The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-17

Europe, interview the third mate as to his submarine experiences, and the re suit is often very lurid account of what l has happened during the passage It would be a matter of interest to l-now just what sort of opinion You gentle
 men have as to the number of subma.
 rines that are usually operating at one time against allied commerce It would be curious experiment if each of you should Write on a slip of paper your ideas on this subject and let them be
 read out. Each one of you can make
 up your mind what you would write
 down.
 T have often asked Americans recent ly arriving in, Europe as to how many submarines they thought were usually operating to the westward of the Brit
 ish Isles. I wanted to get at the im-
 pression made upon their minds by read ing the accounts in the American press.
 Hardly any of these gentlemen ever es-
 timated that there were less than 30 and
 many or them estimated as many as 100
 As matter of fact, on an average
 there IS no more than eight or nine off
 the western coast of Europe. Sometimes
 there are few more and sometimes a. ieW less. The Germans have about 150 or
 l6o submarines in commission They al-
 most never have out more than one tenth of these-say 15 or 16. Some of these
 operate in the North sea and some of them to the westward of Europe It is
 not necessary to go into the reasops
 why they are not able to maintain more.
 put the fact remains that the figures re approximately those l have given. When you consider that allied commerce flows llto european ports all the way from Glpfalta to north Scotland, distance or over 200 miles, you will realize what eight or 10 submarines are up against in trying to stop this flow.
 RETAINS PRQDIGIOUS EFFORT
 mere are many things about this war that have not been understood on our side. I think that even today there is a very incomplete knowledge of ths prodigious effort that Great Britain has made since the war began. It is difficult even to grasp the magnitude of this ef- Tort. l am quite sure that the chair man, Lord Beaverbrook, will agree with me that this is not wholly the fault or America or of the American press. II IS largely, if not chiefly due to the fact that Great Britain did not in the early years of the war give out the in- formation that was necessary to a com plete understanding, not only of her own efforts, but of the actual naval and mili- tary situation. The natural consequence was that when we first sent our people over here after We entered the war and the British laid all their cards on the table to facilitate our cooperation, the reports sent back to America were re- celVed With certain amount of incred- ulity. It was even said that "the Brit ish have got those fellows all right" It was very considerable time after we entered the war before America really understood how serious the situation was. There seemed to be general expecta- tioH that the war would be over before we could render any material assistance. However, that is all rapidly clearing away. l shall be satisfied if I have made it clear to you gentlemen that we in America have been able to make our ef- fort, and shall be able to continue it, only because of the sea power of the allies The very foundation of the whole edfice of the allies is the Brit ish grand fleet.
 Let me, in conclusion, make one re- quest of you gentlemen who manage our press, and that is never to omit, when you write about the submarine warfare and the vital tonnage question, to ex- press your admiration and gratitude for the efficiency, bravery and devotion of the officers and men of the merchant marine. As the success of the allies de- pends upon the continuous flow of troops and supplies, it follows that if the stout hearts of these fine men had weakened and any considerable proportion of them had left the sea, all our naval power would have availed us nothing. Many merchant sailors have been torpedoed several times, but you cannot scare them off the sea. They have no more ardent admirers than the officers of the allied nayieSo