FOR

OR thousands of years, in frail craft and strong, the sailors of the world have fought the sea and beaten it. But they have paid the price of their victory. The great deep holds the unknelled and uncoffined remains of millions of the vanquished. Through all the ages they have been the soldiers of the sea, and for the good of the world, its material and spiritual necessities, they have fallen in battle against the deadliest enemy of mankind.

That is according to the law of nature, and we bow our heads to it. "There is sorrow on the sea; it is never quiet." But when the wrecks of the ocean are not those of the elements in their blindness, but of man himself in his barbarity, the heart of humanity has to be surrounded by something more than oak and threefold brass to bear it. The first sea battle between ship and ship must have seemed to be a sufficiently unnatural thing to those who reflected that the common foe of both was round about them.

But there was at least a certain fierce grandeur about it, such as we now feel to belong to a battle in the air. And just as aerial fighting seems to sound the last note of chivalry in the clamorous discord of modern warfare, so does sea fighting seem to be a human struggle of brave man against brave man, with Nature, the great Neutral, standing by to swallow up the fallen. Drake and Hawkins and the rest of our wild sea rovers may have been pirates, but they fought like men. Not blood for blood's sake, not lust of mere destruction, not merciless massacre of vanquished enemies, but the glory of conquest, a certain pride in overcoming courageous adversaries, and showing them the honors due to brave if beaten foes-that was the spirit of the great seamen of the old days.

It is the spirit of all true sailors still, thank God, but our enemies in the present war have done their utmost to wipe out the first and highest and noblest tradi

tions of the sea. They have condescended not merely to the morality of pirates, (which has a bold daring to it,) but to the ethics of sharks and sea garroters, which requires no courage and no strength. The last thing they wish to meet is an adversary that can hold his own with them. Because the submarine is necessarily a frail vessel that cannot bear an answering shot, they fall on their unwary foe from the cover of the waters as the footpad falls on the pedestrian from the shelter of a wall or tree. As a consequence, they sink without the danger of being sunk, and fight where they cannot be fought. One wonders what our mighty Drake, pirate as he may have been, would have said to seamen who took after this style the hazard of their lives at sea!

It would be useless to discuss the arguments on which our enemies justify their unrestricted submarine campaign, except to say that they are shallow, stupid, and illogical, and such as the most ruthless of their own statesmen-Bismarck himself-must have disclaimed. The only matter worth thinking of is the measure of the offense of it, and the first thing one sees is that it is a crime against nature. That ordinance of the Almighty whereby the earth, through all the workings of seed time and harvest, gives forth its fruits, is openly defied and outraged by a nation which orders the sinking of ships laden with food. To say that for reasons of revenge, to compel the withdrawal of a blockade, or for any other ends whatsoever, the sun shall shine and the rain shall rain in vain, and the products of the soil shall be utterly wasted, is blasphemy against nature and the God of nature.

The next thing one sees is that the submarine policy of our enemies is a crime against human necessity. At a time when, by reason of the war, the whole world is suffering from the want of food, to destroy food is a double in

iquity, and to attempt to starve one large part of the human family in order that another and smaller part of it may not be starved, without renouncing its military purposes, is to claim the right of the minority to control the majority, the right of Germany to rule the world.

Next, we see that the submarine policy of our enemies is a crime against human life. Willfully to kill, without the necessity to kill, or the immediate danger of being killed, is murder. The fragility of the submarine does not excuse her sinking without warning. The laws of humanity are not subject to variation at the whim of mechanical infirmity. They are immutable.

Above all we see that the submarine

policy of our enemies is a crime against civilization. If it could succeed it would undo all the work the sailor has done throughout the ages in binding race to race, nation to nation, in furthering man's material progress and developing his spiritual brotherhood. Every ship is a hand-clasp between land and land. Therefore every ship destroyed leaves a link the less in the chain that unites man to man. Already America is thrice as far away from Europe as it was a year ago. If the ocean could be swept of ships at the will of any empire whatever, the world would henceforth be at the empire's mercy, dependent upon it for every form of sustenance, whether for the body or for the soul.

