Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-14
CONTINUING THE WAR

LNOR Il time IL seemed that the war
i was over. Prof. Nicholas Murray
Butler ceased firing six months ago.
Even General Wood demobilized him e
self The warriors in Congress furlcd
their word stained battleiiags and put
aside their armor. Now, however, be e
cause of Mr.. Wilson's rather severe
criticism of British naval strategy the
battle has begun to rage again over and
around the worlds breakfast table.
Should the combined navics of the allied
powers and the United States have
rushed the German sea. dcfenscs aud
pounccd upon the kaiser's squadrous in
thcir hiding place. even at the cost of
numbcrlcss ships and men? Was IL
wiser to play the game of attrition that
finally won the war?
Mr.. Wilson knows little about the
technique of naval warfare. The ques-
ton he raised in his address TO the
officers of the Atlantic fleet was not
new. 1t had divided the British Ad-
miralty and large part of the British
public before the war had gone on for
n year. The President brought no
special knowledge to the fleet. He
merely expressed his opinion and doubt
less supposed that the privacy Of what
was in effect an official discussion would
be respected.
1t is questionable now whether the
publication of Mr.. Wilson's address,
like Admiral Sims original explosion
and the chatter of an officer who hintcd
that wed just as soon fight the Brit
ish, will not do more harm than good.
Much that would sound strange to the
public is said in the, privacy Of military
conferences. To drag official service
communications into n public record is
to give them a false meaning and a
significance which they were never in
tended to have.
Naturally, the British will misunder
stand much of what the President said
in an address meant to be confidential.
Naturally, they will resent the tone of
the address. And nothing good is ac-
complishcd by the repetition of things
that were better left unsaid. The naval
inquiry started by politicians in Con
grcss has served no rational purpose
and it has done a good deal of harm.
den scandals in. the navy and nothing
that needed to be "probcd.' The navy
behaved magnificcntly. The policies of
the British navy. on the other hand,
had been carefully thought out and the
British Admiralty had always to re-
member that the safety of the world de-
pended upon safe prepondcrancc of
sea powers With any great disaster ia
the allied fleets the allied cause would
have been irretrievably lost.
Oddly enough. however, the view aud
theory expressed by Mr.. Wilson had
been made familiar to England by nc
less n person than the fiery Lord jackie
Fisher. ablest Of all the British ad
mirals. Lord Jackie. too, was for a
grand charge and long Chance of sud =
den victory. But he was ovcrrulcd.
Fisher may have been right and the
men who opposed him may have been
right. No one can ever know which
side had the better logic. Certainly
Congress cannot tell at This late day.
The war is in the past. Those who
fight it over again are sure to start new
prciudiccs and new irritations among
peonlcs whose nerves are still over
strained by the experience of the last
five years. The problems of actual war
fare have been disposed of. The sena
tors would do better to forget them and
give n little more of their time to the
nroblcms of peace.