CHAPTER I
I WITNESS THE BLOWING UP OF THE PANAMA CANAL
In my thirty years' service as war correspondent of the London _Times_ Ihave looked behind the scenes of various world happenings, and have knownthe thrill of personally facing some great historic crises; but there isnothing in my experience so dramatic, so pregnant with humanconsequences, as the catastrophe of April 27, 1921, when the Gatun Locksof the Panama Canal were destroyed by dynamite.
At that moment I was seated on the shaded, palm-bordered piazza of theGrand Hotel at Colon, discussing with Rear-Admiral Thomas Q. Allyn of theUnited States Navy the increasing chances that America might find herselfplunged into war with Japan. For weeks the clouds had been darkening, andit was now evident that the time had come when the United States musteither abandon the Monroe Doctrine and the open door in China, or fightto maintain these doctrines.
"Mr. Langston," the Admiral was saying, "the situation is extremelygrave. Japan intends to carry out her plans of expansion in Mexico andChina, and possibly in the Philippines; there is not a doubt of it. Herfleet is cruising somewhere in the Pacific,--we don't know where,--andour Atlantic fleet passed through the Canal yesterday, as you know, tomake a demonstration of force in the Pacific and to be ready for--forwhatever may come."
His hands closed nervously, and he studied the horizon with half-shuteyes.
In the course of our talk Admiral Allyn had admitted that the UnitedStates was woefully unprepared for conflict with a great power, either onsea or land.
"The blow will be struck suddenly," he went on, "you may be sure of that.Our military preparations are so utterly inadequate that we may sufferirreparable harm before we can begin to use our vast resources. You knowwhen Prussia struck Austria in 1866 the war was over in three months.When Germany struck France in 1870 the decisive battle, Sedan, was foughtforty-seven days later. When Japan struck Russia, the end was foreseenwithin four or five months."
"It wasn't so in the great European war," I remarked.
"Why not? Because England held the mastery of the sea. But we hold themastery of nothing. Our fleet is barely third among the nations and weare frightfully handicapped by our enormous length of coast line and bythis canal."
"The Canal gives us a great advantage, doesn't it? I thought it doubledthe efficiency of our fleet?"
"It does nothing of the sort. The Canal may be seized. It may be put outof commission for weeks or months by landslides or earthquakes. A fewhostile ships of the _Queen Elizabeth_ class lying ten miles off shore ateither end, with ranges exactly fixed, or a good shot from an aeroplane,could not only destroy the Canal's insufficient defences, but couldprevent our fleet from coming through, could hold it, useless, in theAtlantic when it might be needed to save California or useless in thePacific when it might be needed to save New York. If it happened when warbegan that one half of our fleet was in the Atlantic and the other halfin the Pacific, then the enemy could keep these two halves separated anddestroy them one by one."
"I suppose you mean that we need two fleets?"
"Of course we do--a child can see it--if we are to guard our twoseaboards. We must have a fleet in the Atlantic strong enough to resistany probable attack from the East, and another fleet in the Pacificstrong enough to resist any probable attack from the West.
"But listen to this, think of this," the veteran warrior leaned towardsme, shaking an eager fore-finger. "At the present moment our entirefleet, if massed off Long Island, would be inferior to a fleet thatGermany could send across the Atlantic against us by many ships, manysubmarines and many aeroplanes. And hopelessly inferior in men andammunition, including torpedoes."
As I listened I felt myself falling under the spell of the Admiral'seloquence. He was so sure of what he said. These dangers unquestionablyexisted, but--were they about to descend upon America? Must we reallyface the horrors of a war of invasion?
"Your arguments are very convincing, sir, and yet--" I hesitated.
"Well?"
"You speak as if these things were going to happen _right now,_ but thereare no signs of war, no clouds on the horizon."
The Admiral waved this aside with an impatient gesture.
"I tell you the blow will come suddenly. Were there any clouds on theEuropean horizon in July, 1914? Yet a few persons knew, just as I haveknown for months, that war was inevitable."
"Known?" I repeated.
Very deliberately the grizzled sea fighter lighted a fresh cigar beforereplying.
"Mr. Langston, I'll tell you a little story that explains why I am posingas a prophet. You can put it in your memoirs some day--if my prophecycomes true. It's the story of an American naval officer, a younglieutenant, who--well, he went wrong about a year ago. He got into theclutches of a woman spy in the employ of a foreign government. He metthis woman in Marseilles on our last Mediterranean cruise and fell inlove with her--hopelessly. She's one of those devilish sirens that nofull-blooded man can resist and, the extraordinary part of it is, shefell in love with him--genuinely in love.
"Well--it was a bad business. This officer gave the woman all he had,told her all he knew, and finally he asked her to marry him. Yes. Hedidn't care what she was. He just wanted her. And she was so happy, socrazy about him, that she almost yielded; she was ready to turn over anew leaf, to settle down as his wife, but--"
"But she didn't do it?" I smiled.
The Admiral shook his head.
"He was a poor man--just a lieutenant's pay and she couldn't give up hergrand life. But she loved him enough to try to save him, enough to leavehim. She wrote him a wonderful letter, poured her soul out to him, gavehim certain military secrets of the government she was working for--theywould have shot her in a minute, you understand, if they had knownit--and she told him to take this information as a proof of her love anduse it to save the United States."
I was listening now with absorbed interest.
"What government was she working for?"
The Admiral paused to relight his cigar.
"Wait! The next thing was that this lieutenant came to me, as a friend ofhis father and an admiral of the American fleet, and made a clean breastof everything. He made his confession in confidence, but asked me to usethe knowledge as I saw fit without mentioning his name. I did use itand"--the Admiral's frown deepened--"the consequence was no one believedme. They said the warning was too vague. You know the attitude of recentadministrations towards all questions of national defence. It's alwayspolitics before patriotism, always the fear of losing middle westpacifist votes. It's disgusting--horrible!"
