consideration by those engaged in the diplomatic controversy over the
various acts of the German submarines--and the lesson is considered
extremely vital in its bearing on the pending negotiations, because,
if it is at all possible for submarines to exercise the right of visit
and search and they actually proceed in accordance with that rule, the
Germans may proceed with their warfare against merchantmen carrying
contraband without running counter to the expectations of the United
States Government. Occasional merchantmen may try to escape capture or
destruction by disregarding warning shots, but that will be their
affair and the responsibility for loss of life due to efforts to elude
submarines, and caused during the period of continued efforts to
escape, would not then rest upon the submarines.

The effective use of rapid-fire guns mounted on submarines in bona
fide efforts to halt merchant steamers for purpose of visit and search
is the important factor in the situation. A submarine not so equipped
would find it difficult, if not impossible, to apply the rule of visit
and search. Without the outside guns such a submarine would possess no
other effective weapon than the torpedo. The submarine that carried no
exterior armament could not compel obedience to its mandate for the
merchant Captain to stop without firing a torpedo and thus risking the
destruction of life with the sinking of the steamer, and a submarine
with no outside armament might run the risk, as frequently contended
by the German Admiralty, of bomb attack from the rails of the merchant
steamer when going alongside of such a vessel.

[Illustration: GENERAL CARLO CANEVA

One of the Most Conspicuous of Italian Military Commanders

(_Photo from Central News._)]

[Illustration: H.I.M. FRANCIS JOSEPH I.

Latest Portrait of the Venerable Sovereign of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire

(_Photo from Bain._)]

A submarine like the U-38, which sank the Armenian, carrying one or
more outside guns, capable of discharging various kinds of shell, from
blank shots to shrapnel, represents an important evolution in the
development of marine warfare. Such a craft has the equipment to
enable her to visit and search a passing merchantman, and to provide
for the safe removal of officers, crew or passengers from a challenged
steamer, before the destruction of the vessel. It is only necessary
for such a submarine to fire her torpedoes as a last resort for the
destruction of