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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1920)
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MARCH 21, 1920 5 The victory At Sea By Admiral William Sowden Sims TRAGEDIES TOLD BY THE LISTENING TUBE gT " TrgS-v s?--'r -' gyrate h4s - -Mg ,0-jr: ? . A SLDCIIASER AFIRE AT CORFU. Gasoline firm were very ilnnfcrrnus and acvcral lulichmrm titrt destroyed by them. A "Park from the circles or from the exhaust of a motor might set fire to the (tnsollne when It wai being trans ferred to the tanks. O.N the mornins or beptemher b three eubc-haser units, under the command of Knsisn Ashley D. Adams, U. S. X. R. F., were listening at a point about 150 miles, west of Land's Knd. At about 11:30 two of these units detected what was un questionably the sound of a subma rine. Moreover, the usual "fixes" dis closed that the enemy was close at hand: eo close that two of the units ran up and dropped their charges. The first attack produced no result on the submarine; the depth charge from one of the howitzers, however, unfortunately landed near one of the chasers, and, though it injured no one, it put that particular unit out of commission. However, for two hours Ensign Adams' division kept closely on the heels of the quarry. now stopping to obtain a "fix," now running full speed to catch up with the fleeine prey. At 1 o'clock the plotting room reported that the sub merged boat was just about a hun dred yards ahead. The three chasers laid barrages according to pattern, and the three "T" guns shot their charges; the region of the "fix" w so generously sowed with these bombs that it seemed an impossibility that the German could have escaped HOW St'BMARIKES WERE LOCATED. As soon as the listening- device had located the oand of a submarine this arrow on the pilot house seK in order to indicate to the other ships In the vicinity the direction of the enemy. A SUBCHASER'S STIMi. The depth bombs on the stern were the submarines worst enemies, and when osed In eonnrclloa the listening; devices they were of Inestimable vuliir. .Ith What the Tubes Heard. As soon as the tumult quieted down, the chasers put out their tubes and listened. For 20 minutes not i sound issued from the scene of al this activity. Then a propeller was heard faintly turning or attempting to turn. The noise this time was not the kind which indicated an effort to steal away furtively; it conveyed rather the impression of difficulty and strain. There was a slight grat ing and .squeaking such as might have been made by damaged machin ery. This noise lasted for a few sec onds and then ceased. Presently it started up again and then once more it stopped. The submarine was mak ing a little progress, but fitfully; she would go a few yards, and then pause. A 6light wake now appeared upon the surface, j.uch as a sub merged U-boat usually left when the water was calm; the listeners at the tube were pleased to note that the location of this disturbance coincided precisely wtih their "fix," and thus, in a way, confirmed their calculations. One of the subchasers promptly ran ahead and began to drop depth charges on this wake. There was not the slightest doubt that the surface boat was now directly on top of the sub marine. After one of the depth charges was dropped a black cylin drical object, about thirty inches , long, was hurled 60 feet into the air; just what this unexpected visitant was, no one seems to know, but that it came from the hunted submarine was clear. Could the U-IIoat Day Head f Under such distressing conditions, the U-boat had only a single chance of saving itself; when the water was sufficiently shallow not deeper than 300 fect it could safely sink to the bottom and "play dead," hoping that the chasers, with their accursed list ening devices, would tire of the vigil and return to port. A submarine, if in very good condition, could remain silently on the bottom for two or three days. The listeners on the chaser tubes presently heard sounds which suggested that their enemy was perhaps resorting to this ma neuver. But there were other noises which indicated that possibly this sinking to the bottom was not volun tary. The listeners clearly heard a scraping and a straining, as though the boat was making terrific attempts to rise. There was a lumbering noise, such as might be made by a heavy object trying to drag its hulk along the muddy bottom; this was followed by silence, 'showing that the wounded vessel could advance only a few yards. A terrible tragedy was clearly be ginning down there In the slime of the ocean floor; a boat, with 25 or 30 human beings on board, was hope lessly caught, with nothing in sight except the most lingering death. The listeners on tbe chasers could fallow II .1 I 1 W T T T Til ir 1 mmi :- III Mi, ..usn IF'ZT-WXli mi,,,,-,,., ' k ... y -m 1 '1 to ift o ,) r TSifit,),!,- iln J , 'i-W -.in itK. n ' f-rf" 1 TT ft- . THE HARBOR AT COHFF. Used by the American sub-haner flotilla. At the left Is the olive throve iu which permitted to exercise. the Americans were THE E'CI.E ROOM OF A SUBCHASER. These ships were driven by three 2-O-horsepower motors. An auxiliary motor sjeneratrd electricity anil events almost as clearly as though the inside of the U-boat could be see, for every ' motion the vessel made, every effort that the crew put forth to rescue itself from this living hell, was registered on the delicate wires which reached the ears of the men on the surface. Suddenly sharp metallic sounds came up on the wires. They were clearly made by hammers beating on the eteel body of the U-boat. 