Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-05-13
DANIELS TESTIFIES
 THAT SIMS DECLINED
(Continued from page D.

Zeebrugge as a provisioning base, MT. Daniels said. "That was the kind of bold and au- dacious' thing the president and the navy department had been urging from our entrance into the war" de- clared the secretary. But even then, Admiral Sims said it had not been definitely decided on by the war council. tho the daring and sue cessful attack on Zeezrugge came much later. It might have been g very different story if it had been undertaken earlier when the navy de- partment was urging some such bold plan, all of which Admiral Sims thought impracticable' when urged by the navy department.
 Admiral Sims told the president he had been shown studies of the de- partment's plan to prevent the egress of submarines, Mir. Daniels said, and that he considered the scheme inn practical.
 "He evidently sought to discredit ! the navy departments plans by say ing that these same suggestions and many similar ones had been made by people of all classes since the begin ming of the war" said MT. Daniels. "Instead of accepting the depart ment's suggestions of great offensive plans or originating some plan that promised to stop the egress of Ger man submarines, his mind was clos ed to the above, and as many other extracts show to every plan looking to the great offensive which in the 1 fall of 1917 was the most effective foe of the submarine"
 Sims cable to the president sug- gested that the proper policy to pur- sue was to adopt the recommends
 tions he had made to the department. "most of which had been decided up-
 on and put in operation before Ad-
 miral Sims suggested them," Secre-
 tary Daniels declared.
 "He added" the secretary contin-
 ued, "that we should adopt an or
 ganization similar in all respects to
 the British squadron and virtually
 transfer all naval authority to his
 headauarters in London. He was
 careful not to say, tho he regarded the Queenstown base and surround ings as the critical area that as
 rapidly as American destroyers ar
 rived, the British destroyers were
 
 now makes the preposterous state destroyers in that critical area (we
 had 34 at that time out of our total , of 5O) occasioned hte loss of 500,-
 900 lives and 15 billion dollars in ' money.'
 f Two remarkable and significant statements" in Admiral Sims reply to President Wilson as evidence that t the admiral was "so hypnotized- by , British influences that he was will t ing to try to lure the president ot the United States in the feeling that regardless of failure developments
 we can always count upon the sup, : port of the British navy"
 5 Acting Under Spell. . The first that the views he had expressed were in all cases an inde- g pendent opinion based upon specific t facts collected in admiralty anc : other government departments" The I second was as follows: -''-
 Depend upon the fact, which I be
 lieve to be true, that regardless oi
 any future developments we can al.
 ways count upon the support of the
 British navy. have been assured of this by important government of
 ficals," said Mir. Daniels It seems
 inconceiveable that any ,admira :. could have regarded such assurances as worth paying tolls to transmit. Ev
 cry school boy should know that 1T democratic government. no govern ment official could pledge his coun try's navy to support another govern . ment regardless of future develop :. ments. It is to be hoped that il : Admiral Sims had such assurances he will send copy of the pledge
 in writing with the name of the i'm
 portant government officials ap
 pended thereto to be filed in the
 archives of 'Sops for the simple" Admiral Sims was "under the spel ] of influences that made him believe tha tthe British government could be
 depended upon more to take care . of America than that America shoult ! arm." said MT. Daniels.
 "This attitude of acceptance o1 :, everything British," he added, "un Il doubtedly accounts for his opposition to the creation of an independen' ' American army and his idea tha' ' American troops sent abroad shoult be used as an annex to the British s army, quoting General Bliss as rec t ommending that policy. When Gen
 eral Bliss read that Admiral Sims hat quoted him as advocating such { ' policy he wrote at once to the sec ! retary of war, declaring the truth t' be exactly the reverse"
 When your breath is bad, appetite