The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-07-31
No other cargo

will enable the people instantly 10
understand the huge bulk and volume
of the story Of the war as shown IN
the official papers and in the life his
tories of each one Of the 2,OOO.OOO men
who went over to fight the Hun.
Almost Immediately after the nrst
American expeditionary force was sent
to France there sailed a company OF
officers and men whose duty 1t was 10
gather the basic material for his
tory of the American army's operations
wherever they were carried out.
Nobody knows how many histories
of the war will be written. Some OF
them are under way now, but the one
history which will be accurate beyond
perndventure is the history which VIII
be compiled from the actual field serv-
Ice of supply, and operation orders OF
the American expeditionary forces.
Specifically speaking, therefore. the
history which will be OF greatest ad-
vantage to the man who wants facts
without undue color will be the one
which is compiled from the orders is
sued from time to time. and from the
reports made by the men who carried
out the orders.
Faets Without Prejudice.
Other histories may be more hu-
manly interesting and unQuestiOnably
they have the widest kind Of sale.
Some of them will approach accuracy.
hut none of them probably will reach
1t along every line to the goal. Fa-
voritism and prejudice frequently en-
ter into histories which are written
while the men who made the history
still are living. Such thing is al
most inevitable and the war depart
ment knows 1t. The history Of the
war which the department will COM
pile will contain nothing except what
was done and how 1t was done.
A vast deal Of inaccurate history
already has been written. The won
der is perhaps that 1t contains as few
errors as 1t does.
Splitting Fleet Arousss Debate.
Secretary Of the Navy Daniels order
to split the American navy feet into
two fleets. one to do service on the
Atlantic and the other ON the Pacific.
has caused a somewhat lively contro-
versy In naval circles, and to some a.
tent in civil circles.
Some Of the naval Officers say that
1t is bad strategy to separate the
ships, that either neet could be -
stroye ed after separation by q ce0cen-
tration In force of an enemy. Some
other officers are inclined to haaisvo
that with the Panama canal In good
working order, and with the virtual
certainty that an alarm Of war would
precede actual hostilities by some
weeks, the concentration necessary
could be accomplished before the co.
envy could strike.
Foo a great many years there was
an insistent demand from certain guar
tiers that a large feet be stationed II
the Pacific ocean. Some men said
that the danger Of war lay IN the Est
and nowhere else. Then came the Eu-
ropean war and such danger as there
was for Us lay in the west OF Europe.
One naval oficer has said that guess
ing about where war IL to come from
Is profitless business and that the
thing to do 10 to have ships enough
to make certain that we can meet the
tucu.y QulChty, CAUuCk h40k " p" OSSs
Favor Battle Crvieor.
Seemingly. however. there IL NO
chance that the United States mate
rally will increase its naval forces in
the immediate future. although there
are six battle cruisers now building
which It il intended to complete. They
will be among the most formidable
fighting ships afoat because they will
combine terrible offensive qualities
with high speed. Naval experts the
world over seem to believe that the
battle cruiser is the ship upon which
reliance must be placed.
When the German sailors sunk their
ships in Scapa Flow the word went out
that some Of the ships destroyed were
the greatest fighting machines that
ever sailed the seas. In. one sense
they were, but in another sense they
were not. The Germans constructed
some Of their great dreadnaughts for
use only in seas close to home. Sew
eral of these great ships were sunk
by the Germans in Scapa Flow.
While these vessels Of the Germans
were terrible fighting agents they
could not have been used far from the
home base. They were built for
North-sea purposes, and as most Of
them were built prior to 1914. proof is
thus adduced that they expected to
fight either the English navy. or the
ships Of the French. expecting the
main fight to take place in the North
sea close to their home base.
These big dreadnaughts of the Ger
mans were built for heavy fighting
purposes and not for cruising pur-
poses. 1t is doubtful II their crews
could have lived on them for any great
length of time. Everything was sacri-
feed for fighting quarters and for