Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-07
~ EDWARD MARSHALL.

II W. Suc VNSah . uVptho otS INV
w complete. You have read
about the former in countless
recent stories of achievement; read
here about the latter.
everybody loves the airrIane. but
everybody hates the U-5oat." was the
way in which a diseonsoIate sailor
man Zone Of the most gallant fellows
Fever have known put it to me one
evening at q London reception as we
saw an aviator Of mediocre deeds sur
rounded by admiring women and talk
ing to respectful cabinet minister.
That was true in war time. and since
the war's end has been still more ac-
curate. for aviation has changed from
thing Of death aud horror into
thing Of admirable progression and
vast promise. while the submarine. In
almost every mind. remains a memory
bf sinister threat of stealthy terror
and that only.
Yet can assure the reader that to
be bombed by aeros is no more COM
Portable than to be torpedoed by a
submarine. know. Many times
have been In cities upon which dead
ly bolts were falling from the skies.
and once have felt the shock of a
torpedo's blast--that which cut in
twain the unarmed. helpless channel
steamer Sussex. There was little
choice between the two in point OF
frightfulness.
E So, per Sc. the submarine is not more
sinister than the airplane: in warfare
both are dreadful; the U-boat sailor
II not necessarily more inhumau than
1.-THE flying man.
Now compare the two in peace and
md the underwater sailor promising
to be quite as useful to humanity,
quite as much an agent Of fine prog
ress as the captain of a ship which
sails the skies. Surely too. the
thought of voyaging beneath the sea
u as dramatic as the thought Of
foyaging above the clouds.
Both the conquest of the air and the
conquest Of the ocean depths have
been accomplished by Americans. the
wrights the inventors of the airplane.
while Simon Lake. who made the sub
marine q practical possibility, lives
and works. q hale old man. accom-
pishing per month more than he ever
did before. at Milford. Conn, where
his recent thinking. building and do
ing have occurred, and where I saw
him today.
sea. surrounded by the evidences Of
his life work. Staring from a wall.
for instance, was a drawing which ne
made in 1898. accurately prophetic of
Almost all that marked the under
water war Just ended. Now he waves
that all aside. His talk promises for
submarines as much for peace as
aviation promises. Some day. and l
think ere long. we shall read of SUBJ
marine occurrences as significant of
human progress as the marvel air.
voyage of the great R-34.
Nothing in its domain actually is
impossible to the submarine" Mr.
Lake said. genially. He is genial
man. blur, white haired and hearty.
full Of energy. full of belief in him
self and his art. full Of love for his
nations by whose side it fought.
"To regard the submarine exclusive
ly as weapon Of warfare Is absurd"
he went on, earnestly. FRANKLY when
! built the first practical submarine
I had no thought OF war. The name of
the little ship proved that called
her the Argonaut. And the submarine
of the future, while, when war comes.
1t will be weapon as will be the
airplane again. and. for that matter.
the motor car, will be principally an
Argonaut--a treasure seeker.
"And perhaps I may be pardoned
some egotism Of my craft; believe
more treasures. material and of
knowledge. are to be sought and found
by submarines than by aircraft. and
further 1 believe that the tremendous
possibilities OF submarines in COM
merce are infinitely greater than those
Of flying ships in the same field.
"In passenger and mail service only
will the peace time conquest of the
air be more fruitful than the peace
time conquest Of the depths. Though
the submarine never will have great
speed, it need not necessarily be
alower than the surface shin and IL