October 12, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 282S 
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12. 1916 
CONTENTS 
I'AGE 
At 
the World's Judgment Scat. By I,ouis Rae- 
maekers 
Defying America. (Leading Article) 
The Salient of Beaucourt. By Hilaire Belloc 
Blockade of New York. By Arthur Pollen 
Opposing Strategies. By Colonel Feyler 
Raemaekers' Cartoons 
La Voix de Bruxelles (Poem). By Emile Cammaerts 
Economy in Meat Production. By Professor Wood 
The White Road to Verdun. By Kathleen Burke 
Books to Read. By Lucien Oldershaw 
Greenmantle. By John Buchan 
The West End 
Town and Country 
Kit and Equipment 
4 
10 
12 
13 
13 
14 
i6 
i8 
20 
26 
xvi. 
xix. 
DEFYING AMERICA 
WITHIN less than one month from this date, 
to be exact on Tuesday, November 7th, 
the election of the new President of the United 
States of America will be held. Germany, 
M-ith that amazing disregard of all national susceptibili- 
ties except her own which has marked her policy from 
the very beginning of the wSr, has chosen this occasion 
for a demonstration of " frightfulness " on the threshold 
of America. New York is the chief port of the United 
States in a higher sense than the term can be applied in any 
other country ; it is as though London and Liverpool 
were rolled into one, and tliis week the marine highway 
leading to New York has been ringed with destruction by 
German submarines which have overwhelmed not only 
enemy ships but ships belonging to neutral nations and 
trading between neutral ports. It is true that this work 
of destruction has taken' place outside territorial waters, 
but none the less is it directed primarily against American 
interests. Let a man live in the country, and it would 
make no dilference to his sense of self-respect if all who 
attempted to visit him had their vehicles wrecked on the 
highroad just outside his lodge-gates and not on his 
carriage drive within the gates. 
Washington has recognised the truth of this analogy 
from the beginning of the war. As our naval writer Mr. 
Arthur Pollen points out in his lucid analysis of the situa- 
tion, President Wilson protested against British cruisers 
patrolling the sea-lanes of traffic within a comparatively 
short distance of the American coast and said he could only 
regard such action, if continued, as unfriendly. Inas- 
much as we have acted in deference to American wishes, 
German submarines have enjoyed a period of immunity, 
which they are utilising to the utmost. It will be neces- 
sary in the future for the British Navy to take steps that 
will render transatlantic raids of this nature more diffi- 
cult and most unhealthy. We may rest assured that 
our sailormen, once they set going, will make things as 
impleasant for the U boat on the other shore of the At- 
lantic as they are here,- and whatever damage may be 
done before these activities arc checked, can only be 
attributed to Britain's desire to conduct the war with as 
little annoyance as possible to neutral countries. 
Many rumours are current of the assistance which 
f/5.', is supposed to have received in American waters, 
one story even going as far as to assert that a secret base 
has been established in a secluded American rove. 
These rumours are best ignored, until it is possible to 
ascertain the exact facts on which they are based. It 
must never be overlooked that one object of Germany's 
foreign policy at the present time is to create bad blood 
between the Allies and the United States, and especially 
between Downing Street and the White House. And we 
know by experience that calculated and frigid lies are the 
favourite weapon in the diplomatic armoury of Wil- 
helmstra,sse, when such an end is in view. Where- 
fore it were wise to suspend our judgment over any 
rumoured American unfriendliness until an authentic 
report is forthcoming. 
What effect Germany hoped this raid would have on 
the Presidential election it is impossible to say. No doubt 
she was of opinion that America would be too involved 
in her own internal affairs to trouble to take vigorous 
action against a defiance of her previous notes and pro- 
tests. England knows from her own experience that 
Germany times her aggressions, though not always with 
success, by the domestic difficulties of her neighbours. 
President Wilson after the sinking of the Lusitaiiia told 
Berlin in as plain language as it were possible to use, 
that his objection to submarine attacks against the 
enemy's seaborne trade " Hes in the practical im- 
possibility of employing submarines in the destruclioa 
of commerce without disregarding those rules of fairness, 
reason, justice, and humanity which all modern 
opinion regards as imperative. It is practically im- 
possible for officers of submarines to visit a merchant- 
man at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is 
practically impossible for them to make a prize of her, and 
if they cannot put a prize crew on board, they cannot sink 
her without leaving her crew and all on board her to the 
mercy of the sea in her small boats." While U boats 
have grown greatly in size and their radius of action has 
vastly expanded, the objectionable nature of their attacks 
on trading vessels remains the same, and the experiences 
of the crews and passengers from the steamers sunk 
this week almost within sight of the Statue of Liberty, 
are exactly of that character which aroused the Presi- 
dential ire over sixteen months ago. 
It is too soon for us to know what steps the American 
Government proposes to take over this deliberate purpose 
of Germany to carry the war within earshot of the 
American people. The British Navy will not be slow to 
accept the challenge, and as it is reported Washington 
refuses to accept the contention of the Allies that neutrals 
should deny the use of their harbours to submarines, 
the United States imposes on the Allies the duty of con- 
stantly patrolling all possible arenas of submarine activity. 
To talk of such elementary naval precaution as " vexa 
tious and uncourteous," will then be ridiculous. We have 
also other neutrals to consider. President Wilson may 
regard the German sinking of Dutch and Norwegian 
vessels trading not with enemy countries but with the 
United States, almost at the entrance of New York 
harbour, as a purely academic question, but he cannot 
expect Holland and Norway to see eye to eye with him. 
This flagrant disregard of neutral interests is further 
evidence of that arrogant ignoring of lesser nations 
which is a peculiar- distinction of German mentality. 
The British people have come to regard the submarine 
in much the same light as the airship — a modern 
instrument of destruction whose powers have been con- 
siderably overrated, but which, under favourable circum- 
stances, can achieve a maximum of mischief in the mini- 
mum of time. Whatever happens in the future, Britons 
will not be terrorised by either peril, for while they quite 
understand the enemy must score now and again by the 
very rules of the game, they are assured that in both 
instances it is only a matter of time before the strong 
right arm of Britain delivers the knock-out blow. 
