VOLUME 38.
THE SMITHFIELD HERALD, TUESDAY. FED. 4, 1919.
Number 10.
SEA POWER AND iTS
TRIUMPH IN WAR
Sir Eric Geddes Calls It the Birthright
of the British Race, and Says That
It Has Again Been Salvation of the
World.
London, England.—“How the sea
gull mocks the sea lion.” Thus the
legend on one of the series of medals
issued by the German government
during the war “for the comfort and
encouragement” cf its people. The
medal, which was intended to com
memorate the exploits of the German
raider Moewe (sea gull), was repro
duced in The Christian Science Moni
tor, just before Germany made her
final effort on land tc break the ring
encircling her. It shows a sea gull
flying home with its booty over the
heads of two very impassive-looking
sea lions, one on either side of a nar
row sea. But first and last it is the
inscription on the reverse of the medal
which after all, gives the keynote to
the whole; for that inscription reads,
“Dedicated to the British Vice-Ad
miral Dudley do Chair.”
Thus did the German government
itself involuntarily acknowledge the
part played by the man who organized
the British blockade proclaimed on
March 1, 1915, and who, at the begin
ning of the war, commanded the tenth
cruiser squadron, the force which, with
the Grand Fleet at its back, was the
chief instrument in maintaining the
blockade which experts agree in de
claring was the fundamental and de
cisive cause of the Central Empire’s
final collapse.
Sir Eric Geddes reaffirmed that
fact recently in a speech at the open
ing of the Sea Power Exhibition at
the Grafton Galleries. “The block
ade,” he declared, “is what crushed
the life out cf the Central Empires,”
and he added: “That blockade was ex
ercised by another little advertised
power—the tenth cruiser squadron, a
squadron, the name of which wil go
down to history with very great cred
it. The tenth cruiser squadron, with
its famous cruiser the flagship Alsa
tian, from 1914 to 1917 held the 800
miles stretch of gray sea from the
Orkneys to Iceland. In those waters
they intercepted 15,000 ships taking
succor to our enemies, and they did al
most under Arctic conditions, and
mainly in the teeth of storm and bliz
zard, and out of that 15,000 they miss
ed just 4 per cent, a most remarkable
achievement under impossible condi
tions. Behind the blockade was the
Grand Fleet, the fulcrum of the whole
of the seapower of the Allies. If ever
testimony were needed of the value of
sea power, I can give it. In every in
dividual case when an armistice was
signed by our enemies, and in one if
not two cases, before, the one cry
that went up was ‘Release the block
ade.’ If anything more strikingly
demonstrating the value of sea power
can be given, then I do not know it.”
In the previous course of his
speech Sir Eric had observed that the
present was an opportune time to re
call what sea power has done for
them. “It has been the birthright of
our race. Nor for the first time,
again it has been the salvation of the
world,” he declared. “I can find no
apt simile to describe what sea power
is to us and to the human race—the
sea power of His Majesty’s navy.
From the first day that this devasta
ting and world-wide struggle burst
upon the world, the British Navy held
all fleets impotent. With a silent, irre
sistible and grim force His Majesty’s
navy has crushed the life out of the
enemy countries and secured for all
time the freedom of the world. There
was no annihilation of the enemy in
the shock of battle, but that was only
because he had such a lesson at Jut
land that he would not come out. He
chose physical safety with its conse
quent loss of morale, ending in mu
tiny and inglorious surrender. The
once proud German Navy is now dis
honored in the eyes of the world. That
is not what the navy of a sea-born
race like ours would have done. On
that never-to-be-forgotten day, Au
gust 4,-1914, the British Navy secured
the sea communications, and through
out those 'sea communications have
been held. They have been threatened
by the deadliest menace that has ever
threatened them, the power of the
submarine, but they have been held.
“In that holding the Royal Navy
has had the priceless co-operation in
dangers of all kinds of the mercantile
marine. That co-operation has created
bonds of affection which can never be :
broken and never will be broken. We
are justly proud of the heroic deeds
of the British Army and its brilliant
strategist, my old chief, Sir Douglas
Haig, General Allcnby and other dis
tinguished British generals. But of
what avail would their heroism and
ability have been without sea power?
