s. Within twenty-four hours the
United States sent the German Ambassador from the country and within
two months we were at war.

At once the submarine was seen to be the great problem confronting
us. Its attack was not so much upon the United States, for we are a
self-contained nation able to raise all that we need within our own
borders for our own support. But England is a nation that has to be
fed from without. Seldom are her stores of food great enough to
avert starvation for more than six weeks should the steady flow of
supply ships from America and Australia to her ports be interrupted.
This interruption the Germans proposed to effect by means of their
underwater boats. Von Tirpitz and other leaders in the German
administration promised the people that within six weeks England
would be starved and begging for peace at any price. The output of
submarines from German navy yards was greatly increased. Their
activity became terrifying. The Germans estimated that if they could
sink 1,000,000 tons of shipping monthly they would put England out
of action in two or three months. For some weeks the destruction
accomplished by their boats narrowly approached this estimate, but
gradually fell off. At the same time there was no period in 1917 up
to the time of Admiral Peary's statement, or indeed up to that of
the preparation of this book, when it was not felt that the cause of
the Allies was in danger because of the swarms of German submarines.

It was that feeling, coupled with the wide-spread belief that
aircraft furnished the best means of combating the submarine, that
caused an irresistible demand in the United States for the
construction of colossal fleets of these flying crafts. Congress
enacted in midsummer the law appropriating $640,000,000 for the
construction of aircraft and the maintenance of the aerial service.
The Secretaries of War and the Navy each appealed for heavy
additional appropriations for aerial service. The arguments which
have already been set forth as supporting the use of aircraft in
military service were paralleled by those who urge its unlimited use
in naval service.

Consider [said they] the primary need for attacking these vipers
of the sea in their nests. Once out on the broad Atlantic their
chances of roaming about undetected by destroyers or other patrol
boats are almost unlimited. But we know where they come from,
from Kiel, Antwerp, Wilhelmshaven, Ostend, and Z