WAR OF THE NATIONS 



6173 



WAR OF THE NATIONS 



torpedo and disappear again, all in less than 

 one minute. The best submarines to-day do 

 not gink; they literally dive. Moreover, they 

 are provided with guns which have a greater 

 range than the guns which were placed upon 

 merchant vessels for their defense, and they 

 could appear above water and at their pleasure 

 destroy by gunfire any vessel with less effective 

 weapons. Torpedoes are so expensive (see page 

 5841) that they are not employed to sink a ves- 

 sel if it is safe for the submersible to rise to 

 the surface and use its guns. 



The undersea boats were afraid of nav 

 sels, and especially of the fleet "submarine 

 chasers" with which the defenders of the seas 

 are beginning to be well equipped. Numerous 

 devices were employed to destroy submarines. 

 Great steel nets were stretched across the Eng- 

 lish Channel, and they made that waterway 

 practically safe for the enormous traffic between 

 England and France. Depth bombs, timed to 

 explode at any desired depth in the 



dropped over the spot where a submarine had 

 sunk; if rightly placed, these d< 

 almost certain to destroy the enemj. Vessels 

 were painted strangely, to blend in color with 

 the sea and sky a protective device known as 

 camouflage; their upper works and stacks were 

 removed; hard coal, instead of soft, was used; 

 smoke screens vast clouds of smoke from 

 recently-perfected devices hid the vessel from 

 the enemy so that he could not know exactly 

 where to strike. These were among the means 

 which defeated the submarine assaults. 



German sailors did not know how many of 

 these boats were destroyed or captured; they 

 only know their brothers left on the perilous mis- 

 sions and in many cases were never beard from 

 again. Sen-ice on these vessels was early in 

 the war sought as an honor; later it was 

 shunned. A naval riot in October, 1917, was 

 alleged to be due to the refusal of -sailors to 

 . rvr on submarines because of their horror of 

 the sen-ice. BJ>.F. 



The United States in the War 



"They say. who have come back from Over There, that at night the troubled earth between the 

 lines la carpeted with pain. They say that Death rides whistling in every wind, and tt, 

 mist." are charged with awful torment. They say that of all things spent and squandered there. 

 young human life Is held least dear. It Is not the plensantest prospect for those of us who > 

 feel upon our lips the pressure of our mothers' good-bye kiss. But. please God. our l<> 

 not so prized as love of right. In this renaissance of our country's valor, we who will edge the wedge 

 of her assault make calm acceptance of its hazards." 



America's Peaceful Attitude. From their 

 position of "splendid isolation" the people of 

 the United States long viewed the war in 

 Europe as a thing apart from their vital inter- 

 ests. Three thousand miles 

 of water separated their east- 

 ern seaboard from Europe's 

 diplomatic labyrinths ; Amer- 

 ica had no political interests 

 in Kurope, and Europe for 

 nearly a hundred years had 

 clearly understood that it 

 could not hope to build up 



:'*ts on the western 

 shores of the Atlantic. Wash- 



>n's plea that the coun- 

 ito no en- 

 tangling alliances had always 

 been held one of the Union's 

 cardinal principles, almost as 

 binding as an article of the 

 Constitution. 



war commenced 



President of the United 

 States enjoined upon the 

 people tin- -trictest neutral- 



ity, and all the powers of tin- u> \ rnraent were 

 invoked to avoid giving offense to any bellig- 

 erent. So entirely just were the decisions of 

 officials on matters relating 

 to neutrality that each war- 

 ring state, on occasion, com- 

 plained that the President 

 favored the enemy. On 

 other hand, frequently in the 

 dire stress of event* the na- 

 tions at war overstepped the 

 bounds of law and offended 

 the United States. In jus- 

 tice to the records it must be 

 said that in all cases except- 

 ing those involving Ger- 

 many's disregard of Ameri- 

 can rights, reparation* and 

 apologies nearly always 

 lowed, and with reasonable 

 promptness; also not one 

 American life was sacrificed 

 by wrongs committed by 

 allies. American nr 

 ncnt was repeat' 

 strained to the breaking 