Of what avail would have been the
gallantry of our allies? British sea
power has sustained and enabled us to
sutain Italy and France in coal, food
and munitions. Munitions for our
selves have been brought on the
shoulder of sea pewrer. The British
expeditionary force crossed the Chan
nel under the wing of the White En
sign. It has gone on crossing until
that very big army had eventually
brought Germany to her knees. Dur
ing the war the British Navy has es
corted 16,000.000 men across the sea
and the total loss from all causes, in
cluding marine risks, submarine and
storm, is less than 500. Sea power
storm, is less than 5,000. Sea power
the vital operations in Mesopotamia,
Palestine and Salonika, operations
which resulted in the defeat of Ger
many and Bulgaria. But for that sea
power Germany would have overrun
the world, and in three or four months
would have obtained her desires.”
After mentioning in conclusion the
names of Lord Jcllicoe, Sir David
Beatty, and Sir Roger Keyes, Sir Eric
Geddes remarked: “The country must
not forget those who prepared for the
harvest in the few months before the
war, those who brought the navy to
the last button and gun into the sea,
upon the declaration of war, and who,
for six months afterwards, laid the
foundation of that great navy behind
the navy—Lord Mlilford Haven,
Lord Fisher, and Mr. Winston Church
ill. Sea power has brought us to the
end of the war and there is no single
occurrence in the whole drama and in
the finish of more significance than
the German Admiral. “The German
flag will be hauled down at sunset
and not hoisted again without permis
sion’—truly a very remarkable gar
nering of the harvest,”—Christian
Science Monitor.
Preachers’ Sons.
An old tradition has it that the sons
of ministers do not amount to much.
The boy of the parsonage usually
bears the blame for all the mischief of
the parish, and the elders predict for
him a bad end.
The facts, however, do not justify
this ill opinion. The Philadelphia
Ledger reminds us that one-twelfth
all the men whose biographies appear
in “Who’s Who” are sons of preach
ers. England’s Dictionary of Biogra
phy reveals even a greater prepond
erance in favor of the parsonage.
The Literary Digest believes that,
“instead of being amiable vagabonds,
the sons of ministers come pretty
close to the rank of top-notchers in
every field of human progress.”
The following are a few of the no
ble men of ministerial descent:
Holmes, Lowell, Emerson, Bancroft,
Parkman, Sloan, Gilder, Henry James,
Leigh Hunt, Tennyson, Addison, Lock
hart, Goldsmith, Ben Johnson, Cow
per, Charles Kingsley, Henry Clay,
Charles E. Hughes, Agassiz, Samuel
F. B. Morse, Mergcnthaler, Linnaeus,
Jenner, Cyrus W. Field, Sir Joshhua
Reynolds, Sir W. Robertson, Nicol,
Alexander McLaren, Henry Ward
Beecher, Swedenborg, Jonathan Ed
wards, Spurgeon, Lyman Abbott, Nor
man McLeod, Robert Hall, Adolph
Monoid, John Abernathy, Alexander
Campbell, Presidents Buchanan, Ar
thur, Cleveland, Wilson.
Some one has said that the aroma
of the parsonage pervades all the
writings of gentle-souled Addison. Sir
Roger was woven out of the dreams
of his father’s fireside. That preacher
has lived greatly who marks with pre
cision the hard, high path for his son,
and sets his feet and his heart there
in.—Watchman-Examiner.
A Sly Dog.
“Before we were married,” she
complained, “you always engaged a
cab when you took me anywhere. Now
you think a street-car is good enough
for me.”
“No, darling, I don’t think the
street-car is good enough for you; it’s
because I’m so proud of you. In a
cab you would be seen by nobody,
while I can show you off to so many
people by taking you in a street car.”
—Tit-Bits.
ANSWERING AN
IMPORTANT QUESTION
How much did he leave? Well, not
very much, measured by the world’s
coarse dollar standard. To be sure,
after years of toil and thrift the other
heirs were paid off and he became the
owner of the old homestead farm.
When he had prone the farm and in
surance provided for the needs of the
aged wife. His children, also, after
the estate was settled up, received
small legacies.
But after all are not money and
land the last values a man can leave
behind him when he is summoned to
join the innumeimble caravan ?
This farmer left the fragrant mem
ory of a life without reproach. Un
known to himself he was a kind of
visible conscience in the neighbor
hood of which he was a part. Not all
followed his example, but they were
not quite satisfied with themselves
unless they made the effort to do so.
He never sought public office and
never held one higher than that of
school trustee, but by virtue of his
character a real country leadership
was his. When his body was laid to
rest in the quiet churchyard people
came from far and near to show the
place he held in their esteem.