"Was the warning really vague?"
"Vague. My God!" The old sea dog bounded from his chair. "I'll tell youhow vague it was. A statement was definitely made that before May 1,1921, a great foreign power would make war upon the United States andwould begin by destroying the Panama Canal. To-day is April 27, 1921. Idon't say these things are going to happen within three days but, Mr.Langston, as purely as the sun shines on that ocean, we Americans areliving in a fool's paradise. We are drunk with prosperity. We are deafand blind to the truth which is known to other nations, known to ourenemies, known to the ablest officers in our army and navy.
"The truth is that, as a nation, we have learned nothing from our pastwars because we have never had to fight a first-class power that wasprepared. But the next war, and it is surely coming, will find us held inthe grip of an inexorable law which provides that nations imitating themilitary policy of China must suffer the fate of China."
The Admiral now explained why he had sent for me. It was to suggest thatI cable the London _Times_, urging my paper to use its influence, throughBritish diplomatic channels, to avert another great war. I pointed outthat the chances of such intervention were slight. Great Britain wasstill smarting under the memory of Americans' alleged indifference toeverything but money in 1918 when the United States stood by,unprotesting, and saw England stripped of her mastery of the sea afterthe loss of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal.
"There
are two sides to that," frowned the Admiral, "but one thing iscertain--it's England or no one. We have nothing to hope for from Russia;she has what she wants--Constantinople. Nothing to hope for from France;she has her lost provinces back. And as for Germany--Germany is waiting,recuperating, watching her chance for a place in the South American sun."
"Germany managed well in the Geneva Peace Congress of 1919," I said.
The veteran of Manila threw down his cigarette impatiently.
"Bismarck could have done no better. They bought off Europe, theycrippled England and--they isolated America."
"By the way," continued the Admiral, "I must show you some things in myscrap book. You will be astonished. Wait a minute. I'll get it."
The old fellow hurried off and presently returned with a heavy volumebound in red leather.
"Take it up to your room to-night and look it over. You will find themost overwhelming mass of testimony to the effect that to-day, in spiteof all that has been said and written and all the money spent, the UnitedStates is totally unprepared to defend its coasts or uphold its nationalhonour. Just open the book anywhere--you'll see."
I obeyed and came upon this statement by Theodore Roosevelt:
What befell Antwerp and Brussels will surely some day befall New York orSan Francisco, and may happen to many an inland city also, if we do notshake off our supine folly, if we trust for safety to peace treatiesunbacked by force.
"Pretty strong words for an ex-President of the United States to beusing," nodded the Admiral. "And true! Try another place."
I did so and came upon this from the pen of Gerhard vonSchulze-Gaevernitz, professor of political economy at the University ofFreiburg and a member of the Reichstag:
Flattered and deftly lulled to sleep by British influence, publicopinion in the United States will not wake up until the 'yellow NewEngland' of the Orient, nurtured and deflected from Australia by Englandherself, knocks at the gates of the new world. Not a patient and meekChina, but a warlike and conquest-bound Japan will be the aggressor whenthat day comes. Then America will be forced to fight under unfavourableconditions.
The famous campaigner's eyes flashed towards the Pacific.
"When that day comes! Ah! Speaking of Japan," he turned over the pages innervous haste. "Here we are! You can see how much the Japanese love us!Listen! This is an extract from the most popular book in Japan to-day. Itis issued by Japan's powerful and official National Defence Associationwith a view to inflaming the Japanese people against the United Statesand preparing them for a war of invasion against this country. Listen tothis:
"Let America beware! For our cry, 'On to California! On to Hawaii!On to the Philippines!' is becoming only secondary to our imperialanthem!... To arms! We must seize our standards, unfurl them to the windsand advance without the least fear, as America has no army worthy thename, and with the Panama Canal destroyed, its few battleships will be ofno use until too late.
"I tell you, Mr. Langston," pursued the Admiral, "we Americans are to-daythe most hated nation on earth. The richest, the most arrogant, the mosthated nation on earth! And helpless! Defenceless! Believe me, that's abad combination. Look at this! Read this! It's a cablegram to the NewYork _Tribune_, published on May 21, 1915, from Miss Constance Drexel, anAmerican delegate to the Woman's Peace Conference at The Hague:
"I have just come out of Germany and perhaps the predominating impressionI bring with me is Germany's hatred of America. Germany feels that warwith America is only a matter of time. Everywhere I went I found the samesentiment, and the furthest distance away I found the war put was tenyears. It was said to me: 'We must settle with England first, but thenwill come America's turn. If we don't make war on you ourselves we willget Japan into a war with you, and then we will supply arms and munitionsto Japan.'"
At this point, I remember, I had turned to order an orange liqueur, whenthe crash came.
It was terrific. Every window in the hotel was shattered, and some scoresof labourers working near the Gatun Locks were killed instantly. Sixhundred tons of dynamite, secreted in the hold of a German merchantman,had been exploded as the vessel passed through the locks, and tenthousand tons of Portland cement had sunk in the tangled iron wreck, toform a huge blockading mass of solid rock on the floor of the narrowpassage.
Needless to say, every man on the German ship thus sacrificed died at hispost.
The Admiral stared in dismay when the news was brought to him.
"Germany!" he muttered. "And our fleet is in the Pacific!"
"Does it mean war?" I asked.
"Yes, of course. Unquestionably it means war. We have been misled. Wewere thinking of one enemy, and we have been struck by another. Wethought we could send our fleet through the Canal and get it back easily;but--now we cannot get it back for at least two months!"
Conquest of America: A Romance of Disaster and Victory, U.S.A., 1921 A.D. Page 4