Newspaper Page Text
German Socialists Saw Only Hope for Peace in U. S. Action
Articles by Two Members of Reichstag Repro
duced by Mr. Gerard to Show Feeling of Anti-
Militarists in the Fatherland.
‘ ® o .
Face to Face With Kaiserism’
By JAMES W. GERARD,
" (Copvright, 1918, by Public Ledger Company. = Copyright Canada, 1918, by
Public Ledger Company.) -
CHAPTER XXXVI.
UPPOSING one neutral state
took the matter in hand, and
after having obtained the
consent of the other neutrals, or
at least a majority of them—
which .t is almost surs to obtain
—would invite all the nations, the
be.ligerents included, to a con
ference or a congress at a neutral
placz for the discussion and the
arrangement of the principles and
rules of the proposed League of
the Nations. Would the belliger
ent nations refuse to send their
delegates to such a conference?
Could they do it without damag
ing their case before the world of
the neutrals and the masses of
their own people? It is most im
probable that they would do such
a thing. And even if they did
they would not by this put the
«cnference to naught. It would
be there ar.d would give palpable
substance to an idea which until
now lived, in spite of great and
most ingenious work spent on 8¢
politically only in the sphere of
lofty speculation or projects.
And the conference could do
more. Starting from the maxim
which finds such impressive ac
centuation in President Wilson's
note that war in general must
not and the present war in par
ticular can not be regarded as
the private affair of the individ
nal States that engage in it, the
conference could also take into
_consideration some questions of
consequence connected with the
present war. It could, e. g., while
laying the foundations for the se
curity of countries against will
ful attacks lay down opinions
about the just settlement of dis
puted questions of nationality
and the liberation of nations or
parts of such from allegiance to
a State or empire of different or
mixed nationalities. It seems to
become a necessity to make clear
whether a power or coalition of
such can be justified to put in the
list of thelr war aims the libera
tion of nationalities without suf
ficlent proof that the latter want
to sever their connection with the
state or empire to which they
justly belong. ;
The Czechs in Austria and the
Finns in Russia strive for their
full autonomy within these em
pires, but they have shown very
little of a desire to become a sep
arate state. An opinion that
warg for abstruse benefits never
asked for can under ho circum
stances be regarded as liberation
wars would wrong nobody be
cause it would apply to all, but
it may contribute much to have
designs given up which otherwise
would uselessly cause bloodshed
and prolonged enmities.
Judgment on War's Origin.
The conference would also be
justified in taking measures to
prooure an Impartial expert
opinion on the origin and the
legal conduct of the war and the
general principles of national and
international right involved.
If the conference would invite
neutral experts in international
law of general renown to investi
gate the questions indicated
above and draw up reports it
would not by this offend In
smallest degree against the re
quirements of impartiality. But
the reports could, if based on
careful examination and consid
erately worded, contribute very
much to soften the excited minds
in the countries engaged and fa
cilitate the preliminaries of a
genuine peace.
There are, no doubt, all sorts
of objections that could be raised
against this suggestion. But they
+an be met satisfactorily if the
matter is taken up in earnestand
with practical mind. The principal
difficulty to ove-come is time; no
time must be wasted by research
in far-fetched details. It is a
cemparatively short list of perti
nent qm;stlons which would have
to be answered, and the materials
of their examination are already
at hand in the declarations and
documentary publications of the
different Governments themselves
which want to be verified by jux
tanosition with the corresponding
publications of the other side and
to be scrutinized upon their in
trinsic significance. Works of
consclentious legists and histori
ans that could serve as speci
niens are not missing. But they
are occasioned by private enter
prise and express opinions not al
ways in the measured language
that would alone fit the purpose
here in view.
This purpose is to direct the
minde of the greatest possible
number of people in the affected
countries to such way of regard
ing the guestions of the war and
to such comprehension of the
feeling of the other side as are the
necessary conditions of a sane and
gober appreciation of the nature
and the possibilities of a reason
able peace. The present feeling
fn these sections of the public
which form public opinion in this
country as in England and in
France is full of bitterness as can
be. A cure is badly wanted, but
it does not procezd automatically.
Weariness ~f the war is there,
but it is counteracted partly by
the manifold incidents of the war
{tself, by the appetities it has
awakened, by the mutual distrust
it has crested.