Long before the phrase “community
service” was coined he had lived
with the interest of the country-side
at heart. In his young manhoojl he
had been a promoter of community
song. Those were the days of the
singing school and he had gone from
neighborhood to neighborhood as
singing school director. Hundreds
learned to enjoy music and to sing un
der the direction of his baton.
At the comers a half mile from his
home stood an old-fashioned school
house where the rude pine benches
and desks were all decorated with the
jack-knife’s carved initial. Under his
inspiration and direction a modem
country school building was erected.
The plain clapboard church building
of his fathers was getting shabby, and
was foremost in putting across a cam
paign which reared to the worship of
God in the open country a fine stone
edifice.
Sunday morning, rain or shine,
summe- and winter, he and his family
drove nearly three miles to attend di
vine service. As leader of the choir,
as Sunday-school superintendent and
as a member of the official board of
his church he showed his willingness
to help his fellow Christians. Sunday
evening the family drove to church
again, and even in haying time the
work was planned so that there
might be time to go, for a restful, but
inspiring hour, to the Wednesday
night prayer meeting.
Religion in his home was vital and
winsome. Family prayers were as
regular as breakfast, and again at
bed time, as in “The Cotter’s Satur
day Night” the priest, the father and
the husband read the Bible and pray
ed. As the children left home for
school and college they knew that
they would be remembered when the
household knelt at the family altar.
All of his children naturally became
Christians. They never argued that
they had to go to church so much in
their youth that religion became re
pellant.
The orchards which this farmer set
out yield their fruit to his grand
children. Other men reap harvests
from fields from which he removed
stumps and stones. The home and
lawn which he made beautiful, after
all these years still attract the notice
of the passer-by. Children born
since his death listen to music which,
though they know it not, is the echo
of his voice. They get their lessons
in the comfortable school houses of
which he was the architect. The
community yet kneels beneath the
spire his faith helped lift into the
blue, and his life still lends argument
to the creed of creeds.
Without knowledge gained in col
lege halls, without -wealth, without
far-flung fame he served his own
generation and his own community.
Such men as he are the real pillars of
the Republic. They are the builders
of fairer, finer country life that is to
b®.—The Country Gentleman.
Peace to Be Signed in June.
Paris, Jr.n. 23.—The preliminary
peace treaties with Germ an v thereby
officially ending the war will be sign
ed ea^ly in June is the announcement
that Marcel Huten, correspondent of |
the Echo de Paris makes in that paper.
RAY R. WHITLEY I
NOW IN GERMANY)
The following are extracts from I
letters written by E^y R. Whitley to
the home folks, Princeton, Route 1:
Somewhere in Germany,
Dec. 15, 1918.
My Darling Mother:
I will write you a letter this beau
tiful Sunday afternoon. This is the
first pretty day we have had since I
have been in Germany, in fact it is
the first time 1 have seen the sun
since I left Belgium. The weather is
simply fine, hardly cold enough for
ice. We have not had any snow, but
have had lots of rain, at least it is
cloudy and foggy most all the time.
The sun is shining bright and it
makes me feel fine.
Well, I am living on the banks of
the Rhine. It is a pretty good sized
river. There is some of the most
beautiful scenery along the river I
ever saw. I have several cards of
scenes on this river and of the town
we are now in. I will enclose some of
them so you can see some of the
scenes on the Rhine.
We came into this town (Pfaffen
dorf) last night. Coblen is just
across the river. It is a real large
city. I am living in a real nice place,
with a nicely furnished room all to
myself I have a good bed and all the
conveniences I could ask for in the
army. These people are just as good
to us as they can be. The people here
have just brought into my room a
waiter of jam cake and coffee and I
tell you it was grand. I am very
much surprised to see how they act
toward the Americans. Even the kids
seem to think the world of us.
We have had a very nice trip over
northern France, Belgium, Luxem
burg and Germany thus far. I can
not tell you how pretty the country is.
If I had my picture sitting on my old
trunk or some of these mountain tops
or some of these beautiful bridges
you would hardly believe it was me.
I have been in some very interest
ing places in France. I was in the
great Chateau-Thierry drive in July
and August, and was on the Verdun
front and through the Argonne For
est, two of the hottest sectors on the
entire front. I have driven through
some severe shell-fire hundreds of
times when it looked almost impossi
ble for one to escape. I have jumped
from my bunk at all hours of the
night, seeking secure shelter from
the enemy bombs that were making
the huge stone buildings crumble and
fall as though they were nothing. I
have been in gas several times, but had
on my gas mask in time to keep any
of the poison from harming me. I
haven’t a scratch today to prove that
I was ever in the war.
