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the way both to demagnetize shipping so that it would
not attract th mines, and also to attract the mines
to special magnets so that they could be destroyed. He
told me that ships whose hulks had been constructed south
of the equator did not attract the magnetic mines.
With regard to submarines, Mr. Churchill stated the
Germans were only putting out one a week. The British
and French had positively destroyed forty-three since
the outbreak of the war. The new invention for the
pursuit of submarines--which he compared to a pack of
hounds pursuing a fox--had eliminated the danger of sub-
marines, as in any sense a serious menace to England' s
ability to continue her provisioning, and her export
trade.
Aviation he recognized as the chief danger. But he
believed the British and French could meet the danger,
and over a period of a few months prove that it was
mastered.
Before I left Mr. Churchill took me to the other end
the building to see the War Maps Room. In this room,
which he told me represented the compendium of work
being carried on in thirty, other offices, large scale
maps show the precise location of every merchant ship of
British registry throughout the world. Every half-hour
the locatlons, are changed to bring them up to date in
accordance with the latest, radio bulletins of position.
Every convoy is shown, as well as the position of those
vessels which are either too speedy, or too slow to be
subject to convoy. This War Maps Room is one of the
most impressive things I have seen. It is a demonstration
of