It might be objected that one
ecan hardly expect a number of
even neutral experts to come to a
concerted opinion on these points.
But it would be of little conse
quence if the experts, instead of
agreeing on a common report,
would publish majority and mi
nority reports. What matters is
that opinions of qualified experts
are at all drawn up and published,
s 0 that discussion is as much as
possible free from the effects of
the biased speeches of interested
statesmen and other politicians
and their press. The report or re
ports would a!so be of use when
an armistice at Jeast had been
agreed upon and a conference for
the conclusion of a peace is sit
ting. And even if the work of
the invited experts should take
more time than the conclusion of
the peace itself, the reports
might still be of considerable
value. For what matters is not
only that a peace is to come, but
also that the nations should aft
erward possess authoritative im
partial opinions on the main
questions of consequence connect
ed with the origin and the con
dnet of the war, For such opinions
would educate the poisoned minds
to an objective and argumentative
discussion of the means to pre
vent a repetition of the present
disaster.
Only those who live in the af
fected countries can be aware
how great the need is for provid
ing the general public with un
biased authoritative expositions
of these guestions,
Finally, the conference could
and should also discuss in a per
tinent way the question of dis
armament. This question has to
day reached a stage much beyond
that of .nere desirability. It is
now a question of commanding
necessity; one can justly say of
life and death of the reached
stage of civilization. No plous
wishes (& theoretical expositions
in regard to it will now suffice.
We must have practical pro
posals of a scheme to put dis
armament into practice and pro
posals of the means to induce the
different States to accept the
scheme and to carry it out.
A Pretentious Program.
It is a big and pretentious pro
gram here suggested, the first to
be decided by breaks with the
old principle of noninterference in
State affairs. But the times are
so exceptional that extraordinary
measures can not be shunned. If
one sees two lads fight each
other with their fists or even
sticks. one. may well say, “Let
them first fight it out and then
we shall bring them to reason.”
But if they stand on board a ship
and, mad with rage and without
interruption and unremittingly
throw incendiary matter at each
other, you would rather stop them
before the ship is in flames. Un
der other conditions, it might be
the right thing to convoke a con
ference to be held after the war
is over. As it is now, reason
would demand not to adjourn the
term to that juncture. This is not
the place to adjudicate responsi
bilities. Suffice it to say that the
present aspect of the conflict is
the worst since its beginnings and
threatens aggravations of its hor
rors.
Of all the neutrals, none is more
predestined to take the initiative
in this grave matter than the
United Statés of America; by
their great power, by their geo
graphical position, by the ethno
logical composition of their citi
zens and, last but not least, by
their historical traditions they be
fore all are called to act. The
small European nations are' al
ready, as it were, too much under
the fire around them to be so free
in their action as is the Govern
ment of the gilant republic on the
Western Hemisphere. But that
they would with the greatest
readiness join in the convoca
tion of a conference for the set
tlement of at least the first two
of the described subjects is sure
beyond any doubt.
The leader in the arrangement
of this conference is, in my opin
fon, the least objectionable, and
at the same time it is the most
promiging help thht in the present
appallingly entangled situation
America can give Europe. The
Old World is poisoned. The virus
of the most irrational hatred of
its component sections against
each other, inoculated into them
by all sorts of false leaders of
opinion, eats deeper and deeper
and threatens to mortify all its
roots of a wholesome life. May
the United States of ' America
help a disunited Europe to find
he way out of the deadly mias
matic jungle into which it has
lost itself.
THE HELPLESSNESS OF
EUROPE.
By ——— ———, Member of the
Reichstag.
Europe is in the position of a
wanderer who has gone astray
into a swamp. In vain labors he
to regain firm ground. The more
frantically he struggles the surer
he is to become submerged. Like
an infant child, he is unable to
help himself. Help must come
from people outside the swamp.