I have a good place to write now.
If you could see some of the places I
have been in you would wonder at me
writing at all, but I have done the
very best I could. Here’s hoping it
will not be long before I can talk
instead of write.
Dec. 20. 1918.—I have received lots
of mail from home lately. It almost
makes me feel like I have seen you
all when I get a bunch of mail like
that. Yours was written after the
armistice was signed. I was so anx
ious to hear from you after it was
signed. I knew it was a great day of
rejoicing all over the world. The con
tinuous roar ceased on the front at 11
o’clock. I did not hear a shot fired
after then. It was just like the sun
coming out after a severe storm.
Everybody wore a smile of satisfac
tion. The old frown of suspense and
that care-worn look of a dark future
had vanished. I tell you it was the
brightest moments I ever spent. I
was so glad it came to an end before
the bad, rough weather. Most all of
our work was at night, and it was
raining most all the time. I have
drove all night some of the darkest
nights I ever saw and we could not
have one light. Sometimes the roads
were bad and full of shell-holes and
I could net see ' anything but the
flashes of the high explosives that the
enemy was sending over. It was the
hardest work I have ever done to
drive under such circumstances, but I
stood it several months and I guess I
could longer.
We have everything we can eat,
and, too, it is good. We eat lots of
syrup. I am looking forward to the
time when I can get some of that
good home-made syrup. All the sol
diers are foolish about sweet things.
I am still on the Rhine. I can
thump a marble cut of my room win
dow into the river. I don’t know how
long we will be here.
I am feeling fine today. I think I
am twenty pounds heavier than I was
when the war closed.
Jan. 1, 1919.—I wonder what you
all did Christmas. I never wanted to
be home as bad in all my life. There
were not many minutes that day that
I was not thinking of you all. We had
a very good dinner and a Christmas
tree. The company furnished lots of
tobacco, cigarettes and candy. I was
on guard Christmas day. I walked
post Christmas eve night and Christ
mas day. It was snowing that night
and real cold. It snowed just enough
to look like Christmas. It has snowed
a little twice. I guess if nothing hap
pens I will be home next Christmas.
This is an ugly day for the start
off of a new year, but that is nothing
strange here. I have never seen so
much bad weather in my life. The
sun has not shone but about two days
since I have been in Germany. We do
not have so much rain or snow, but it
is cloudy and rains a little every day.
I don’t have any idea when I will
start home. I guess you know as
much about that as I do. I am with
the third army or army of occupa
tion on the Rhine. You can see in
the papers what we are doing. If it is
winter when we get home T guess the
sea will be pretty rough. I wish we
could have as fine a trip going back
as we did coming. The sailors said the
sea was the calmest they ev<?r saw it.
I did not get sick at all. We came
over in about the fastest transport on
the sea. It was a real boat. Three
came together. We came across in
eight days.
I had a pass to Coblenz yesterday
afternoon and sure did enjoy it. I
have visited several of the largest
cities in France.
With love to you all,
Your true son.
Wag. RAY R WHITLEY,
Truck Co. No. 5, 1st C. A. P., A. E. F.
MATTERS OF INTEREST.
Four Peoria, Illinois distilleries are
to be converted into manufactories
for the production of sugar products
from corn, according to announcement
just made. Starch, gluten feed, corn
cake, corn oil, and similar products,
will also be manufactured.
By nearly a unanimous vote, the
Nebraska House has recommended
for passage a bill appropriating $5,
000,000 for a new capitol building at
Lincoln, with a memorial tablet com
memorating the part Nebraska sol
diers played in the great war.
Contracts for building 34 steel
ships in California yards have been
canceled by the United States Ship
ping Board, according to R. H
Brotherton, director of industrial re
lations. Emergency Fleet Corpora
tion, and examiner for the Shipbuild
ing Labor Adjustment Board.
That the price of beef in the United
States is due for a drop at an early
date, as a result of Great Britain’s
purchasing heavily in Argentina is
the opinion of Frank J. Hagenbarth,
president of the National Woolgrow
ers’ Association. The price of pork
and mutton will be bound to drop this
year, according to Mr. Hagenbarth,
says a Salt Lake City dispatch.
Figures that have been made public
by Gen. Peyton C. March, Chief of
Staff of the United States Army,
show that on Ncv. 11, the day on
which the armistice was signed, the
United States was represented on the
western front by 1,950,000 men.
