The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-08-14
oUTLAwING THE SUBMARINE.
Difficulties in the Way of Bringing II
About,


In the deliberations at Paris and else.
where since the armistiee was signed.
there have been specific propositions
toward general Imitation Of arma-
ments, and these propositions lean rather
strongly toward outlawing the use and
possession Of submarines. The arguments
pro and con have been fully considered
by the experts of the United States
navy, and we are indebted to Capt.
Thomas c. Hart, United States navy, Of
the Office of the chief of operations, navy
department, who has studied the situa-
tion from every angle, for the following
estimate of the situation:
"The danger of repetition Of the
German submarines inhuman warfare
on commerce by some nation that the flu
ture may develop into similar irresponsi-
bility and ruthlessness This is the
strongest argument of the abolitionists
and is easily appreciated by everyone.
Their opponents, while condemning the
inhumanity Of the German submarine
warfare to the utmost, do not think that
those past horrors should be determin-
ing factor. They also point out the enor
nous effect on the war occasioned by
the German submarine campaign, as
compared with the actual cost of life 1t
is generally granted that the Germans
failed in their plan to win the war by
submarines only because they could not
bring them into service in sufficient num-
bers at their best, the average number
of Germans actually fighting at sea in
submarines was about 1000 officers and
men. and there were literally hundreds
of thousands opposed to them; the num-
Der of men in allied vessels engaged CON
tinuously and exclusively in strictly
antisubmarine work outnumbered the
German submarine personnel MANIFOLD.
Exact statistics are not yet available,
but estimates of the actual cost in lives
Of the German unrestricted warfare are
between 1000 and $4,000 the best fig
ures give about 10000, Many single days
operations on land cost more lives than
that, and with infnitesimal results as
compared with the effect of the sub
marines.
"'Those not in concurrence with the
abolitionists think that the factor of
possible mercilessness of submarine war
fare should not be separated from the
possibly worse horrors Of gas, bombing
from the air, and mines. As for the lat
ter, the parallel seems closest Only the
absolutely ruthless submarine compares
with the automatic mine, which knows
no difference between the bottoms Of
battleships, hospital ships and passenger
ships filed with women and children,
That due attention must be given this
point is shown by actual losses returns;
the losses of British merchant ships dur
ing the war was by;
Submarines ..,.S.... .5,739,000 tons
Mines ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 6,377,0 tons
The Germans, of course, were mostly re
stricted to mining from their submarines
alone, but once the mine is planted the
character of the vessel that did it means
nothing In the last year or so of the
war the allies defensive measures
against mines were largely annullmg
their effect, but the possibility of future
mine inventions that will change the de
sirable situation is too likely to permit
leaving them out of the argument.
A second argument given emphatically
in favor of abolition is that submarines
when restricted to their legitimate use
of torpedoing the anof war Of their
enemy are not effective as shown BY
the small losses of allied surface war
ships caused by them in the last war
Those favoring retention point out the
fact-as shown by captured instructions
that the objective given German sub