We are now in the third year of
the biggest, the most fratricidal
and the most hopeless war the
world has ever seen. It is hope
less in so far as on the one side
none of the two coalitions is likely
to be in a visible time so much
HIMAKST'S SUNDAY AMERKICAN @— A Newspaner for People Who Think — SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1918
R R R I M I D S S
GRAND OLD MEN OF THE SENATE i
A NOTED physician once stated that the proper place for a man who has passed his fortieth birthday is the scrap heap. In 5
this photograph made in Washington, March 23, we have eight United States Senators who have long since passed their ;
Biblical allotment of life. From left to right, they are: Senator Dillingham, of Vermont, born in 1844; Senator Warren, of Wy-
Jming born, in 1844; Senator Gallinger, of New Hampshire, almost 81; Senator Baird, of New Jersey, has passed his seventieth
year; Senator Page, of Vermont, born in 1844; Senator Tillman, of South Carolina, born in 1847 ; Senator Nelson, of Minnesota,
75 years old; Senator Colt, of Rhode Island, born in 1846.
(Photo Copyright by International.)
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the victor over the other that it
can dictate it its own terms, and
as on the other side there is no
common basis to be seen for a
sensible compromise. It is not the
extravagance of demands that
forms an insuperable barrier for
peace. Extravagant terms of
peace have indeed been formu
lated by unauthorized persons or
groups, but they have nowhere
received the sanctioning stamp of
the responsible Governments. The
latter prefer rather to shine by
the moderation of their demands,
at least so far as territory is con
cerned. But it is just this appar
ent moderation that makes peace
such an almost insoluble problem.
Far behind this moderation in
regard to teritorial damands looms
the desire to destroy the. oppo
nents’ chances of politeal predom
inance. The war is, for the pres
ent at least, in the first instance a
struggle about the supremacy of
Europe. And this perhaps more
in a negative sense than other
wise. ‘Jingoes are, of course,
everywhere in high and low gquar
ters, but it lis very doubtful
whether one of the responsible
heads of the belligerent nations
pursues for himself or his nation
seriously and consistently what
might bg called the mastery of
Europe. All are, however, dead
against the idea that this mastery
might pass into the other camp.
Comparatively easy as it is to set
tle a dispute on questions of ter
ritory by arbitration or to work
out schemes for compromise in
regard to such, so difficult or al
most impossible it would be to ar
bitrate on a question of actual
sßupremacy or to settle it by com
promise.
Particularly in the camp of the
Allles is the possibility lest Ger
many might emerge out of the
war the actual arbiter of Europe
concelrved as. an unbearable
thought. None of the allied pow
ers, neither England nor France
and not even Russia, Italy being
in this respect quite out of ques
tion, has during the last decades
shown a disposition or a pretense
to play up to such a part.
But Germany is suspected of
nourishing ideas of this kind, and
utterances of some of their prom
inent men, occasional sayings of
the Kaiser included, tend to give
substance to his suspicion. In vain
Germans object that their country
has all the 44 years since 1870
kept the peace in Europe. We
have done the same, would the
othérs reply, and we have not, as
Germany has done, again and
again threatened war waen things
did not run according to her
wishes or humors. Germany has
in fact abstained from actual
peace breaking. But she was re
garded and has done not a little
to acquire the fame as the latent
or virtual disturbing element in
European politics.
Cantankerous German View.
This view in reagrd to polizical
Germany has greatly been en
hanced through manfy of her ac
tions during the present war. It 18
natural enough, though not par
ticularly edifying, that in a war
each party ascribes all the guilt
thereof to the opponents and
poses as the innocent who mali
ciously was surprised when not
dreaming of any harm. But the
cantankerous way in which al
most the whole of political and
intellectual Germany has han
dled this question and has
treated it as a crime not to take
in every respect the German view
of the case and of all the details
of warfare has strengthened the
feeling that this nation has come
to regard itself as a sort of high
judge of Europe. People were
reminded of that ill-considered
harangue to German soldiers at
the time of the China expedition
when they were entreated to act
toward the Chinese iike the Huns
under Attila. This and the eager
ness to crush by overwhelming
power every small nation that
ventures to take sides with the
Allies as well as the proclaiming
of rights for submarines and Zep
pelins upon her own authority--
these and similar measures have
only been too suited to nourish
the conception that Germany
places herself in the role of the
scourge of God.
