The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-02-02
U.BoAT DRIVE
Oh U.s., PROBABLE
Hox, aiDols siYs

"a she succeeding Il she throwing
her best brains and great energies Int
III, II 10 4 worthy contribution 10 oul
great esdss. / hope she Is.
Meanwhile we shall not he idle
Great Britain 10 strsiniug every re.
source 10 launch every ton OF which sh,
10 capable. We are at the present mo.
ment building merchant ships al I
higher rate than ever before In Our rec.
ord before the war and before 1918 |,
over We shall BE building ships Of MI
kinds at a rate more than double Nh,
record year. But q great deal depend,
on American effort and I should rgeat-
ly regret II anything I might say re.
Eardlng the failure OF the German sub.
marine warfare should be construed a,
minimizing The need for ships and YET
Curves stili Satisfy.
Turning to the progress Of the cam
paign against the German submarine
Sir Brie again referred 10 the satisfse-
tory trend Of the curves 10 which he
has referred In several Of his speeches.
All the curves continue to bend in
the right direction" he said. "The de-
'trueilon OF allied shipping decreases
rapidly, the construction OF merchan,
shipping increases steadily and the
sinking Of German submarines steadily
rises. y
There Is still another curve which I
keep. neevr told the public about in
but II gives me personally muSh salts
factior. II Is the curve Representing
what ! call the factor Of exagperatlon'
y the German official statements OF
U.boat results. Let me explain that
curve briefly,
Every month since the unrestricted
submarine war began the Germans
have issued an offiicai statement of
the total amount Of tonnage alleged TO
have been Sunk during that month.
kvery month that statement comes 10
my desk and Is compared with the &C.
tial total AZ shown in our records. n
would only be ~Atrrai 10 expect some
differences, for submarine commanders
would naturally include In their re-
ports a few ships which they torpe-
doed but which we afterward saved.
Adds Good Measure.
But we found there was a greater
difference than could be explained in
any such way. We found from the
very first month that there was a Ger.
tain margin of exaegsfatiot that, Is,
the German admiralty always adds a
lew thousand tons for good measure.
This margin OF exaggeratlon was
fairly small in the early months Of the
unrestricted warfare when things were
going along with a certain degree OF
success for the U.boats II showed no
particular increase through April, May
and June when the sinkinri were high
est But with the lessening OF the Ger.
mans successes OF July, August and
September the margin OF cxaggeration
began TO increase. The German ad-
miralty found itself obliged TO falsify
its returns more and more flasrantly
in rs effort to persuade the German
people that the U-boat war was a Oh.
lihuinR success,
Contest Failure.
so kept a record of continued in.
crease IN percentage which marks tn,
German margin Of e~xagseration. And
this curve | believe is a fairly aceurat,
reflection OF German official mint
and an official confession that the u
boat campaign Is regarded as a failur,
by lis own leaders"
Sir Eric referred to the Germar
claim that the decreased sinkings wer
due to the decrease in the number O
ships sailing.
That is false" he said. Sailing
and arrivals are Just as numerous 70
day as they were a year ago. Their
arc Just as many targets for the sub
marines in their zone Corporations bv
our improved defensive measures leav
thsrn fewer opportunities to make bull
eyes"
The correspondent referred TO Secrc
tary OF War Bakers statement of
few days concerning the German pla
for concentration against, America
transports.
Predicts U. s. Losses.
There Is no doubt said Sir Eric
"that the U-bosts Will bend every efior
to attack American transport and !
you are to bring Across the Atlanii
Ne number Of troops that YOU plar
tbtfe viii be losses and probably heav
onsa, for life saving In mid-Atlantic i
not easy.
Il do not doubt that Mr. Baker hat
good grounds for his statement but W,
have no evidence to support the view
that the Germans II present are with.
drawing their U-bcats In preparation
Tor q concentrated attack against III,
American lines Of communication Al
our evidence tends to show that Their,
are Just AZ many submarines oft nov
% ever and that they are just ambitiou.
end active.
IN efeady decrease Of merehan,
- hteQe Il - not refer 70 the abuor.
- swselks n this month"; Is no