The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-06-14
FOUNDED ON SAND

There are two differences as to Germany g
merchant shipping off the Atlantic coast tha. at
once suggest iheln,e elves to an observer Of Ger
many's naval campaigns, since she has beer
forced to use the underseaboat her only nava
weapon, according to an editorial in the Aeiav
and Navy ;cafnal Tie one IS that the csnl
paign against the allied shipping and transports
nas failed IN the var zone in Europe; and tie
stt..tl That tic German pei.cl al staff mas at
tempted, once again, to brighten the people Of
the Anglo-Saxon race through what all nations
other than those under Teutonic influences re-
gard as acts of piracy.
Behind this lies the broader principle that
Germany is trying to make the land control the
sea, military theory proved untenable since
nan first began to go to sea with the intention
Of fighting on it.. And in spite of what inroads
she has made on the merchant ships of the
world and what she may do sporadically in the
future, it remains that Germany has been beat,
en- on the sea since August 1914 since the day
when she ordered every one of her own merchant
ships to intern wherever they were, whether in
neutral or enemy harbors
The battle off the Falkland Islands settled the
fate of Germanys one squadron at sea. Jutland
gave the quietus to any ideas held by the Ger
man navy that it would find the British navy
mapping or unwilling to engage in battle. Hel
submarine weapon is being beaten by the navies
of Britain, France Italy, Japan and the United
States, just as her fleet is contained by them
and her commerce is swept off the seas. The
Emperor William resembles Napoleon in only
two respects. He does not really understand
sea power and he evidently believes that he can
defy it. External and internal conditions as to
the economic state of the Central Powers show
plainly that this faith is founded on sand.
Just what sea power has done to Germany in
the economic sense may be estimated by our for
eign trade statistics in 1918. We bought SILL
100000 worth of goods from her and she bought
goods from to the value of 1881, 900, 600
And that annual trade was wiped out of exis-
tence through the influence of sea power alone
the withdrawal of the German and Austrian
mercantile fleets going into effect before sim
gle shot was fired from a warship at sea.
essential to her economic life. In spite of her
great efforts to become Colonial Power and to
make her colonies 'in the sun" supply her with
raw materials she must have, she has failed
miserably IN that ambition.
Her navy was created to aid in this develop
ment and yet now her navy is contained, her
colonies are taken from her, her merchant ships
no longer furrow the Seven Seas,-those ships
that once supported one-fifth of her population.
And so long as the German navy is only re-
presented at sea by few piratical craft manned
by pirates, while the allied navies contain her
1leets and her merchantmen, just so long is she
powerless to win the war on land. The land has
never won over the sea yet. The influence of
sea power was never more strongly illustrated
than by the example we have before in the
case of the Central Powers today.