France, on November 1, the last day
for which official figures were avail
able*, had 2,559,000. The British and
the Portuguese attached to the Brit
ish Army totaled 1,718,000, while the
'Belgian and Italian forces on the
western front aggregated about 200,
000. These totals are all based upon
what is termed the “ration strength.”
This includes every soldier who has to
be fed
CARDINAL POINTS
OF BOLSHEVISM.
The five cardinal points of Bolshev
ism are, according to M. Oudcndyk,
formerly Dutch minister in Petrograd,
as follows:
One: High wages.
Two: Don’t work.
Three: Take other people’* prop
erty.
Four: No punishment.
Five: No taxation.
A garden means flowers. It means
digging out weeds. The garden of
the soul needs weeding every day.—
Queen’s Gardens.
MILLS GO ON FORTY
EIGHTJOUR BASIS
American Woolen Company An
nounces Change in It Tsime Sched
ule, Hut With Wages Reduced to
Meet Innovation.
A Boston dispatch says that the
four mills of tho American Woolen
Company at Lawrence, Massachusetts,
have gone on a basis of 48 hour3
weekly, but with wages reduced to
meet the present 54-hour arrange
ment, the American Woolen Company
is the first large textile concern to
give favorable recognition to any
part of the demand of the United Tex
tile Workers cf America. This an
nouncement following a Conference
with the agents of the four Lawrence
mils. The company says that in the
event that more business warrants the
working of longer hours at times, it
will pay its employes at the rate of
time and a half.
In a statement issued to the com
mittee of its employes having the
question in hand, the company says:
“As a result of our recent confer
ence with you, we have learned that
the desires of the majority of our em
ployes is for 48 hours’ work and for
54 hours’ wages. This means an in
crease in the rate of wages of 12 1-2
per cent. We feel that a further ad
vance in wages such as you request
would naturally increase our risk of
meeting successfully the competition
from foreign manufacturers and
might result in idleness for our mills
and consequently unemployment for
you. In view of the extremely dull
business outlook, and remembering
always the dangers of competition
with foreign manufacturers who pay
wages much lower than the wages
paid by us, and competition from man
facturers in this country whose hours
of employment are longer, the direc
tors of the American Woolen Com
pany do not approve of your request
for an increase in wages. You will
remember that since January 1, 1916,
your wages have been advanced 87
per cent, while the cost of living from
July, 1914, has advanced in industrial
communities, as stated by the Na
tional Industrial Conference Board,
not over 70 per cent, and the tendency
in the cost of living js downward.
“For these reasons, and with the
best interests of our employes always
in mind, we will not increase the rate
of wages, but will pay you 48 hours’
pay for 48 hours’ work, and should
future business make it advisable for
us to run our mills more than 48
hours per week, we will pay you time
and one-half for overtime.
“Although we think that 48 hours
per week will not give the best eco
nomic results for our employes or
for ourselves, yet the directors of the
American Woolen Company are in
sympathy with the desires of its em
ployes for shorter working hours and
will, beginning Monday morning, Feb.
3, open its mills on a new schedule of
48 hours per week.”
Flies Across Continent.
Americus, Ga., Jan. 26.—Maj. Theo
dore McAuley completed his trip
across the continent Saturday by ar
riving at Arcadia, Fla. He then start
ed back, intending to spend tonight
here ,it was learned tonight at Souther
field. He had not arrived, however,
at a late hour, and it was thought
rains over this section forced him to
land prematurely.
It was understood that Major Mc
Auley, who flew first from Fort
Worth, Texas, where he is command
ing officer at Taliaferro field, to San
Diego, Cal., would make the coast-to
coast flight, stopping at Jacksonville,
Arcadia, however is an inland town
almost as far south as Palm Beach.
Pope Seeks Intervention.
Paris, Jan. 26.—Pope Benedict has
requested intervention by Monsignor
Ratti, papal delegate at Warsaw,
Archbishop Bilozeski of Posen and
Archbishop Szeppycki of Lemberg to
end the conflict between the Ukraini
ans and Polish troops, according to a
message received in Paris by the Pol
ish National Committee.
It is said that General Petlura, head
of the peasant army of the Ukraine,
will send a subsidy of 1,000,000 rubles
to the Ukrainian troops fighting tha
Poles in Galicia.
The Red Cross Mission sent by the
International Red Cross at Geneva has
arrived in Cracow to take care of Rus
sian war prisoners still in Poland. Ar
rangements are being made to repat
riate a million Russian war prisoners.
Wordsworth said: “True knowledge
leads to love.” One more argument
for the right sort of education.