How this feeling reacts upon
political thought is illustrated by
a conversation a German Sccial
ist has had In the summer of 1915
og&\neutml ground with a French
Socialist politiclan of no jingo
ish leaning at all on the possibil
ities of peace. Even if Germany
declared herself ready to relin
quish Belgium and to return to
France every inch of ground oc
cupied, his countrymen would not
accept peace from her, explained
the Frenchman. And on the
question, “Why not,” he replied
passionately: ‘“Because it would
be the German peace; because it
would yet leave Germany the all
powerful of Europe; because it
would make us depend upon the
whims and tempers of that con
ceited military nation.”
“But are you going to bleed
yourself to death?” was the next
question, and the reply, uttered in
‘a volce where sadness mingled
‘with determination, was:
“Yes, rather than be ruined!™
This is a specimen of the feel
ing created by the present war,
and T am afraid the sentiment has
not abated a whit yet. Germans
have done a good deal in attempts
to detach the French from the
English. They have told them
that they are only the poor, se
duced fools of the base and ego
tistic Britishers, that Germans
did not bear them any mallce,
that they rather pitied them and
would fain be ready to come to
terms with them. But declara
tions of this sort proved only how
little the French mentality was
understood this side of the
Vosges. The French nation is too
much impressed by the memory
of her great past and the part
played by her in'European poll
tics to stand being pitied and pat
ted like children of tender age.
It will be respected as an equal
who acts with the full knowledge
of the state of things and is too
much given to political reflection
to accept willingly any view of
the war that visibly is colored by
the interest of Germany in the
dissension between the two great
powers of western Europe. The
anti-German feeling runs still
very high in France; her leading
papers excel without any excep
tion in extremely harsh language
against everything German, and
the great mass of those who in
former years had propagated the
ideal of a Franco-German under
standing are now dead against it.
British Reaction to German Hate,
A simlilar feeling has step by
step got hold of the British na
tion. From not being very pop
ular at its beginning in England,
‘the war has come to be regarded
as a greater national concern
than any of its predecessors. The
frantic if not hysterical outbursts
of hatred against England in Ger
many when the former decided to
stand by France in the war were
at first not taken too seriously.
But by and by the unceasing ut
terances of spite have, together
with the known acts of German
aerial and submarine warfare,
deeply reacted on the British
mind. The feeling is now general
that England has never before
had an enemy so full of hatred
against her, so ardently desirous.
of causing her irreparable harm,
as she now has in present-day
Germany.
Even such Bocialist papers as
The Neys Statesman, which be
fore the war had no anti-German
blas at all, have arrived at the
game cocnulsion concerring what
may he called a German peace as
the TFrench Sccialist politician
whose opinions were given above
characterized it. In an article
called “The Case for tha Allles,”
and aspecially addressed Lo Amer
fcans, The New Statesman ex
plains in its number of December
50 that peace with an unbeaten
Germany would mean “Mittel
Europa from the Baltic to the
Black Sea;” that nothing would
prevent its expansion through the
Balkans to Ell Arish and Bagdad;
taht throughout this yast area
the authority, if not the suzerain
ty, of Berlin would be acknowl
edged, and that the small Euro
pean States north and northwest
of Germany without any resist
ance—by the mere force of things
—would come to he subjected to
the dictates of Germany. In the
words of The New Statesman, as
the result of an inconclusive
peace “militarism would be more
firmly established than ever by
the record of its marvelous suc
cess and by the manifest need for
a military organization propor
tionate to so vast an expansion.”
Is this feeling justified? Does
it appreclate facts at their exact
value? There is undoubtedly an
influential section in Germany
which entertains "feelings of this
kind. It has its adherents par
ticularly in naval circles and
among the intellectuals of the
nation an din a considerable de
gree also in the financial world.
These sectiors see in England
partly the happy possessor of
what in their opinion ought by
right to belong te the German
race and partly the power with
out which German expansion
would meet with no resistance
worth speaking of by European
nations. This section of anti-
I'nglish on principle or by deeply
rooted hatared, influential as it is,
is, however, not the whole nation.
It has only now the hold of her
mind because it has succeeded in
instilling into her the belief that
England is the secret manufac
turer of the present war, that she
is the seifish fermenter of hatred
in Europe, the scheming brewer of
strife on the Continent. England
has become to the average Ger
man mind a real nightmare, a
sort of Frankena\fein or any such
spookism monstér; and as she
now, by the vicissitudes of war,
has indeed become the most dan
gerous of Germany’s opponents, it
is not possible to educate people
from the inside to a more rational
view of her part in this war and
in European politics altogether.