'They are trying to make repairs," the listeners reported. If our subchasers had had any more depth charges, they would have promptly put these wretches out of their misery, but they had expended all their ammunition. Darkness was now closing in; our men saw that their vigil was to be a long one; they sent two chasers to Tenzance to get a new supply of bombs, and also sent a radio call for a destroyer. The spot where the submarine had bottomed was marked by a buoy; lanterns were hung out on this buoy., and two units of chasers, six boats' in all, prepared to stand guard. At any moment, of course, the struggling U-boat might come to the surface, and it was nec essai y to have forces near by to fight or to accept surrender. All night long the chasers stood by; now and then the listeners reported scraping and straining noises from below, but these grew faiter and fainter, seeming al most to register the despair which must be seizing the hearts of the im prisoned Germans. At 3 o'clock in the morning a Brit ish destroyer arrived and presently the chasers returned from Penzance with more ammunition. Meanwhile the weather had thickened, a fog had fallen, the lights on the buoy itself had been pulled under by the tide. The watching subchasers were tossed about by the weather, and lost the precise bearing of the 6unken subma rine. When daylight returned and the weather calmed down the chasers again put over their tubes and at tempted to "fix" the U-boat. They listened for hours, without hearing a sound; but about 5 o'clock in the afternoon a sharp, piercing noise came ringing over the wires. It was a sound that made the listen ers' blood run cold. Only one thing in the world could make a sound like that. It was the crack of a revolver. The first report had hardly stilled when another ehot was heard; and then there were more in rapid succession. The listeners on two different chasers heard these pis tol cracks and counted them; the re ports which these two men independ ently made agreed in every detail. In all, 25 shots came from the bottom of the sea. As there were from 23 to 30 men in a submarine crew, the meaning was all too evident. The larg'er part of officers and men, find ing themselves shut tightly in their coffin of steel, had resorted to that escape, which was not uncommonly availed of by German submarine 'crews in this hideous war. Nearly all of them had committed suicide. Meanwhile our subchaser detach ment at Corfu was daily performing excellent service. In these southern waters Captain C. P. Xelson com manded'two squadrons, comprising 36 vessels. The American navy possessed few officers more energetic, more efficient, more lovable or more per sonally engaging than Captain Nelson. The mere fact that he was known among his brother officers as "Juggy Nelson" gives some notion of the af fection which his personality inspired. This nickname did not indicate, as might at first be suspected, that Cap tain Xelson possessed qualities which flew in the face of the prohibitory regulations of our navy; it 'was- in tended, I think, as a description of the physical man. For Captain Nel sons round figure, jocund counte jance and, always buoyant spirits were priceless assets to onr naval forces at Corfu. Living conditions there were not of operated t he pumps. the best; disease was rampant among the Serbians, Greek and Albanians, who made up the civil population; there were few opportunities for en tertainment or relaxation. It was, therefore, a happy chance that the tommander was a man whose very presence radiated an atmosphere of geniality and enthusiasm. His conver sational powers for many years had made him a man of mark; his story telling abilities had long delighted naval officers and statesmen at Wash ington; no other selection for com mander could have been made that would have met with more whole hearted approval from the college boys and other high-type civilians who so largely made up our forces in these flotillas. At Corfu, indeed. Captain Nelson quickly became a popular favorite; his mind was always actively form ing plans for the discomfiture of the German and Austrian submarines, and all our allies were ns much impressed with Ills energy as were our own nun. For Captain Xelson was more than a humorist and entcrtulncr; he was pre-eminently a sailor of the salticflt type, and lie had a ral . barbaric J07 in a fiKht. Even in his official com munications to his officers and men he invariably referred to the enemy as tho "Hun"; the "sloKan" on which he insisted as the guiding principle (,f his flotilla was "get tho Hun before he has a chance to K't us." He had the supreme gift of flilnir his subor dinates with the same spirit that pn- ssessed himself; and the vigilance, the constant activity and the rniuavu of the subchasers' crews admirably sup plemented the sailorliko qualities of the man who commanded them. CoprlKht, l!