explosive timed to go off at a certain distance under water. In one instance oil and wreckage covered the surface of the sea after a shot from a destroyer at a periscope, and the reports make claim of sinking.
Protected by our high-seas convoy, by our destroyers, and by French war-vessels, the contingent proceeded and joined the others in a French port.
The whole nation will rejoice that so great a peril is past for the vanguard of the men who will fight our battles in France. No more thrilling Fourth-of-July celebration could have been arranged than this glad news that lifts the shadow of dread from the heart of America.
A wave of joyful enthusiasm swept the nation. Every newspaper in the land carried the statement in full, and not even the partizan press, always so eager to criticize, had a word to say about "bombast" or "flamboyancy." For the moment, at least, the meannesses of prejudice were subordinated to the exaltations of patriotism.
Three days later Mr. Melville Stone, of the Associated Press, received a despatch from his London correspondent stating that officers at the American flotilla base in English waters had declared that the transports were not attacked by submarines at all, and that it was more than likely that the supposed U-boats were merely floating spars or blackfish. Mr. Stone telephoned the Secretary of the Navy from New York and Mr. Daniels gained the impression that a representative of the Associated Press would call upon him with the despatch before its release. When the Washington correspondent came, however, the Secretary was astounded to learn that the London cable had already been put on the wires and that the visit had no greater purpose than to find out "if he had anything to say." Mr. Daniels pointed out that the despatch was absolutely anonymous in that it did not give the name of a single American officer responsible for the slander, and declared his sense of outrage that the comment of unknown
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