The Catastrophe of Europe.
hindrances to peace in Europe. 1
There voa have the great
est hindrances to peace iln
Europe. 1 did not mention
Russia. But the war Dbe
tween Germany, inclusive of Aus
tria-Hungary, and Russia is of
quite a different nature. It is
more of a war of the older order,
It has, of course, als ovoked a
good deal of hatred. But on the
whole it is, as wars go, more of
an objective nature, There are
material differences on which it
would not be impossibie to com
promise. But there is no such
deeply seated irrational opposi
tion which now sets Germans and
English and Frenci and Germans
against each other. The war be
tween the Central Powers and
Russia 18, comparatively speak
ing, a naccident in' the political
history of Europe. The war be
tween England, France and Ger
many is a catastrophe in Euro
pean civilization. As a war It is
most irrational, and just because
of its absurdity it is so utterly
difficult to find a solution for it,
and there is little hope that un
less some outside force inter
venes it may end otherwise than
by absolute gen2ral exhaustion.
Things would be otherwise If
there were reasonable hopes of a
concerted action on the part of
the international union of the So
ciallst parties. But such hopes,
if thcy ever could be entertained,
have by now become a thing of
the past. In the three countries
named the majority of the leaders
of organized labor have taken
sides in the war alongside of their
Governments and have by this
more or less given up independ
ency and lost the confldence of
their former comrades in the op
posite camp. Distrust, which in
general has so much contributed
to bring about this war, prevalls
also in the ranks of the Soclalists
in regard to the leaders of the
movement on the other side of the |
frontier, Minorities everywhere
work for a greater independency ‘
as a step to A better international
understanding. But they have
as yet nowhere succeeded in win- |
ning the majority of the move
ment over to their views and pol
icy, and even if they did all sorts
of hindrances would by the Gov
ernments be put in the way of
these Socialists to accemble in
ternationally in sufficient number
for work of this nature.
Nor is it to be expected that
revolts of the discontented masses
will be vast enough to force the i
Governmenis into peace negotia- |
tions against their will. The pos- |
sibilities of centralized govern- |
ments against revolutionary up- |
heavals as long as these remain
locally isolated, which in the face |
of the enormous extent of the
section of the globe directly
drawn into the war is most prob
able, are too great to let these
movements have a great chance
of changing the policy of the
rulers. This would only happen
when 'at least some of these
classes or parties which at pres
ent support the war come round
to their opinion, of which very
few signs are at present to be
seen. The work of small minori
ties everywhere, the war has got
hold of the minds of the millions
in all countries and has filled na
tions against nations with such
distrust and spite as in the his
tory of civilized mankind never
before have been witnessed.
No Peace by Act of Socialists.
How little we are justified to
expect peace from the action of
these Socialists who stand by
Governments in the war is, so far
a 8 my own country is concerned,
chown Ly the fact that the big
moaetings now (and, I am willing
to admit {t, it is the intention of
the initiators to hold them in fa
vor of peace) led by the leaders of
the majority of the Social-Demo
clatic party, such as Messra.
Scheidemann, David, Ebert and
othiers, turn out in practice as
meetings in gupport of the policy
of the Government in regard to
the question of war and peace. In
crder to defend their own political
attitude the speakers are com
pelled tc shift the responsibility
for the war and its continuation
wholly on the shoulders of the
Governmentg of the opposite
countries and their supporters,
and by this they increase in the
mind of their hearers the convic
tion that nothing short of a de
feat of these countries will bring
the war to a desirable end. In
Frgland, the majority of the La
bor party and a considerable
number of the best-known So
cialist lead:rs and in France the
most influential leaders of the
Soclalist party support also the
war policy of their respective
Governments in all principal is
sues. The well-meant and praise
worthy attanpts to convene a full
International Socialist Congress
for the purflose of settling these
differences by finding a common
line of action are, I am sorry to
say, under the circumstances most
likely to prove abortive. They
v.ill founder on the self-contra
diotion that the Soclalists of the
Entente countries argue that
their Gove nments hate the idea
of German militarism coming un
beaten and unreduced out of this
war, which in their opinion was
provoked by it, while the leaders
of the German Soclalists in power
would rather see this same mili
tarism which they in former
years have so violently attacked
and denounced come out victori
ous than have {t interfered with
by outside intiuence.
