"Cultural Move"

Is Germany, in secret, and contrary to the Treaty of Versailles, devising new and more efficient submarines, torpedoes?

"Not at all, no no!" boomed Herr Professor Oswald Flamm in Berlin last week, and the admiralties of the World listened for he ranks among the three greatest experts on subsea warfare. "There is nothing contrary to the Treaty of Versailles in what I am doing, because my experiments are being made purely as a private citizen."

Citizen Flamm then announced that he has devised an "invisible torpedo," that is to say, one which leaves no tell-tale wake of air bubbles. Many a ship was saved during the War when its lookouts spotted the wake of an approaching torpedo and the wheel was instantly spun to swerve the ship. With an "invisible" torpedo--presumably one propelled by some other means than compressed air--the first warning of attack would be the actual explosion of the torpedo.

Citizen Flamm also mentioned in a chatty sort of way the pleasure it had given him to see the London Conference entirely fail thus far to achieve limitation of undersea craft. "The French refusal to yield to the demands of America and England to limit construction of submarines was a cultural move," he beamed approvingly, "because the possession of submarines means protection of the smaller countries from Anglo-Saxon supremacy at sea."

Of course the Fatherland is still allowed to fire torpedoes from his surface war boats. In Stettin last week the commander of the 6,000 ton cruiser Karlsruhe offered 500 marks reward ($120) for the return of two torpedoes lost by him in recent Baltic Sea torpedo practice.

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