New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-08-11

To-day ships are being built faster
than they are being sunk and subma-
rines are being. sunk faster than the
Germans can build them. According to
no less an authority than Sir Eric
Geddes, First Lord of the British ADM
ralty. there has been net gain OF
10000 tons a month in shipping during
the last three months.
Secretary of the Navy Daniels sum-
marizes existing conditions as follows:
The submarine has ceased to be a de-
termining factor in the war. 1t is men
ace, and will remain menace so long as
even one ship is sunk but it no longer Is
a factor which have determining
effect on the final issue"
And even Admiral Won Hotzendorff
chief of the German Admiralty Staff,
is forced to agree with these two Allied
leaders that as far as the sinking OF
transports is concerned the U-boat is a
failure.
Regarding the German attitude tow
ard our transport miracle The Phila-
delphia Public Ledger" comments:
perhaps the explanation of the failure
of the German submarines to sink Ameri
can transports which Admiral Won Holtzen-
dortf offers may satisfy the German peo-
pie; if so, they are easily satisfied. The
Admiralty Chief of Staff practically ad-
mits that Captain Persius is right in char
acterizing the U-boat campaign failure
in this respect. Indeed, the facts leave him
no ALTERNATIVES Allied shipping has met
with some heavy losses, of course, and the
sinking of west bound vessels of large ton
mage, if it could be kept up. would materi-
ally reduce our transportation facilities.
What the Germans set out to do, however,
was to prevent troops from reaching
/ France, and this they VIGOROUSLY have not
done. SO the Admiralty has to find rea-
sons The burden of it's argument is that
the transports are not oblging enough to
sail at the same times from the
ports. The Americans have dozens of de
barkation places and all of them cannot
be watched at once. Must put our
boats to Turk off these harbors on the
chance Of getting shot at? the Admiralty
asks pathetically. Not only are the con
voys strongly guarded, but they arrive ir-
regularly, often by night and in fog What
can YOU do with an enemy that plays such
tricks as this ?"
Sir Joseph Maclay, British Controller
of Shipping, calls the movement across
the Atlantic of more than a million
American soldiers a transport mira
cle." According to him, 'the military
problem in the last analysis is a tonnage
problem The war for the Allies is.
first, last and all the time, question of
ships, and yet more ships
Commenting on his views "The New
York Tines Declares:
"The amazing thing is that the achieve
ment was practicable with the seas infest
ed by the enemy's submarines that knew
no law of God man. Had there not been
hostile warship between Sandy Hook and
Lands End the difficulties of the enterprise
would have seemed insurmountable except
to men of heroic mould whose faith never
faltered. Sir Joseph Maclay was one of
them, but he shares the glory Of achieve
ment with associates, American as we'll as
British. They are the supermen of the
transportation business by and land"
In waging war on the U-boat an
American invention has been one of the
most effective weapons, according to
"The Portland Press" where one reads:
"The one weapon which has been used
with the greatest effect upon the subma-
rines has been the INT depth bomb said
to have been American invention. This
bomb when released from the stern of a
fast destroyer either over submarine or
in its immediate vicinity reduces it to
splinters of steel and wood, and the orly
defence the submarine has against it is to
keep beyond the destroyer's reach. AS the
time goes the system Of utilizing these
depth bombs is being improved upon. They
are now dropped according to we'll de-
vised plan and in such way that once
submarine has been sighted by destroyer
there is very little hope of her getting
away"
Our success at both construction and
destruction leads "The Washington
Post" to the conclusion that the sub
marine menace is thing of the past.
1t notes:
"Shipyards have been run at full capac-
itv. the forces of workmen in them have
been augmented and vessels are being
launched with increasing frequency. Thus,
by dealing effectively with both horns of
the dilemma. by reducing the snkings and
increasing the output of ships, a situation
which but a year ago appeared most dis
couraging has been transformed into
bright prospect. The submarine as an en-
CINE of is already out of date"
"The st. Louis Republic" on the
other hand, issues a note of warning
against overconfdence in this connec-
ton:
The most that can be said of the u
hon CO., ha$ 3ho1, hay failAA