In short, sections of the Social
ist movement will assist other
*orces in the action for peace, but
the movement as a whole {8 in
capable to act in the matter as a
force of compelling strength.
Help Must Come From America.
Help must in the main come
{rom outsida, Consequently,
President Wilson's action in his
note to the bellig2rents of Decem
ver 20 (1916) would have been the
right thing, cven if it had offend
ed in sone way against the rule
of diplomatic procedure. TUnder
80 cxceptional circumstances as
these occasioned by the present
war, extraordinary steps are cer
tainly justified and breaches of
etiquette of little significance. But
the note was faultless in this re
spect, and it can moreover be
sald that in no way did it en
danger legitimate interests of the
one or the other section of the
belligerents. It offends only in
gpirit against Cain's word, “Am i
my brother’s keeper?” and in dis
tinct words agalnst conception
that war is a private affair of
States may it ever so much in
terfere with the material and
moral welfare of other nations.
The step Fas not at once suc
coeded. But it has opened the
way; nay, it has forced the door
open for discussion In a fashion
that nobody will be gtrong enough
to rhut it again. True, the Cen
tral Powers have by their offer
of peace negotlations forestalled
the note by a week. But this of
fer would have come to naught
without Mr .Wilson's action,
Harsh as the reply of the Allies
is to the offer, it would most like
ly have been put in much
more negating terms had not the
American note caused the En
tente Allies to avoid a Dblunt
“No” and content themselves
with raising objections and inter-
Jecting accusations. By this they
have willy-nilly provoked a de-
SHIPBUILDING WINNING
RACE AGAINST U-BOAT
been content with doing the job In a
small way, we might have built a few
new yards and added a little to our
capacity, A few ships might have
been finished more quickly; but it
was the spirit and will of America to
do the job in a big way and the judg
ment of the country will be vindicat
ed by thg results when all these new
ways are completed and are turning
out ships. Many of these ways have
actually been finished. The new in
dustry we have created will make
America the greatest maritime nation
in the history of the world.
An Uphill Struggle.
“It has been an uphill struggle. I
am willing to confess there have been
times when we have been discouraged,
and at the magnitude of the task, but
through a doubt of human ebility to
accomplish the stupendous work in
the short time allowed.
“There are two methods for com
puting the construction of tonnage
to show what is accomplished. One
is by showing the tonnage in the
water; the other is by showing the
tonnage under construction. But
when a great many ships are put
under construction at the same
time, the question that should be
asked is, how are they all progress
ing; how near to completion is the
vast program. Here is the answer:
“The total amount of our steel con
struction program on March 1 was
8,205,708 deadweight tons. This is
made up of 5,160,300 deadweight tons
under contract with the Emergency
Fleet Corporation and 3,045,408 dead
weight tons of requisition vessels.
2,121,568 Tons Completed.
“Of this total steel construction,
2,121,568 deadweight tons, or approx
imately 28 per cent has been com
pleted. That means that in addition
to the building of our big new yards,
we have also been building ships.
That is, the program for setel ships
has advanced 28 per cent toward com
pletion. Of the amount of steel ships
under contract and under requisition,
665,456 deadweight tons, or approxi
mately 8 per cent were actually com
pleted and in service on March 1 of
this year, nearly a month ago. This
amount of floating tonnage exceeds
our total output in 1916, including
steel, wooden and sailing vessels, by
approximately 50 per cent.
“In the yards which we have al
ready completed and those which
are nearing completion the progress
will be cumulative from this time on.
Thus, while we have been building
the yards and training the new forces
necessary to construction, we have
also been building the ships.
“Notwithstanding the difficulties of
organization, the hardships of bad
weather conditions, transportation
embargoes and rallroad congestion,
nearly as much tonnage has been con
structed in American shipyards in
the past three months as by all tho
other maritime nations of the world
combined.
Sixty-seven Steel Shipyards,
“At the outset the 37 old steel yards
began increasing their capacity until
they now have 195 ways as against
162 eight’' months age. Other parts
of their plants have increased in pro
portion. We then made provision for
additional steel yards, some of which
have been given financial assistance.
