Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-08-27

Dy the NdClOndl Del0IlSo LedSuo CO head a movement to organize branch of the League in Yuma.
 The League, which was founded by prominent congressman and others in | Washington, D. o., in 1913, has just l launched a nationwide campaign for branch organizations in every section of the country.
 To work for a larger navy, an ade- quate army, the improvement of the National Guard, and for all things that will better prepare the United States | for war, the League was organized in | the House of Representatives, Office Building, in Washington, February 2, 1913
 Since then the League has accom- plished much for the purposes for which it was started,
 Work for Peace, but be Prepared for War;" the motto of the League, which is a paraphrase of a famous 
 maxim of George Washington, exact ly expresses the work of the organiza- tion.
 While the National Defense League strives to strengthen all forces which would make the country better prepar ed for war, it states in it's constitu- tion: ''This league abhors war and believes in universal peace, but it firmly believes that preparation for war is the best guarantee of peace"
 In view of the suddenness of the gigantic European war now raging 1t behooves every patriotic citizen of the United States to critically examine the position his country now occupies in relation to any sudden attack which might be made in the future on it-l an attack which might come with the suddenness of a thunderbolt and with the same unexpectedness of the pres ent European conflagration.
 The United States is not prepared, if it were attacked tomorrow, to de- fend its territory or it's citizens. An attack by any first-class power, like Japan or Germany, if made suddenly. would find the United States totally unprepared for the blow. Disaster to the country would swiftly follow such war-loss of territory, seacoast cities bombarded, our merchant ma rine swept from the seas, loss of Ha- waii and the Philippines, this is the spectre which today may loom large and terrifying on the horizan to- morrow.
 The smallness of the United States army, compared to the great armed hosts moving in Europe, is pointed out by Major General Leonard Wood, in his annual report as chief of staff of the army, recently made public. It | shows that the actual strength of the army is 4,602 officers and S0,0OO en- listed men, scattered over the world and the general declared that to main tain force within the United States sufficient for even a msall expedition and the police work of the day 1t would be necessary to substantially increase the regular establishment
 This country is an unarmed. sleep ing giant, slumbering until some much | smaller nation, armed and equipped l for war, attacks it and humiliates the | greatest republic on the globe.
 Since it's organization the Nationa | Defense League has been laboring tc | arouse public sentiment throughout | the country for better and more ade- 1uate means and preparation for na l tional defense.
 It has also been active for National | defense legislation in Congress-
 The League secured in the last army appropriation bill a clause, first intro | 1uced in the House as a separate bill by it's chairman, Representative Julius Kahn of California, which allows the
 
 War Department to distribute free O cost to civilian rifle clubs and schools 1 with ammunition, 313,00O Krag-Jargen sen rifles now stored in the arsenals | This legislation was sought unsuccess | fully for many years by the National | Association for the Promotion of Rifle l Practice. Thanks to the Kahn bill | which was incorporated in the army appropriation bill ten civilians any where, can now organize a rifle club 1 and secure free rifles and ammunition for target practice from the govern ment It is believed this law will greatly stimulate rifle shooting thru out the country and thus prepare, as narksmen, large number of citizens many of whom would be a valuable | nucleus for volunteers The law also allows our schools, private or public, | to receive free rifles and ammunition This law was the greatest legislative