Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-01-23
IN AdmwaI's Mdiscretion.

w THATEvER be the merits of the naval
wv awards controversy, Rear Admiral
Sims outburst was lamentably indis-
Greet and altogether out of keeping with the
course to be expected of so gallant and just
" distinguished an officer. 1t is hardly to
be doubted indeed that the Admiral himself
in his cool second thought regrets the RASH
ness.
One can imagine the high official" who,
he says, admonished him not "to let the
British pull the wool over his eyes" and that
''we would as soon fight the British as the
Germans" speaking in a tone of good natur-
ed rai1lery. AS such, the remark would
have been humorously pertinent to Admiral
Sims who because of his long and fire.
quently proclaimed sympathy with the sea
fighters of King George was jocularly refer
red to in naval circles as 'the best British
admiral in the American navy" But even
supposing that the high official spoke in
ill tempered earnest, there would have been
then all the greater reason for Admiral
Sims to keep so explosive a remark locked
up in the most secretive corner of his mind
instead of tossing it forth to be gOsSiped
around the globe.
Never before were the international rela-
tions of our country so strangely unsettled
as now. We are still in a state of war with
Germany, although we signed the armistice
some fourteen months ago. We are on i'll
defined terms, if on any terms at all, with
the nations beside whom we fought against
Prussianism and with whom, it would
seem, every consideration of interest as well
as honor bids us cooperate in the tremend-
Gus tasks of peace. A new order of things,
in truth a new world, has come to pass,
Il
than with rich opportunities. Yet we have
no determined place, no assessable status in
that vital order-and will not have as long
as the Peace Treaty remains unratifed In
such circumstances it is peculiarly needful to
avoid even the slightest occasion for interna-
tional umbrage. No word that might offend
should be spoken; no gesture that might ir-
ritate should be INDUCED. Least of all
should anything be done or said that might
engender misunderstanding between the
great national families of the English-speak-
ing people, on whose concord and co-working
the worlds peace so materially depends.
Yet in the midst of unsettled conditions. at
a time when caution is incalculably i'm
portant, Admiral Sims lets out story that
leaves diplomacy speechless with amaze
ment 1t seems we'll nigh incredible that
this thing could have been done. Whatever
grievances the Admiral may have nursed and
hoWsoever just he may have deemed them,
there was no warrant for that mischievous
disclosure. 1t was in no wise relevant to the
issues involved in the awards of the knight
board, which had the exceedingly delicate
task of bestowing naval honors. On those
issues, by the way, the opinion of Admiral
Mayo and other rarely distinguished naval
officers is Numerically opposed to Admin al
Sims But grant that on this question Ad-
m1ral Sims was right. Did that justify his
dragging forth a matter which proved moth
ing so much as his own indiscretion?
Or did it justify his disparaging estimate
OF the American navy's work in the war? Let
him criticize as much as he will, as long as
ne keeps within the record; but let him not
belittle the genius and heroism which Ameri-
can seamanship manifested from the day it
entered the world struggle, and to which the
greatest Of British admirals themselves have
paid glowing tribute. Admit that the navy
was not as well prepared as it should have
been; still, it conveyed nearly two million
soldiers-approXimately eighty-one per cent
of our overseas army-three thousand miles
through U-boat hazards, without the loss of
a single life on eastbound transports (This
is the record notwithstanding the impress
sion conveyed in a statement from Admiral
Sims that it was the British navy rather
than ours which got Pershing's forces safely
to Europe.) Admit that there were errors
OF policy in the navy's vast range of respon-
stb1l1ties; STILL it is undeniable that the
submarine problem grew distinctly more
hopeful after the fotilla of American DESTROY
ers got into action, and that the mine bar
rage laid in the North Sea, upon the insist
ence of American naval advisers and over the
objection of Admiral Sims himself effectual-
ly closed that zone to the German marauders
Admit that it might have been we'll to have
had more American battleships near the
scene of possible Armageddon in European
waters; still, such craft as we did have there
did substantial, if not spectacular, service:
and at the same time the American fleet on
this side relieved the British and French, in
response 70 their own plea. from the South
Atlantic patrol # this was not cooperating
with the Allies admiral Sims to the contrary
Notwithstanding in a thoroughly practical
and slngularly unselfish manner then we
should like to know what cooperation is
The apparent fact is that the Admiral has
allowed an unhappy mood to betray him
into utterances even more unfortunate than
those which President Taft found it
needful to reprimand some seven years ago.
His course is regrettable, not only in it's bear
ing upon international relations and in it's
wrong to his colleagues, but also in the in
justice which it does his own splendid rec
ord. For the very reason that the country
honors his attainments as it does, it must
doubly deplore his disparagement of navy
whAse fame he has helped so ably to build.