Thirty additional new steel shipyards
are thus being erected with a total of
203 shipbuilding ways. Thus we have
in the aggregate 67 steel shipyards
either wholly or partly engaged in
Fleet Corporation work, These yards
will have a total of 389 steel bullding
ways, |
“Our program for building wooden
ships has been heset with many diffi
culties and handicaps. A year ago
wooden shipbuilding in the United
States was almost a lost art. We
found 24 old wooden shipyards with
78 ship ways. The capacity for wood
en shipbuilding has been increased
until we now have 81 wooden ship
building yards with 332 ways com
pleted or nearing completion. ’
Wooden Ship Production.
~ “Assuming that these ways will
each produce two standard ships per
year, we should turn out about 2,300,-
000 deadweight tons of wooden ship
ping annually., These 332 wooden
shipbuilding ways, now nearing com
pletion, added to our 898 steel bullding
ways, will give us a total of 732 berths
upon which to build steel and wooden
vessels. When you consider that we
had only 162 steel building ways a
few months ago, and 73 wooden ship
buildings ways—a total of 235—an in
crease iz shown of 495 wooden and
steel berths on which we &wn build
ships.
“With our total of 730 wood ana
gteel ways, we will have 521 more
berths than Sir Erlc Geddes in his re
cent speech stated England has -at
the present time.
“Our program on wooden ships
was delayed by the fact that we were
unable to provide the necessary blg
timber in sufficient quantities from
the forests east of the Mississipp!
River. This situation, which * has
been a serious handicap, I am happy
to say, is steadily improving.
“The situation giving us the most
concern is the completion of turbines
and engines. The very rapid expan
slon of the shipbuilding program
caught the turbine and engine manu
facturers totally unpreparcd.
“The proposal to build ships of con
bate and Instead of shutting the
door kept it well open.
People may call this a small
success. In fact, it is a begin
ning. and for the first as such
sufficilent. The question is now,
‘What shall the next step be and
how can the debate be directed to
positive proposals?
Of course, as the articles were
glven by this Sociallist author for
publication, any one is at liberty
to reproduce them,
In conducting the peace nego
tiations President Wilson will
have the benefit of the services of
Colonel House, the one man who
1 believe is best fitted to protect
the interests of America and of
humanity at such a conference. I,
of course, eaw Colonel House dur
ing the war in Berlin and in
America, and 1 consider that no
man allve is his superior in either
knowledge of the whole situation
or in abllity to cope with the
trained diplomats of Europe. Hu
man nature is much the same, agd
the gentle-mannered Texan who
has been so successful in Ameri
can politics will not fail when
representing us at the table of
peace,
(Continued Tomomw%
Continued From Page 1.
crete was at first regarded as a fasel
nating absurdity, Cn March 14 there
was launched from the yards of the
‘Sa.n Francisco Company the first
concrete steamship, a vessel which
the builders christened FAITH, We
hope she will exemplify the name.
“Now, as to labor—our strong right
arm! There has been much talk of
conscripting labor, of forcing it into
shipyards as our soldiers have been
brought into the camps. I am fully
aware that I am flying in the face of
a growing popular sentiment that
men should be drafted into tha !n?fll
try which supports the battle lines,
but T wish to put myself on record as
being opposed to the conscriptio of
labor. I do not belleve conscri n
necessary, for I believe labor itself
| will produce conditions which‘);gfll
render idle all thought of cons t
ing workmen., The vast majority of
our workman are men of intelligénce
and when they come to a full r -
tion of the fact that any defection ‘on
their part now will not only lm%—fl
the nation, but will injure their 'fgl
low workers in almost every fleilt of
industrial activity, I feel sure they
will respond to all demands . de
upon them, Unless they fully do ir
part, thelr brothers will suffer.: o
Unless our ship workers do Q‘_elr
best, other industries must slow down
or halt completely, with the result
that thousands of workers thro -
out the country will suffer for of
employment. 3"
“I belleve that labor has begug to
realize that fact, but I want t:‘&ve
it home to them; for there are some,
I regret to say, who do not yet sense
their responsibility. There are many
who are not working to their full ea
pacity. There are many who, because
of the high wages they are earning,
are prone to take too many holidays.
