MANAWATU DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1918. NAVY THE REAL POWER.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13902, 3 June 1918, Page 4

MANAWATU DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1918. NAVY THE REAL POWER.

The most interesting comments on. the value of sea-power in the present war come from enemy sources. Commenting on the German “drive” in the West, the “ Arbeiter Zeitung, ” the Vienna Socialist paper, declared bluntly that no successes in the West would give Germany victory. “Do not bo deceived,” it said, ** Germany’s victories will never force the Entente to accept a peace of violence. If the Germans could take Calais and Paris, and even force France and Italy to capitulate, then there would remain the English, safe in their island, and America, protected by the ocean. They can always conqtinue the war by sea and the greatest victory on the land cannot impose a peace of force on America and England.” The “Arbiter Zeitung” reflects what seems to be a widespread anxiety in enemy countries —that the Allies may use their sea-power !<>■ deprive Ofimany of raw materials. Even the greatest possible victory in France would n ' lift the, blockade of German ports, and the Allies would have, even after the war was over, “a terrible weapon, against us.” “The domestic, economy” of the Central Powers “cannot exist permanently without the wheal, the

copper, and tho cotton from America, I the nickel from Canada, the cotton of Egypt and India, the phosphates from the North African coast, the rubber of the English tropical colonies, Indian jute, and the oil plants of the South Sea Islands. There will bo a, scarcity of all these tilings after the war, and there will be great competition for them. If England and Ajnorica do not deliver to us these raw materials after the war, then wo as conquerors are conquered/’ These are the views of a Socialist. But the naval expert of the “Vossischo Zeitung,” a Berlin Conservative newspaper, says much, the same thing. “Invincible, secure against sudden invasion, and vet readv at any moment to strike a blow with overwhelming superiority, the English High Sea Heels lie waiting in their ports. Under their protection, England’s sea trade follows the old, profitable roads. ’ Ihis win be unpleasant reading tor the Germans who build high hopes on their submarines. “If England’s Allies collapsed militarily and economically.' continues Captain Tagert, “England could continue the war as a pure naval war with almost the whole tonnage ol the world at her disposal.” The war will not come to this stage, but these opinions are worth quoting as showing how at least a section of enemy opinion is impressed by the tremendous importance of sea power. In the end this power must give us victory, but only if w» use fully and properly the instruments it enables us to use, and hold out until the day of their maximum Vmployment.