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Show H SUBMARINES COULD PROTECT H AMERICA. M The National Defense League wil'l M send a statement to President Wil- H son, declaring that without a greatly M increased, number of submarines for H our nav', the present movement for H military preparedness will appear to H other nations as ineffective and ab- m surd. H Primarily, tho demand for a big in- croaso in submarines comes from the navy officers and nav4al exports, but it is significant that this request is backed up by army officors of high rank. Particularly among tho coast artillery and tho coast fortification experts ex-perts is there a strong demand for submarines. Tho explanation for this lies in tho fact that thero are at various points on the shores of the United States portions of tho sea which can bo protected pro-tected .only by BubmarineB. This is because fortifications are not built so that the guns may sweep theso waters and tho currents are so swift and ungovernable un-governable that mines cannot be placed in them with any hope of di-finite di-finite results. Thero has come about, therefore, the unusual spectacle of a group of army officers joining navy officers in the demand for better submarine protection. The big American submarine build-I build-I Ing company, according to reports, is operating in Canada so successfully success-fully that, as soon as the submarines are completed for tho allies, they are , put into the water and sent across tho Atlantic under their own power with full war equipment and ready to meet the enemy. Tho factory in Cannda, ! which is devoted to assembling boats of tho Holland type, is made necessary neces-sary because of the international law ' against building them in the United States and then sending them to the allies. A submarine, we are told, costs about half a million dollars Three hundred submarines flying tho Stars and Stripes would cost less than a week of actual war. the authorities estimate, and, since a submarine can destroy any battleship that floats, a flotilla of 300 of the undersea craft would be an unfailing insurance against Invasion by a foreign foe at any time. I The president will be told that now is the time to engage the talent and resources of the American submarine companies so that not all of their output out-put can be sent to foreign countries. "With 300 modern submarines, the United States could defy the world to successfully land troops on American soil." This statement was made recently by Lieut. C. R. Morrison, chief aide on the staff of Rear Admiral Grant, commander of tho Atlantic submarine flotilla and considered tho most foremost fore-most expert on undersea crafL "There is not a foreign nation, or even a combination of nations, that could successfully land sufficient troops on American soil to combat even our present army," declared Lieutenant Morrison. i |