Republican farmer., 1920-05-28
OFFICERS OPINIONS
 GREATLY DISTORTED

Newport, R. l., May 22.---Rear Ad- miral William S. Sims. president of the Naval War College, in his address at the graduation of this years class to- day, said that barring a very few cases, 'our navy personnel not only responded to all requirements but ex- ceeded our most Sanguine expectations in the endurance zeal and loyal ini- tiative they displayed" in the world war.
 This applies" he added, mot only to the forces in the war zone but to the navy in general and particularly to the very intelligent and skillful handling of the transport service in effective cooperation with the forces abroad"
 He urged the members of the class
 to explain to the officers under their command the great influence they
 might exert, flor good or for evil,' upon the civil population in war time. This is a matter" he said, which concerns the peoples confidence or lack of confidence in their military leaders. Much of this influence is ex- erted through the unofficial opinions expressed by officers to their civilian acquaintances and by the reflection of | these opinions in the press. That these opinions had a marked | influence upon the conduct of the 1 late war there can be no doubt, nor i can there be any doubt that this in | f1uence was detrimental It could | hardly have been otherwise because i the great mass of such opinions must | necessarily have been based upon in ! complete information and much even | of this information was necessarily | erroneous.'
 He said it was natural that some of 1 IflCcrS have PSDraSSad | upon the conduct of the war when
 questioned by anxious relatives and ! friends and that these opinions later
 appeared lin many grotesqueiy mis- 1 taken editorials criltfcising the strat- 1 egy and conduct of the army and
 navy. usually based upon the ex-
 pressed authority of so-called 'ex- pertS.' '
 l T believe he went on, that few people know the extent to which pub
 lie opinion was formed in this man. ner. or the extent to which such nee
 essarily erroneous opinions actually influenced even many of the most inn lportant government officials, both in our country and in allied countries"
 Admiral Sims said that during the lwar he received many letters of crit icism from Heading members of the government" naval officers and civil Hans.
 ! Without exception,'' he said, "the,
 showed ignorance Of the conditions
 governing the naval campaign"
 He added that perhaps the mos
 mum erous and insistent of the critics
 pointed out the gross stupidity O
 hunting and fighting enemy subma
 rines in the open sea. rather thai 1 capturing and destroying their base
 or blocking their egress therefrom
 He said such criticisms "were easil. refuted'' but that the most disquietin; | feature was the number of letter !. from civilians stating that such am such a naval officer had told them 0
 the various fatal mistakes bein1 l made in the conduct of the war
 "One regrettaible result of the erron
 eous information circulated, he said was the paying of many millions O , insurance against losses at sea, bonn , | bardments of coast cities and eve : bombing of inland cities.
 II "One poor mother of boy servin : in the destroyer forces abroad wrot Il ] fearful letter in1ploring me not t
 let her beloved son starve to death