The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1918-08-23
ALLIED FLEETS
READY To FIGHT
If FOE WANTS TO
II Is for Kaiser to Move First in
That Game.
WARSHIPS PEACE PAWNS.
They May Be Reserved for Dickerng
Submarine Is No Longer Men
ace to Allies.
wARsHIPS PEACE PAWNs,

Paris, Aug. 22.-"Thai is matter
entirely in the hands of the Kaiser
replied Franklin ID. Roosevelt, Ameri-
can Assistant Secretary OF the Navy,
today when asked him if there was
any chance of the allied nagies hav-
ing real fight before the end OF the
wa
1T may be-" he continued, that the
Germans will make one last despei-
ate, forlorn-hope effort at sea. On
the other hand, the Kaiser may decid@
to keep his battle fleet intact so as tu
have his ships TO use as pawns in
any attempted dickering at the peace
table. Nobody among the Allies can
do anything more than guess on that
question
Needless to say, we are more taan
ready for the enemy should he at
tempt to use his fleet The Ger n
feet is not relatively any stronger tc-
day than in 1914. 1t has been physi-
cally impossible for the Germans ma
terially to increase their sea 20 II IN
surface ships while deyoting all their
industrial energies to providing mu-
nitions for their land forces and rlild
ing submarines The Kaiser hll t.
decide at the outset whether TO devote
everything to land fighting and try
to win the war in two years with his
armies, or use the armies defensively
for two years until he could increase
his navy In an effort TO win at 9el.
He decided against his navy. but his
decision to win on land has come to
nothing but disaster,
"As everybody now knows, the sub
marine has ceased to be a menace
and it has dropped down into the
category of accidents, so far as the
marine transportation of the Allies
is concerned. The loss Of ship BY
submarine now is like an accidental
explosion in a munitlon factory or a
chance hit of an enemy shell on an
ammunition dump ten miles back OF
our lines. Such accidents will hap
pen, but they are not menace.
"That is a true apprisal of the sub
marine danger now. For three years
the submarine was real menace. IT
has ceased to be such because OF the
change in Ally methods. In the be-
ginning the policy was to avoid the
submarines. tofollow nothing but pre-
ventive and defensive methods. That
has all been changed in the last year
by the Introduction OF new factors in
the situation. One of those factors
of course, is the American Navy
'Now, instead of trying to avoid the
submarine, the Allies are all the time
in pursuit of it, destroying ii by effec
tive devices. Because of this change
in methods the submarines are forced
to operate only far out at sea in tht
Atlantic and the Mediterranean They
can no longer wait at harb0r mouths
TO take their pick of the many outgo
ing or incoming ships The coasts
and ports are practically free o
them" SO
With French on Disc, Aug. 23,-Gen
Mangin now has driven the Germans
across the valley OF the Ailette on I
front of several miles. The enemy
forces on the right wing of the battl'
line are on Pleateau between th
Ailette and Soissons and between tn
Ailette and Disc. II is impossible &
estimate the number of captivcs
Only a partial count has been made o
booty which includes two hundre'
guns, many being of large calibrC
In the retreat across the Disc the Gel
mans did not have time to destro
bridges. Cavalry assisted in the grea
lrush. The Devil himself couldn
hold out against the assault" said
captured subaltern I'VE didn't kno'
which way to turn"