THA

nations arrayed against the Teutonic Powers had been solved was the important statement made by Bainbridge Colby, the representative of the United States Shipping Board at the Paris Interallied Conference. "The stupendous building program of America," he said, "is the answer to the submarine." (The decisions in regard to shipping adopted at the conference are recorded elsewhere in this magazine.)

According to Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board, German submarines in the first ten months of unrestricted warfare sank over 900 British vessels of more than 3,000,000 tons dead weight. The greatest shipbuilding feat any nation has ever accomplished is that of Great Britain, in 1913, when 688 vessels, of 2,989,299 tons, were completed. Japan in 1914 built fortythree ships, of 192,993 tons. This was the biggest tonnage finished by any nation except Great Britain.

The United States, says Mr. Hurley, now has available for transatlantic service 582 ships, of a total of 3,721,806 tons, including former German and Austrian vessels and oil tankers. German and Austrian ships now operated by the Shipping Board number 105, and are of 688,960 tons. American citizens hold

eleven more of these ships, totaling 63,915 tons. Mr. Hurley showed that between Jan. 1 and June 1, 1917, American shipyards had built and launched eighty-seven ships, of a total tonnage of 503,922. Of this total, fifty-five vessels were of steel, 430,994 tons, while thirtytwo were of wood, 72,928 tons.

The first official analysis, issued on Nov. 25, of the program which is being carried out by the Emergency Fleet Corporation of the United States Shipping Board, shows that contracts have been let for 884 new vessels, aggregating 4,724,300 deadweight tons; 426 vessels, of 3,029,508 tons, building on the ways have been requisitioned to hasten construction, and contracts for ninety-nine other vessels, of 610,000 tons, were pending. This program presents a grand total of 1,409 vessels of all types, aggregating 8,363,808 deadweight tons. Of the requisitioned vessels included in this schedule thirty-three, of 257,575 tons, have been completed and released. The total deadweight tonnage given represents approximately 6,000,000 gross. The Emergency Fleet Corporation, with the co-operation of the shipbuilders and of organized labor, expects to place all these vessels on the seas before the end of 1918.

The figures show that there are under contract no less than 278 vessels of 7,500

tons or more, classified as cargo steamers, of which seventy are designed especially for transports. Of the cargo vessels requisitioned 176 also are of 7,500 tons or over. Most of the vessels of 5,000 and 7,500 tons which have been contracted for are being built in new yards, and it is estimated that it will take five months to complete a vessel after the yards are in operation.

The construction of a great fleet of vessels, each of 8,800 tons or over, was one of the first steps advocated by Chairman Hurley of the Shipping Board and Rear Admiral Capps. The theory was that these vessels could attain higher speed and be more effective against the submarines. Vessels for use as transports are being constructed with a new system of bulkheads which, it is believed, will make them "unsinkable." It has been stated that at least three hits would have to be made by torpedoes to cause a disaster, and under the present system of convoy such a feat by a submarine is looked upon as impossible.

Rear Admiral W. L. Capps resigned his position as General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation on Nov. 23 on the ground of failing health. It was stated, however, that there had been serious differences of opinion between Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board, and Admiral Capps, the latter holding that under the methods being pursued the 6,000,000 tons of vessels demanded by the Allies for 1918 could not be produced. As recorded, (see CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE, December, 1917, Pages 427-8,) Charles A. Piez had already taken over a good deal of the work done by Admiral Capps.

The protracted discussion of the question of merchant-ship operation by the Navy Department and the Shipping Board was ended by the decision announced on Nov. 28 that all Government vessels on the transatlantic routes were to be officered and manned by Naval Reservists. This meant that all officers and crews in the European service would be under the Navy Department. Under the new plan of merchant-ship operation students in the Shipping Board navigation schools must enter the Naval Reserve

Mer

before beginning active service. chant shipmasters, and seamen also, must enter the Naval Reserve. While the officers and crews of merchant ships are subject to navy orders and discipline, they receive pay equivalent to that paid by private shipowners. The agreement with the Seamen's Union in regard to wages is being observed.

More than 100,000 officers and men, it is estimated, are needed to man the fleet of merchant vessels America will turn out by the end of 1918. It is estimated that 15,000 merchant-ship officers and seamen will be taken into the Naval Reserve Service. The navy has about 100,000 men in training available for manning the merchant vessels.

