Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1917 — GREAT U-BOAT WAR THREATENS DISASTAR [ARTICLE]

GREAT U-BOAT WAR THREATENS DISASTAR

German Submarines Are Greatest Menace to Allies—Tons of Foodstuffs Destroyed. That Germany’s submarine arm, not her military arm, is the menace which for the moment is greatest for the future welfare of . the United States and the entente allies, is recognized by the chancellories of all the powers which are at war with Germany. The last days of April saw the undersea .boats send to the bottom hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping, which means that huge quantities of ammunition and foodstuffs, the receipt of which would have greatly heartened Great Britain and France, have been irretrievably lost bo them and made the pinch of want to those countries, their soldiers and their people, more acute. These unseen monsters of the under seas from April 20 to April 27, had their share with mines in the sending beneath the waves, some of them unwarned and with tolls of death, thirty-eight British vessels of over 1,600 tons and thirteen others of less than 1,600 tons, the aggregate in each group being only two vessels less than the British admiralty reported the previous week when the high point in the sinking of British merchantmen Since the reports have 'been .issued was reached. Impetus is being given to the plans bo combat the menace by all the countries at war with Germany, and hopes are expressed that shortly a check may be put to the inroads of the submarines into commerce. The .military activities on all fronts in France and Belgium are still in a stage of apparent deadlock, but the big guns everywhere continue roaring b violent duels and doubtless new phases of infantry actions are developing. On none of the other fronts have there been engagements of great importance, although the British in Mesopotamia have driven forward their lines against the Turks and made captures of men, guns and stores, while the Turks have farced out the Russians from Mush, fin Turkish Armenia. The anticipated proffer of peace by the imperial German Chance 11 or will not be given to the reichstag Thursday, but will be withheld for a “more fitting occasion,” according to advices reaching Copenhagen. That peace is not uppermost in the minds of all German officials apparently is indicated by the address before the reichet its reopening session of Dr. Johannes Kaempf, president of the chamber, who asserted that the German people adhered to “the first beLif in Germany’s star and in a peace which will secure for all time the fatherland’s happy development.”