Evening star., 1919-09-28
Je1licoe's Face q Mask.

Je1licoe's Face Mask.
Physically Admiral Jelltcoe is
small man. yet he 10 as powerful in
frame AZ he IL in mind, and there
arc few men In tho navy who can
stand up against him IN tennis. his
that morning in April. 1917. was, a.
usual, calm. smiling +and imperturb-
able, Ono could never guess what
was going on in his head by any out
ward display Of emotion. At this time
responsibility for. tho safety Of the
British empire rested upon Admiral
Jellicoe's shoulders, :,
I find tho absurd notion prevalent
tn this country that his change from
commander of the grand fieot.to flrst
sea lord was something In tho nature
of 'demotion, nothing could be
further from tho truth. AZ first sea
lord, Jeliicoe controlled tho opera
tions. not only of the grand fieet. but
also of the entire British navy; no
had no superior officer. for tho first
sea lord of tho admiralty, tho position
in England that corresponds to our
Secretary of the Navy. has no power
to give the slightest legal order to
the fiess-a pewer which our seoro-
tary possesses,
Thus the defeat of the German
submarines was Jellieee's direct re-
sponsibility, Great as this duty was.
and appalling as was the submarine
situation at the time OF thia inter:
view, there was nothing about the
admirars bearing which betrayed any
depression of spirits. He did mani
fest great periousnesa, possibly ap-
prehensien. but British steieism and
The usual British refusal to say die
were Keeping him tenaciousiy at his
job.
/ "Germans Win-Uniess."
! After the usual greetings Admiral
Jeliicee took a paper cut of his draw
er and handed it TO me. 1t was a
record Of tonnage losses f6F the last
few months. This showed that the
had reached $4,000 tons in Febru-
ary. e0a. 600 in March, and that sink
tinEs were taking piaoe in April which
indicated the destruction of nearly
| 800 600 tens. Those figures showed
losses which were three and four
| the Intentional iiy,sinconeiusive = state
ments which were then being pub
!; lished in the press.
F, Te say that l was surprised by this
disclosure is expressing it mildly. !
/ was fairly astoundedi had never
expressed my CONSERVATION to Ads
! mirai Jeiiisee, a
"Yes," he said. as quietly ms though
he were discussing the weather and
not this future of the British empire
1T Is impossible for US 10 80 on with
| tha war II lesses Ike th.d continue"
What are, you doing about it7" I
asked. Ak
/, Everything that We can. We arc
| increasing our nnti-submarine forces
lHv HI
every possibie craft we can md with
1 which to fight submarines. We are
building destroyefs, trnwiers and
other like craft as fast aa we can.
But tho situation ID very serious and
we shall need al Of the assiatance Wa
can get"
ut looks a. though the Germans
were winning the war;" ! remarked,
They will win unlesa We can stop
these iossos-and stop thom soon,"
the admiral replied.
No Solution in Sight.
"Is there no solution for tho preb-
! absolutely nene that We ean see
now" Jeilicce announced, He dc.
serlbed the work of dsstrayers and
showed no optim!sm over their ability
to control tho dopredntiens of the u.
boats Tha Stories that wore being
published concerning the numerous
sinkings OF German submarines now
found to be untrue. Since the begin
ming of the war only fifty-four Ger
man submarines were positively
known 10 have been sunif, and Ad-
miral Jeilteee now told me that the
GermaR shtpyards were turning out
new submarines at tho rate OF three
4 week.
stories had ,raeentiy found their
way into print about the voluntary
surrender Of GeTnan U-boatsI ne such
had bean oiSculated merely to depre-
ciate enemy. ,fnorais syen found
II that nenlberF OF the. government whs
should have been we'll .nfermad. and
also British naval officers. actually