Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1918-11-07


aged airpianes behind the British lines
part is impending. We know. 1t and
OF Its extent. We face it with that
knowledge. and with the steadfast
courage of our seamen 1t will be met.
Praise for Aircraft.
What your ships of all classes are
doing on and under the surface your
aircraft in no less degree are accom-
phshing in their own element, and,
among all the instruments Of war
which are combining to make the life
OF the undersea pirates t1ntolerable.
there is none which causes them great
er anxiety and discontinue than the
constantly vigilant aircraft.
So far have given very brief out.
line of what your various units are en-
gagged upon. but in order to gauge the
fruits of. their labors just bear this
one fact in mind: During the last three
months seven American soldiers and
their equipment have arrived in Eu.
rope every minute Of the day and
night, and their maintenance on top of
that! That is the formidable fact
Which the enemy has to face, and that
is the result of the exercise Of sea
power by the alliance, to which the
American naval forces are so ably
contributing.
1t is q great tribute to American
shipbuilding and to your enterprise
that you are now able to carry more
than half of these troops in your own
vessels, built in your own country, and
manned by your own men. Thanks
to the mercantile marine of the al
lies, with their skill, unfinching cour-
age and pertinacity (which we cannot
adequately extol, we have been able
to maintain those sea communications
without which our man power, our
munitions and our food supplies would
have been disintegrated and para.
lyzed. III
The record Of the seaborne traffic of
the alliance is the clearest proof of
I; the value of sea power about which
your great naval historian. Rear Ad-
miral Mahan, wrote so emphatically
and prophetically, but this result has
only been attained by the splendid her.
oism and endurance Of the seafaring
men, whether of the fighting forces or
of the mercantile marine.
To have had the opportunity Of Wis
itine your country in the great war is
the very greatest honor and pleasure
to Vice Admiral Duff and myself, as
representing the British board of ad-
miralty, and it is an added pleasure to
us that we have come at time when
the allied forces are winning all along
the line, and when we are reaping the
fruits of the sound naval strategy and
the overwhelming sea power of the al
lied nations.
cannot close this very brief ap
probation of the magnificent worl
which is being undertaken by the
United States naval forces operating
in European waters without express
ing on behalf Of the board Of admiralty
and the. royal navy our affection, II
many cases personal, and our admira
ton for your officers and men who
side by side with us and the other al
lies, are keeping open the sea com
munications of the alliance; are re
ducing the enemy's fleets to impotence
and have driven his commerce from
the seas.
v. s. Navy Plays Big Part.
None of the navies do much talking
but among themselves they talk tn,
same language. They share the sam,
dangers, they undertake indiscrim
inately the same responsibilities, nc
cording to the whole power behind tn,
controlling chief Of staff in each coun
try. Since the beginning of the wa
the British navy has escorted over
seas to and from all theaters of wa
some. 100000 men belonging to tn
armies of the British empire, and tn
loss has been one-thousandth part of (,
man per hundred carried from al
causes-marine risks or enemy actor
and it Is our purpose and our prid
to maintain and reduce that percent
age in the great flow of young man
hood across the Atlantic.
/ venture the opinion that when tn
history of this war Is written ther
will be no more glorious page In tina
;. history than the one which tells muc
: that today cannot be told of the wor
{ done, the dangers faced, and the pr
vations endured by your navy, in con
, mon with the navies Of your co-be
ligerents. and there will be no great
3 er manifestation of the overwhelmin
= importance of sea power in figh
I such as this has been. In that man
' festation the great American nav
the third largest in the world-ha
d played highly honorable, an increa'
' ingly important, part, and 1t has bee
! to- myself and Admiral Duff a grea
E honor to confer in person with tn
great chief3 Of your navy department