GERMAN-AMERICAN SHIPS

We have had trouble with objects and people made in Germany and transported to the United States, but at last some things of Teutonic origin have begun to do their share towards aiding the Allied cause. The German liners interned here during the war are the objects in question.

When war was declared we had in our ports some of the finest of the German liners. The Vaterland, the largest ship in the world, the Kronprinzessin Cecllie, the Amerika, and several other "floating palaces," as well as a great number of freighters were just waiting for the United States to make use of them. Unfortunately, in spite of every precaution, the Germans were able to wreck the engines of these steamers. The Kaiser believed that none of these boats would all under the Stars and Stripes for many a year. He had not reckoned on our engineers. In a short time the German liners were ready to go to sea, the Vaterland was taken on a trip to the Panama Canal and was overhauled there, and now the entire repatriated fleet has landed its thousands of troops in France.

We may worry about the shipping problem and wonder how to carry a million men a year to France, but the notice of the arrival of the German liners is a most encouraging event in a period of doubt and hesitation. The other branches of the service might take the Navy's work as an example. They could learns a great lesson.