Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-23

to the interest Of any such Power to
get rid Of this terrible menace.
Lord Lee asserted that submarines
had "achicvcd real success against
merchant ships only. and made the fol-
lowing summary Of what German sub
marines had accomplished against mer-
camille vessels in the war:
mo less than IL 200. 900 tons OF
shipping had been sunk, Of value oil
81 .100, ,0O0. 600. apart from their cargo.
More than 10000 non -combatants-
men, women and children-had been
drowned. It Is true that action had
been undertaken in violation Of nll laws,
both human and Divine. The German
excuse for il had been its effectiveness.
They had used the same argument as
in the case of poison gas, which had
set precedent, which appeared likely
TO endure. for all time. now that Ma
tions had been driven TO resort to Il.
Lord Lee argued the submarine men
ace could be banished only by total
abollSnmcnt from the sea. adding that
this was the intention OF the treaty of
Versailles. which forbade Germany to
construct submarines for any purpose.
Were we TO assume" Lord Lee
continued. that Germany was always
10 be bad and the other Powers were
always TO be good? Was there to be
one rule for Germany and another rule
for I'll" rest of the world?"
Object!ng TO limitation Of submar-
irca, lord Lee said T-boat fleets could
be rapidly expanded in time OF wal
and the industry and n nucleus Of per-
Sonnel maintained unless complete abol
! ishment was decided upon. lie in
sisted that the British delegs ton "werC
animated by no selfish motives ir
urging that course, although ''it woult
be foolish not TO recognize that Great
! Britain was the nation most exposed
! TO the menace Of the submarine.
/ Lord Lee declared that an average
of only seven weeks food stocks wa!
maintained in the country by EnglanC
and continued:
Britain Able 70 Protect Self
"Thcrc were some people who sGiC
il was this vulncrability Of Great Brit
ain which justified the retention Of th
submarine. since It was by these mean
alone that the British Empire coul,
be stricken down. The late war ha'
shown, however, the British Empir
was not easily stricken down, and !
war should ever come again, it coul
be imagined that means would be foun'
LOT our country tO SiNt ltocll AVN
starvation.
But II might be claimed that II tn
C-bont had begun its operations earle
or had better luck, the result might hay
been different. To this he would repl
that the British navy had constitute
almost the keystone of the allied arcit
but for the British navy, France wonl
have been ruined. Belgium would hay
been ovorrun and even the United state
of America. self contained, self-sup
porting. with vast resources. woul
have been impOtent TO intervene an
might have had to abandon its arm
and all that it had in France or els
to make u humiliating peace.
, That would not have been disaste
, TO Great Britain alone. that was VIII
. he resented the idea. which had bee
. published in part OF the press, that, th
! abolition Of submarines was merely
. selfish and unworthy design
Lord Lee said ne found it impOsSib
to believe that other Powers outsid
t the Conference would set thelnSelv'
5 against the opinion OF the rest of ii