The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-10-01
Serving the Nation

Advisory Board long and thoughtfully. Suggest
ed by Secretary Of the Navy Daniels and headed
by Thomas A; Edison this board sands fol, /, part
Of the answer to the chatges lof unBrefa RdAey
eveled and sustained against this fation5 N CONF
prises the pick Of eleven of the great engineering
and scientific societies of the United States There
is no man on the board who should not be there
and who will not add weight and power to its deli
berations, says the St Louis Republic. There are
Americans who have shown their genius and their
greatness in certain inventive and industrial fields
whose ard would have been valuable, but their
names are not on the list Of membership as it was
necessary 10 have an organization Of size not
too unwieldy
Every member OF the board as now constituted
has certain notable inventions and researches tc
his credit Howard f. Coffin is one of the best
known authorities on automobile design in Amer,
ca Hudson Maxim is one of the greatest of our
military inventors; Peter Cooper Hewitt is inter,
nationally famous in the lighting and hydro-avia
ton fields and the remainder of the membership
may be taken as representing a notable "mobiliza
ton Of the talent and genius of this great country
Thomas A. Edison = {ft.... ia,
This advisory Board will do for this countr,
what similar organizations havepdo for the Con
tinental Powers in the matter Of passing upon and
perfectng the Inventions having to do with naya
preparedness. 1t should be borne in mind thai
these men are giving their time and their geniu:
to the American people. v Their work represent!
the highest type OF patriotism, as it is being car
ried on without remuneration in order that grea
and free people may remain great and free. ;,
,,-.'
But i must not be taken for granted that tn,
deberatonsof these men, however profound may
be their wisdom and however earnest their desir,
to serve, is going to Save the nation" or rende
any the less necessary the united efforts of les
exalted patriot towards reasonable preparedness
to start now.
! John +. Bass, war correspondent of prominence
and thinker who is able to apply the lessons h,
has learned along the flaming lines of Europe tt
| home conditions. In an article on The Price o
| Unpreparedness," Mr.. Bass writes: ..
| "Those. people ID this country who do not wisl
to face the problem OF the preservation of our in
stitutions and liberties resort to two arguments
One is that the superior inyentvcness of the Amer
lean people will come to the rescue and by SOM
miraculous invention destroy the armies Of tn
enemy. The chances of such an invention beinj
produced during the war are infnitesimally small
For years inventors have been trying in this ant
other countries tor devise instruments Of warfare
to crush opposing armies All they have succeeds,
in doing is to krolong warfare for unlimited period
and they have involuntary rendered an efficientl,
defensive position almost impregnable
"The second argument is that the American PEG
pie in some mysterious way would rise up ant
crush the invader, This theory if it were no
! wicked would be at least ridiculous. The day O
the minute man, who took his rife and powde
horn from the wall and with handful of bullet
repealed the British forces, is past How did on
unframed citizens defend Washington agains
British capture in the war of 1872? They CAV,
way to force less than one-half their size an,
that with eight killed and a very few wounded.
Under the rules of modern warfare UNFRAMED
| civilians who take up arms to defend their home
if caught are lined up and shot; such popula
actions also lead to reprisals. We have before u
the horrors resulting from a few such incident
among the civilian population of Belgium. In tn
| United States attempt to arm the civilian pop
ulation would result in the wholesale slaughte
| Of thousands of innocent people and would no
stop Tor single instant the victorious advance O
4 thoroughly drilled and prepared army.
The peace loving citizens of the United State
| cannot for moment conceive the horrors and SUI
| ferngs of war asst Is waged under modern meth
| DDS ~ atal
! From the East Prussian coast of the Baltic t.
the Carpathans have seen the great KALEIDOSCOPE
OF misery, suffering and death Watch these line
Of Germans, their bayonets glistening in the sun
advancing rank upon rank against the intrenche
position of the Russians See the Russian MA
chine guns NOW them down The last line drop
3aspng upon the wire entanglements that ba
their immediate passage to the enemys trench
The charge has failed, but it is only signal 70
the new and terrible activity of the Germiah art