-, l' Hi" Wiirld'n Work. Th copyright of thrao art iclr s In Jrent Britain is Btrlrtly rrirrvfd by I'cursnn'l MaKU.lrie. London; without tllt'lr prrnit ston no quotatlun may ba made. PuhMntiril by special arrangement with the MrClur Newspaper Syndicate. Another story nrxl Sunday. GERMAN MUSIC CROWDS OUT AMERICAN CREATIVE WORKS Present Policy of "Wagner Programmes" for Concert Public Declared to Show Great Retrogression From Stand Under War Conditions. BV EMILIE FRANCES BAUER. EW YORK, March 20. (Special.) Every season promise to be he "biggest yet" and as the end is neared there is a long list of unfulfilled promises, of vain regrets on' the part ot artists and public alike, impresarious and others. There are changes which set agog those who not be offered in a really artistic manner and not railroaded on with the most offensive speed ever of fered a musical public Neither Mr. Stransky nor Mr. Dam rosch will sustain an argument to prove that their concert public re quire programme after programme of operatic excerpts. If they do. why not play in orchestral form long ex- talk music, and there is the ever ex- cerpts of Puccini, Verdi, Debussy pectant quasi-music lover whose chief pleasure is found in dipping here and there into the novelties In order to form snap-shot judgments which shall sound very erudite to those who are a little lower down the ladder of quasi-cognoscenti. In a certain sense most of the 'im portant promises have been fulfilled and the season was sufficiently over crowded to gratify the most hysteri cal seeker, who like Satan, is ever prowling around in search of what he may devour. But. however crowd ed the season of 1919-20 may have been, it is nothing in comparison to what we may expect during 1920-21, and the one great duty of the Ameri can public is to see that it be not the American creative works that are "crowded out" for the purpose of making room for the inevitable "Wagner programmes," his1 was so glaring already this year that one need not be very keen intellectually to read the writing on the wall, here is a great retrogression in many of the programmes today from what they were before war conditions barred German music, but if German m.usic we must have, why' abouja it operas? hy not play more Brahm and Beethoven and less operatic mu sic which at its very best is inartistic in concert form? If, indeed, it be so urgent to get back into the German harness, why not go in straightfor ward, honest fashion back to Richard Strauss whose Death and Apotheo sis," "Til Eulenspiegel," "Thus Spake zarathustra" and a long list of others, are infinitely more dignified as mu sical works than the Wagnerian ex cerpts upon which the New York au diences have been fed ad nauseam. This does not mean that Strauss is better, more artistic or more welcome as a musician than Wagner, neither of whom is necessary at the present time, but from the standpoint of true art, his works would be less offen sive on a symphony programme than operatic excerpts from anything. It would be interesting to know how many of the American works which were promised this season have been "postponed" on account of the Ger man repertory with which it was nec essary in the minds of the conduc tors to gorge the public. Unrest which extends into every known field naturally cannot Igave music to flow its usual serene and happy course, and whether it has to do with national troubles or with labor, who knows, and indeed, who cares? Directly -upon news of th very great success enjoyed by Fred erick Fradkin as soloist with the Boston Symphony orchestra in Its home town recently, comes the later information that on account of re fusal to arise when called upon by Pierre Monteux, conductor of that great organization, to share with the conductor the applause being show ered upon the orchestra, the concert master severed connection with said orchestra. To one not in sympathy with the "artistic temperament" so ably defended by the New York American when its pet Toscanini was a victim of his own idiosyncracies. the story given must seem week knede and untenable. It is truly a pity that the withdrawing concert- master should be an American, but rather the violinist than the splendid conductor who has won his way against odds of every sort, all of wnicn nave their foundation in poli tics. Monteux has been eager in his research for American compositions and has been an inspiration to many of the composers of his country. To him may be credited the astuteness of giving a concert performance of one of the cleverest, most national and most musical creations of this coun try the Henry F. Gilbert "Dance of the Congo Place," which was brought forwarded as a ballet by Giulio Gatti Casazza last season. It is certain that Gilbert's share in this work was ad mirable and that