The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1918-11-20
TODAY
IN THE NEWS
= Be Prepared
Germany's Navy
Our Hero

lIf HhltN' nav 1l 'hilliHlAN''
49, today that the United States
should 90 right ahead with its
program of naval expansion re-.
gardlcsS AZ this time of possible dc.
cisions of the peace congress re.
garding disarmament, or the for
nation of a league Of nations
Those questions, Mr. Daniels said,
were still to be settled and no one
could fOrcSce the decision and he
insisted that construction should
proceed
Mr. Daniels is close To the presl.
dent, and the president by this
time should know something Of the
consensus of the opinion among
allied governments regarding re.
duction IN naval strength. II is not
improbable that the allies have
very clearly indicated that they
do not propose To any general
stripping of their sea forces, NO
matter what the extent of dlsarm-
amcnt on land. They have already
served notice on Germany that her
notion of using the president S
vague phrase regarding freedom
Of the sea" in his fourteen prin.
ciplcS. to Jockey a death blow at
Great Britain 5 sea power into the
peace terms will not be tolerated
Perpetual peace is a wholly
beautiful goal TO strive for. but II
Is nonsense to count at this stage
Of human development on the end
of war Leagues of peace and
every other means calculated to
achieve that end deserve full en-.
couragement. but Il would be sheer
foOllshncss on our part - abandon
auy sHch program Of preparedness
aS is embodied IN the plans TO
maintain strong naval force. See.
retary Daniels talks of the ucccS-
sliy OF police power to enforce the
DEGREES of n peace league, bu, that
Is simply another way of naming
war. Any nation ready 10 resist
the police power of the league is
ready 10 wage war And the fu
turc may see a coalition of nations
ready for such resistance.
We want no more wars, bat we
do want To br ready for any that
are forced on MS
As surprising as u is gratifying the
complete exposure of the weakness of
the German navy hy Captain prrsius
the Truton naval critic" puts 20 rest
the question ns 10 whether the Hun
leaders have not been planning a final
determined stand hoforc executing the
drastic terms OF the armisticc.
rross Gisl ntchcs from Berlin and
Copenhagen nave hi"trd that the
terms ~ the truce mIght not be- car
iied out without difficulty that the
German sea powers would not surrcn-
der without a struggle. that e great
naval battle war probable. Germany
had gpcnt years building q giant n ''Y;
that was known That she Wouii
throw II against the combined alltd
fleet seemed likely conjecture
The revelations of Captain Pcrsius
shows how futile this fear was. with
the huge bnttleshipa stripped Of THEN
armament In order that the subma-
rines might be built and with thes"
submarines each month decreasing In
number and effectiveness the strength
of the Toutun sca forces Was laugh
able
The effectiveness ~ the dcstroycrs
and chasers built by the allied gov
crnmcnis M indicated I'm the German
captains statement. According 70 his
figures, Sc t-boats were DESTROY ed
while 50 were being built. yet IN June
1918, the number of submarines In
use had decreased to ii3 rs against
1876 In February OF that year. Had
the war been prolonged the submn
Tine would have continued To- lose us
power and become almost ncgligi.
Bile factor In the war
American pride -call II vanity. II
you like to label spades correctly ~
about To be tickled as II never has been
before.
when Woodrow Wilson goes abroad
he will be heaped with honors and
adulation and the wires beneath the
sea and the ether above u viii sing
with the pulsating phrases Of th'
rapturous correspondents telling ms al
about H. The great republic" a'
well AZ It's great president VIII b'
fitted with halos and the great Am
cricdn public will eSpand It's chest ans
admit without reservation that Il ~ al
iair enough Aud II VIII join In ac
claiming the great president. ans
then
II will very Dkrly huN" ON its hand
the unpleasant job ot kicking th
stuffing out of . third term boom.