Imports Under Government Control

By a proclamation issued on Nov. 28, 1917, placing under license the import of many articles, President Wilson put into the hands of the War Trade Board a powerful weapon to be used against firms controlled by German capital.

Notable in the South American countries named in the proclamation was Venezuela, where German capital is in full command, and from which pro-German propaganda radiates in great volume. German-controlled firms in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and other countries also are made to feel the full force of America's power to control its commercial relations.

The proclamation takes in European as well as South American countries, thus making it possible for the Government to cut off commercial relations with firms in the northern neutral countries of Europe and in Spain if it sees fit. The weapon thus supplied adds greatly to the commercial power of the United States, putting it in the position during the war almost to direct the trade of the world.

One of the chief advantages of import control is that it gives the Government a larger measure of supervision over shipping. If tonnage vitally needed for war purposes is being used to transport to this country commodities regarded as nonessential the Government can decline to issue import licenses and thus divert the tonnage to essential trades.

America's First Blacklist

The War Trade Board published on Dec. 4 its first blacklist of Germancontrolled banks and industries in South America, Cuba, and Mexico. The list contained the names of more than 1,600 concerns with which American banks and industries are forbidden to deal except under license. Where imports are for firms that are controlled by German money they are to be seized by the Alien Property Custodian, sold, and the receipts used for the purchase of Liberty bonds, or in some other direction to aid in the war against Germany.

In the blacklist are included the great banks, manufactories, and public utilities of Argentina, representing the most powerful combination of German capital in Latin America. All shipments to the public utilities of Buenos Aires have been held up. The great German-controlled corporations which have been entirely dependent upon American coal have been forced to the extreme of burning oil and wood to keep power stations for electric railways and electric lighting systems in operation. A rough estimate of the capital involved in the industries and banks on the American blacklist place the total at $3,000,000,000.

AMONG the material benefits coming

from the world war, a prominent place must be given to the large restriction of the use of alcoholic liquors by practically all the belligerents. A notable beginning was made by Nicholas II. in Russia. Two months before the war the Emperor had directed General Sukhomlinoff, then War Minister, to prohibit the use of alcohol by the soldiers, in the interest of the "strength, health, and psychic vigor of the army." Early in August, 1914, Nicholas II. sent an order to his Ministers practically prohibiting the use of vodka throughout the whole Russian Empire. "It is not meet," he said, "that "the welfare of the Exchequer should be "dependent upon the ruin of the spiritual "and productive energies of numbers of "my loyal subjects." The production and consumption of vodka instantly stopped almost completely. In September, 1914, the first month of full prohibition, only 102,714 kegs of vodka were consumed throughout Russia, as against 9,232,921 kegs in September, 1913. Since the revolution the ban on alcohol has not been as strictly enforced as before, but the masses of Russia still support the reform.

In England, King George, Lord Kitchener, Lloyd George, and the Archbishop of Canterbury set the example of total abstinence, though there has, up to the present, been no general measure of prohibition in England. Measures have been

taken, however, to restrict both distilling and brewing, while the proportion of alcohol in the liquor produced has been diminished. Nova Scotia appears to be the only part of the British Empire which followed Russia in a measure of complete prohibition.

In France, especially since the measures passed during the Summer of 1917, there has been a large degree of restriction, liquors testing over 18 degrees of alcohol being forbidden, though light wines are still largely used, a ration of wine being served to the French soldiers.

In the United States, both the ban on liquor for soldiers and the prohibition of distilling for the duration of the war are strong influences in the same direction. Under an order approved by President Wilson on Nov. 26, 1917, beer must not contain more than 3 per cent. of alcohol.

In the Central Empires Dr. Richard Froehlich of Vienna testifies that with the first mobilization throughout the whole German Empire the sale of all spirituous liquors in all railroad stations was absolutely prohibited, while the sending of spirits as "love-gifts" to soldiers was strictly forbidden. The same measures seem to have been taken in AustriaHungary also. Turkey, as a Moslem country, always abstained from spirituous liquors, though many of the "Young Turks" treat this law of the Prophet as a dead letter.