Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-02

"If there was ever a doubt as to the
seriousness of this ambition to invade
our land. that doubt has been removed
by the avowed purpose of the present
wear.
"The recent great drive by the Ger
mans in the west was to split the Eng
fish and French armies, destroy the
French. force them out of the contest
and then crush England. But 1t did
not stop there. German papers told
their people with the approval or the
Prussian war lords, that on completing
the campaign upon which they were en-
gagged they would turn their attention
to the United States of America, and
make us their permanent vassals. first
exact.ng enough to pay all German war
losses and then tribute permanently as
they saw fit.
at was wiser to fight in France, with
the aid of England France and Italy,
than to wait and conduct the struggle
around our own homes and at our own
firesides.
I'VE are engaged in the task of aiding
our allies to save our own country. and
all the world, from the cruelty of Ger
man oppression and tyranny We are
engaged in the task of destroying Prus-
sian militarism.
THE vessel you have launched today
is to help preserve freedom for the
world and independence for our own
people
AT the time we were forced into this
war we had made little preparation for
war. Our people were devoted to peace
Thy had no desire to take that which
belonged to others.
Since the war began our strides Of
preparation, while open to substantial
Improvement, have been indeed great
We began with a navy, officers and
men, of less than 81, 900. We have TODAY
navy of 100000, officers and men. We
had at the beginning of the war 400
naval vessels. We have now r72O and
the Increase is rapidly going on The
navy department has created needed
supplies of guns. powder, proiectiles
torpedoes mines and naval afrplanes
The ordnance department of the navy
mas increased since the outbreak of the
war 1000 per cent. The various bureaus
or the navy were well organized before
war. TEelr machiery was well oiled
ready for additional pressure. and when
the powerful strain of war came il in
ceased speed and responded superbIy
to the demand of our country '
THE naval submarine destrovars no,,s
won additional fame for our bows unon
the water. They are sinking the Ger
man submarines faster than Germany
can make them. and today the best Of
information leads to the conclusion that
the submarine strength of GERMANY g
one-third less than it was when we en-
tered the war. The navy has protected
our transports, carrying our troops
abroad, and I am reminded of the story
published the Fourth of July a year
ago which in some quarters was ridi-
culed as untrue, but which verified IN
It's details from officers of the navy
aboard vessels engaged in combat with
the submarine fleet
Our officers escorting the transports
containing troops had determined on
meeting submarines and being COM
PEELED to change the course of vessels
as torpedoes were fired at them, to turn
towards the submarines and rush them
The first unit of our transports during
the month of June last year did have a
fight with submarine feet.
1T was at night. A submarine fired
torpedo before being discovered Our
foremost convoy turned upon the sub
marine and the torpedo passed doing
no harm. A submarine destroyer sh {
from behind the convoy, taking
course of the submarine. 1t droppeH =
deep water bomb as it went over the
submarine. The bomb exploded, throw
ing a pillar of water high in the air. The
destroyer barely escaped being sub
merged. but as it's officers turned and
gazed upon the effect of tbs deep water
bomb, tlsy saw pieces of the German
submarine and bodies of Germans
thrown far above the water. I was told
by one of our officers engaged in the
tight that we certainly sank two subma-
rines with deep water bombs and they
believed another was rammed by a con-
voy passing over il.
at the beginning of the war our
sta nding army consisted of about 49,
geo men. 1t is now over 1000. 600 men.
ON April / we had less than 100000 men
abroad, about so per cent of whom
we're combatants. Today million men
have reached the other side, and about
20 per cent of these are com batants.
AT first Ire Germans were disposed
20 smile with derision at the possibility
that what they termed ease-lovtng,
money making people would fight, but
they know now the mistake they made.
The adventures of our boys in France
are thrilling. Whether in the air, or in
the trench, or in the charge, they are
living up to the highest standards of
courage and heroism of their ancestors
The are sure to win and, up to date
they have whipped the Germans In
every fight.
our task at home is far greater than
those who have not carefully investi-
gated imagine.
THE production of ordnance, cannon,
machine guns. rifles. pistols. powder,
explosives, and gas smells for an army
of millions of men is tremendous task.
With us even the factories had TO be
built, and in some instances it was
necessary to build factories to make the
machinery to build our implements Of
warfare
II have been unhappy at times that
this line of our work did not move
more rapidly. l have been disappoint-
ed in our flying machine production
but I can tell you today that in all
these lines the last ninety days has
shown splendid progress. Men of great
executive ability have been added to