Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-04-14
BY JosEPHUs DANIELS.

= AS Secretary OF the navy AANeU
through those crowded months in the
atmosphere OF suppressed excitement
which is inseparable from the capital or
& great nation at war. A friend recently
asked me my Impressions of eight years
as Secretary Of the Navy. I replied,
-Four years Of quiet-then h on all
sides, to make Sherman's expression
nautical"
Department heads. upon whose prompt
and efficient action tremenddIs interests
depended, had TO keep theirkown heads
amid the rumOr and intrigue, criticism
and conflict OF advice which whispered
. - thundered in their ears. They had to
Keep their heads through days and nights
of anxiety, when they were sending
precious lives over seas OF peril and into
enterprises of danger. They had to keep
their heads when sudden emergency de-
mand instant decision and action.
INSIDE FACTS
ARE GIVEN
am going to tell the story Of those
thrilling days as we saw and lived them
in the Navy Department. and present
some things that have never yet been
told about the part the Navy played.
I want you to know certain inside facts
concerning the message which that dap
per little man carried to the State De
partment. whereby he tolted Washington
out OF its routine. and 1 am going to
give you view Of the momentous Cabi-
net meetings which followed his visit
I shaH teIf y61I the sstory Of a certain
"S W. Davidson who went to London
before the United States declared war,
and of the conversation I had with him
before he left
You Will recall the dispatches you read
three years ago concerning the giant
German gun which, from a remote dis
tance and a carefully concealed base,
was killing women and children in Paris.
You will remember the shock Of horror
you felt when you read how shells had
-ffallen in the little church of St Ger
yaise on Good Friday, 1915, turning the
sacred precincts into hideous shambles.
Do you know that the United States
played a part in ending the lombard
ment of Paris? II will interest you to
learn how our Navy contributed to the
relief of the sheII-shaken French capi-
tai.
NATION WITH
CHHD's HEART.
And I viii tell you a joyful tale
America is yet a young nation. and It
has a strong, clean child heart. That IS
why, perhaps, when 1t went to war its
sailors based some Of their code signals
on nursery rhymes. Only a child hearted
nation would have thought of that No
German could think of such 2 thing, and
in that very fact lay the usefulness Of
their signals. They were a part Of our
intelligence service. Just what part
Will tell you before my story ends.
We have heard a lot about the impor-
tance of cables lately, and little island,
about ten miles long, IN the Pacific,
bearing the comic opera name of Yap,
has assumed prominence out of all
proportion to its size and commercial
value merely because It is a convenient
cable station.
You would think from all this talk that
cables are absolutely essential TO the
maintenance of worldwide communica-
tions. Beyond doubt they are Of tre-
mendous importance, and no nation can
afford to neglect its interests In the mat
ter Of submarine telegraphs
NOT DEPENDENT
ON CABLES.
But what would you think If I told
you that had Germany been ahIe to sever
the cables by which the United States
was linked to London and Paris and
american headquarters at Chaumont we
could nevertheless have communicated al
most instantly with Lloyd George. or
!. Clemenceau, or General Pershing? In
'hke manner, although with more diff
Guilty, we could reach every ship in the
United States Navy, wherever stationed.
from the China Sea to the Bay of Bis
cay.
The miracle which made this possible
was created within a few months after
we entered the war. and its ACCOMPLISH
ment lifted from our shoulders one of the
big anxieties which had been almost con-
stantIy present-the fear that some en-
emy raider or submarine might cut the
cables leaving US isolated from our sol
diers in France, our allies and our fight
ing squadrons in war zone waters.
/ want to tell you in some detail how
this miracle was worked and about the
great wireless station which can fash
radio messages around the world.
$ INDIANS FORECAST
WIRELESS" SYSTEM
The early pioneer vending his wav
with his wagon train across our western
prairies saw In the smoke signals of the
Indian the earliest American attempts at
communicating over long distances, II
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