Labor generally throughout our -
yvards is today receiving the hi lest.
rate of wages ever paid for similar
work in the history of the world.
Then additional cost of our shlpl:zue
to increased wages in shipyards cev
ering the program we have mapped
out, wili be in excess of $300,000,000.
We expect, and we have a right, ‘to
expect, the country has a right to -ex
pect, that labor will render for this
increase of wages a corresponding
increass In production—that is, the
output of ships. W
“All has not gone smoothly hs‘:he
labor situation and there have en
times when this phase of the probfem
was enough to cause discouragement,
The vast majority of laboring men
are patriotic, the leaders, whom I
have known through close conta¢t in
Washington, especially Mr. Gompers
and his immediate associates, have
my confldence and the country recog -
rizes their patriotism. With only one
exception, the leaders of the ifip
yards crafts generally have shown a
spirit of co-operation, ready to gink
thelr personal differences in the com
mon pool of patriotism, ;1:
Board, Adjusting Wages.
‘“We have established a labor“-’id-
Justment board, whose complete air
ness can not be questioned. The seals
lof wages awarded by this board,
been most liberal. We have mnot
blamed labor for the reduced a: a
output in various yards. We %d
like to see the whole body of labor put
forth its maximum effort, encourag
ing each individual workman te :do
his best, without any fear of -
lishing new average standards en
they increase the output. When.all
the leaders and all the men take this
view of the national emergency, the
‘emclency of all the yards will'be
‘measurably Increased. 5
~ “There have been inefficient fip
yard owners as well as inefficlent
workmen. In the speed that was
necessary in the early days when the
plans were being made and the st
contracts were being let, some of the
work was given to men who have hot
proved their ability to get re; s.
A 8 we have strengthened our -
tracts and distributed the work with
greater deliberat‘on and care,’ we
have likawise had in mind the u@%-
ing out of the employers who are'not
getting the resuits which experignce
has stown us we should get from ef
ficient men. & o %
“In 1916 there were less than 45,-
000 men employed in all the ship
yards of the country, and on March
2, 1918, we have increased this %m
--ber to 236,000, of which 170,689 were
working on actual ship construction
and the remainder in yard construc
tion.
“I desire to make a brief reference
to what have been popularly called
our three fabricating shipyards. The
so-callel fabricated ship is almost
a new method of ship construction—
almost as new to England as it is
to us. But from the progress of the
work as it has thus far developed,
we are confident that it will' be the
means of adding millions of tons to
our merchant marine.
Record To Be Broken.
“These three assembling plants,
with their fifty ways at Hog Island,
twenty-eight 'at Newark Bay and
twelve at Bristol, will, when they are
in full operation, produce in a single
year more ships than England has
ever been able to turn out in the
same length of time,
“There {8 no doubt we are des
[tined to be one of the leading ship
building nations of the world. We
wiil have the largest number of ship
vands, the materials and the labor,
and when our shipbuilding plants
‘ure complete and organized on sound
business lines we will not only pro
'duve sufficient ships to become the
leacer in the commerce of the world
by furnishing transportation at rea
sonable rates, toereby performing a
service to the rest of the world, but
we will build ships in such large
numbhers and at such fair prices that
we will become the mecca of the
shipbuilding trade of the world.
“I have outlined the entire situa
tion—in utmost frankness—conceal
ing nothing. Shipping is the essence
of the struggle In which the world is
now engaged—the central beam gs
the whole war structure. If that
fails, all else fails. We are engaged
in a race with the submarine. The
whole Government in Washington is
alive to it and there is complete co
operation to bring success in this
greatest task to which America has
set hecself.” :
DINE NEAR CHILD'S BODY. %
TIFFIN, OHIO, March 30.—Mr. and
Mrs. Valentine Weber and their fiva
children were found eating breakfast in
the same room where the body of an
other child, who died from tuberouWu.;
was lying, when a policeman called at
the home. The child’s body was only a
few feet from the table where the fam
ily was eating. The Weber hame con
sists of one room. The father recenth”
was probated from court for stealing
fioa.l, so that he might support h}a f&m-j
Y. oY 3
3D
AT