UNCHARTED SEAS

As in a street accident the curious, excited crowd impedes the recovery of the injured, so in the sinking of the S-1 there was much shouting and treading on toes that made painful a tragic circumstance, and that brings, now that panic struck hope has turned to quiet sorrow, a flood of regret and retraction. In an interview in this paper. Commander R. C. Grady deplores this troublesome intervention on the part of laymen entirely ignorant of the facts, and declares that the Navy has done everything possible to safeguard the lives of in submarines. Yesterday, even as President Coolidge insisted that the investigation of the disaster he pushed to the almost. Senator La Guardian of New York, after spending thirty-two hours in the sister ship of the S-4, fore up the speech he had written attacking the Navy Department.

Perhaps the remarks of Secretary Wilbur, and the impersonal attitude of the naval officers, were unfortunate at a time when the public was torturing itself with the details of the men's suffering. But it is hard for the civilian to understand the way the cold, indeed, but efficient way the military machine functions at a time like this. If the men had foundered at sea in a tramp steamor, the event would not have received half a column. But because it was dramatic, and occurred in a submarine, it was a perfect opportunity for subjective citizens and obscure congressmen to assail the navy. Few there are who would advocate the abolition of the automobile to save pedestrians, but the demand that submarines be done away with was but one of the cries of a silly squabble that one cane only hope will be obscured behind the bravery of the victims and the divers who attempted their rescue.