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Show mm m& ABOlITJj BOATS WASHINGTON, Oct. 30. "Wo never nev-er thought of that." Thisis tho answer official Washington Wash-ington ' has beon giving for several days to a very pertinent question, put by Thomas A. 'Edison, inventor extraordinary extra-ordinary and plenipotentiary. The answer sounds simple, but it is no simpler than the question. Both became known last night following Mr. Edison's visit and interviews with high government officials. The Inventor In-ventor has been working on tho submarine sub-marine problem and rumors havo had it he has perfected plans for an invisible invis-ible and unslnkable ship. It developed that, whether or not he has designed such a marvel, he has got to tho root of the problem. Just as an sciontist gathers all his facts before attacking his problom, Mr. Edison asked for all data on submarine subma-rine sinkings. Everything the state, war and navy departments had and all that could be gathered from the shipping board, allied embassies and elsewhere was turned over to him. Mr. Edison retired to his laboratories laborator-ies to seo what conclusions could bo drawn and on his return to Washington Washing-ton ho brought, so it is said, a bundlo of maps. It was at first Intended to keep the maps secret, but they were shown to so many, officials that a rough description leaked out No military mili-tary harm being possible, this description descrip-tion may be set forth: Ono map shows where ships havo oeen sunk by submarines. Marks are set down for each ship lost These marks form three, equilateral triangles. The tip of ono touches the English channel, with the sides rostlng on tho south of England and the coast of France. Tho tip of a second touches QueenBtown, with Its sides projecting out Into the Atlantic. Tho tip of the third fits into the gulf stream as It floats around tho north coast of Ireland. Ire-land. Having shown where the majority of tho sinkings took place. Mr. Edison turned his attention to tho respective times of tho sinkings. He shows that In each triangle a certnln small per-I per-I contago took place between midnight and dawn, a vastly larger porcentago botweon dawn and mldafternoon, a small percentage betwoen dunk and midnight. Danger Zones His final deduction was that over 90 per cent of tho losses duo to U-boats took placo in tho triangles, and that over 85 per cont of these, camo in broad daylight. Armed with his figures fig-ures and his maps, Mr. Edison attacked at-tacked official Washington with this question: "Why-do you-Bend-ships-into theao areas in the daytime?" No answer being forthcoming, he queried: "Why not send the ships through these places at night?" Washington's answer has been quoted. Just what use will be made of Mr. Edison's findings cannot be stated. The allies havo been trying to guide vessels through a roughly outlined zone by night and Mr. Edison's maps show that failure to make the zone sufficiently specific and failure to make ship captains observe the rule have been excessively costly. |