are permitting thenaselVea ~