if it suffered from anything it was from the incongruous union of dance form supposed to "in terpret" the atmosphere of New Or leans. Monteux's contribution to the or chestral gems of the day when he brought forward the tone poem, "The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan," is beyond estimate. Following that per formance almost every great orches tra in this souetry " lound tb tre mendous Importance of Charles T. Griffes' works, none of which has ever awakened a mere polite hear ing, but with press and public flashed the composer into sensational success. It is interesting to note that Monteux has asked Robert Schmitz to play the Carpenter "Concertino" in New York as he played it last week in Boston. This will be doubly wel come as it will bring a soloist to the Boston Symphony concerts of which this organization has been in sore need, particularly in a day of limited repertory. This is the work that was sched uled for performance by Percy Grainger who was to have done It January 29-30 with the Philharmonic orchestra, Josef Stransky conducting. Of course Grainger did not play those concerts after all as he was ill with an aggravated case of influenza, but it is a fact that owing to some com plication about copying parts, or the score, or something of that sort, it would not have had its performance upon that occasion. Among the orchestral scores which should be available for concert per formances, taking Monteux's initia tive as example, may be mentioned the ballets seen recently with the Chicago Opera association. It would do no harm indeed, to separate that delectable story of "Boudour" from its lovely score by Borowski, and give it as many hearings as we have orchestras in the country, for musi cally it is beautiful, the work of a poet and a true musician. The same might in a sense be said of the Car penter "Birthday of the Infanta," one performance of which is not enough for a composition of such merit, and It would not be any more inartistic to separate it from its stag ing than it is to lift scenes out of the Wagner operas. A fair glance into conditions as they are shows that musical propaganda like charity should begin at home. We had a fighting chance, and then came the armistice! ', ' HOME GARDENS BEST SOLUTION OF FOOD PROBLEMS OF TODAY Thrift Food Plots Important in 1920 Begin Now to Make Your Back yard Pay, by Planting Garden. w ASHIXGTOX, March 20. One Hire frotn seed merchants, whose way of reducing the cost of living is open to every man woman and child who can get the use of an idle plot of ground. That way lies through tho planting and cultiva tion of a home garden a thrift gar den. War gardens played their part in the great mobilization of resources in war time thrift gardens now have their own big. job in helping house holds to feed themselves. The reasons for thrift gardens are many and various. The same reasons that existed last year and the year before still are present. Thrift gar dens will produce food where nothing otherwise would be produced, they will reduce family food bills, they will return abundantly in proportion to the time and effort devoted to them. But added to these reasons is another ome peculiar to this year. Reports to the United States de partment of agriculture indicate that the plantings by commercial vegeta ble gardeners will be materially re duced this year, because the commer cial gardeners see no way of obtain ing enough labor to conduct their usual operations. The commercial gardeners claim that they have Paid high wages in endeavors to keep up production, but now have reached the point where the returns will not justify the continuance of this ex pense. At least, that is the report reaching tbe- Department of Aericul- (rations ut this season arc reuarded as a trooil Indication of what condi tions will be a month or two from now. If the reduction of cominet clal gar dening becomes a fact, tho obvious result will be fewer vegetables land higher prices. The toxical remedy lies partly in home garden. This is a remedy, moreover, that will work no harm even If commercial acreage should bo up to normal, as any nur plus of fresh vegetables may be saved by canning, drying and other mentis of conservation and the surplus kept so that it will be useful next fall and winter. Thousands of families learned the, value of home gardens In war time. United States department of agricul ture specialists believe It essential that these fa mil lew' interest be main tained and that other thousands lie added to the home food producers. "Xow is the time to begin making plans for your 1920 thrift garden," these Fpeclalists declare. "Fifst. locnte a piece of suitable land; second, make your plan: third, get your needs: fourth, start work at the earliest pos sible moment." A request to the United States de partment of ngrlculture. Washington. D. C, will bring a booklet that will tell you how to plan your garden, how much seed to buy, how to get the land In shape for cultivation, how to take every other step in the process of making your back yard or some other vacant lot help teed you.
