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Show SECRETARY OF I IW TELLS OF I WARMESSAGES I i Sims Was Hypnotized by Brit- ish, Daniels Tells Senate 'H Investigators WILSON CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT ACT President Disappointed by An- swer Sent by Admiral jB From London "WASHINGTON, May 12. A confl- jH dential Cablegram from President H Wilson to Hear Admiral Sims in Lon- H don, sent during tho war, was read to H the senate naval investigating com- H mlttee today by Secretary Daniels. It H expressed surprise that the British H admiralty had failed to "use Great H Britain's great naval superiority" ef- jH fectively npa'nst submarines, and called on Aumiral Sims for comments and suggestions based on "Independ- ent thought" and without regard to J "judgments of any one on that side of J the water." The admiralty was "helpless to the '1 point of panic" in tho face of the sub- marine situation, the message said. Il "Every plan wc suggest they reject '1 for some reason of prudence," Mr. ,H "Wilson added. "In my view this Is not a time for prudence, but for -bold- jf ncss, even at the cost of xrcat losses." ' IJ Sims' Advice Sought. In conclusion, President Wilson J asked Admiral Sims to advise him as jf : he would advise "If you were running H a navy of your own." jH Admiral Sims' reply, said Secretary IH Daniels, who presented the president's IH .message in connection with hls'answcr ' J to Sims' charges-agaiust-thc. n3y dc- jJ partm6nt's conduct of tho. war w;as "a long telegram oigcncralltles of.. what H the British admiralty was doing." AVHson's Telegram. President Wilson's message to Sims IH "From the beginning of tho war i L have been greatly surprised at Hie fill lure of the British admiral- IH ty to use Great Britain's great fl iiitvnl superiority in an effective ! H way. In the presence of tho prcs- ! IH cut submarine emergency they IH are Helpless to tnq point or pnnic. H "ID'vcry plan wc suggest thej reject for some reason of pru-deuce. pru-deuce. In my view this is not the time for prudciKx-, but for bold-nes bold-nes even at the cost of great "in inot of your dispatches you liiirc quite properly advised 'tis of (he sort of aid and co-opcr-alion desired from us by the ad- jJ mirnlty. The trouble is that their plans and methods do not seem to us efficacious. I would be very much obliged to you if you would report lu mo, confidentially of course, exactly what the admiralty has been doing and what they have accomplished, and, added to the report, your own comments and suggestions, based upon in-dependent in-dependent thought of the whole iH situation without the judgments of any one on that side of the wa- "The admiralty was very slow to adopt the protection of con-voys, con-voys, and Is not now, .1 judge, - " IH (protecting) convoys on adequate scale within the danger zone, seeming to keep small craft with the grand ricct. The absence of craft for convoy .is even more apparent on the French coast I hun on the J2ugllsh coast and lu the elm unci. 1 do not sec how tho necessary ndlltary supplies of fowl and fuel oil arc to be de-livcrcd de-livcrcd ut British ports in any other way within the next few months than under adequate con-voy. con-voy. There will presently not be , ships or tunkcrs enough, and our shipbuilding plans may not begin IH to yield important results in less j IH than eighteen months. , IH "I believe that you will keep these instructions absolutely nnd entirely to yourself, nnd that you will give nic such advice as you f would give if you wcro handling .H and if you were running a navy of your own." Telegram from Sims. Mr. Daniels also read a -telegram from Admiral Sims to former Ambas- satlor Page, written August 7, 1017, H which in part said; "In this connection I have a sug-gestion sug-gestion to make. X havo received word, practically directly from tho president, that ho was much dis-pleased dis-pleased with my reply to his cablo- ;H gram; that it did not change his opln-ion opln-ion at all; that he regarded me as owned by the admiralty and so, pro-British pro-British that ho seriously considered the advisability of replacing me by somo other officer." Admiral Sims' reply to the president told also of plans for a combined sea and land attack to turn tho: German H right flank and cut off Zecbruggo as a provisioning base, Mr. Daniels said. "That was the kind of 'bold and H audaoious' thing the president and the ;H navy department had been urging jH from our entrance into the war," ddc- , clarcd tho secretary. "But even then vll Admiral Sims said it had not been i (Continued on pogo 3.) j' 5jB ' Secretary of Navy Tells of War Messages (Continued from pago 1.) definitely? decided on by the war council, coun-cil, though the daring and successful attack on Zccbruggc came much later. ( It might have been a very different story If it had been undertaken earlier ear-lier when the navy department was urging some such bold plan, all of which Admiral Sims thought 'imprac-ticaUlp 'imprac-ticaUlp when urged by tho navy de- partmcnt." Considered Impractical. Admiral Sims told the president he had been shown studios of the department's de-partment's plan to prevent the egress of submarines, Mr. Daniels said, and that ho considered tho scheme impracticable. im-practicable. ' "He evidently sought to discredit the navy department's plans by saying that these same suggestions and many similar ones had been mado by the people of all classes since the beginning begin-ning of tho war," said Mr. Daniels. Sims' cable to tho president, suggested suggest-ed that tho proper policy to pursue was to adopt the recommendations he had made to the department, "most of which had been decided upon and put in operation after Admiral Sims suggested sug-gested them," Secretary Dahiels declared. de-clared. "lie added," the secretary continued, contin-ued, "that we should adopt an organization organ-ization similar in all respects to the British squadron, and virtually transfer trans-fer all naval authority to his headquarters head-quarters in London. Hypnotised by British. Two "remarkable and significant statements" in Admiral Sims' reply to" President Wilson were cited by Mr. Daniels as evidence that tho admiral was "so hypnotized by British influences influ-ences that he was willing to try to lure the president of tho United States into , the feelings that regardless of future developments we can always count upon the support of the British navy." The fh"st was that the views ho had expressed were in all cases "an independent inde-pendent opinion based upon specific facts collected in the admiralty and other government departments." Tho second was as follows: "Depend upon the fact, which I be'-' be'-' lieve to bo true, that regardless of any future developments we can always ! count upon the support of the British navy. 1 have been assured of this by important government officials." "It would be interesting 'to know what British officials assured him that regardless of futuro develop- count upon the support of the British navy," said Mr. Daniels. "Itseoins inconceivable in-conceivable that any admiral could havo regarded such assurances as wort,h paying tolls . to transmit. ISvery school boy should know that In a democratic government no government govern-ment official could pledgo his country's coun-try's navy to support another government govern-ment regardless of future developments. develop-ments. It is to be hoped that if Admiral Ad-miral Sims has such assurances he will send a copy of tho pledge in writing, with the name of tho 'important government gov-ernment officials' appended theroto to fbe filed In the archives of 'sops for tho simple.' " Ttcversc of Truth. Admiral Sims was "under the spell of influences that made him believe that the British government could bo depended upon more to take care of America than that America should depend de-pend upon her own strong right arm," said Mr. Daniels, "This attitude of acceptance of everything British," he added, "un- doubtedly accounts for his opposition to tho creation of an independent) American army, and his id,ea that tho America"n troops' sent abroad should bo used as an annex to the British army, quoting General Bliss as recommending recom-mending tha policy. When General Bliss read that Admiral Sims had! quoted him as advocating such a policy, poli-cy, he wrote at once to tho secretary of war declaring the truth to bo exactly ex-actly the reverse." j nn |