The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-25
BREWSTER ID SPEAK HERE ON MONDAY 0N' NATIONAL DEFENSE
To Lecture at Chamber of Commerce AuditOrium-Is a Field Secretary of the
 National Security League

William B. Brewster of New York; field secretary of the National Security league, of which Joseph H. Choate is honorary president and Alton B. Parker, honorary vice president, will give free lecture Monday afternoon at the auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce on "Our Ma tional Defenses." Mir. Brewster is tour ing the south in the interest of this move- ment and other speakers from the league are touring the other sections of the country. He is accredited with being an eloquent and forceful speaker and well versed' in the nations preparedness. or unpreparedness as the case may be, and wherever he has spoken has given food for serious reflection. The public is cordially invited to the lecture no mat ter what views on war they entertain.
 The National Security league is incor- porated under the laws of New York and its members believe that until a satis- factory plan for disarmament has been worked out and agreed upon blythe nations of the world, the United States must be adequately prepared for defense. The league is not only pointing out the causes of our unpreparedness, but is suggesting remedy.
 In speaking of the league, MT. Brewster said:
 '"The National Security league came into being in response to an insistent demand on the part of the leaders of thought and action of the country for more aoe- quate national defense. Our appalling state of unpreparedness. revealed after
 ;.,.ro to1 fl,So organized effort to arouse and vocalize the sentiment of the nation in favor of prompt action. The sentiment existed, but was latent. Our honorary president is the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, ex-ambas- sador to the court of St. James, and our honorary vice president Is the Hon. Alton B. Parker. former democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States. Our acting president is MT. s. Stanwood Menken, a leader of the New York bar
 The chairmen of our important commit tees are: Hon. Henry l.. Stimson, ex- Secretary of War, chairman of army
 committee; Col. Charles E. Lydecker, chairman of militia committee; Mir.
 J. Bernard Walker. chairman of
 navy committee. A few of the
 causes of our unpreparedness are:
 Lack of military policy. lack of naval policy, insufficient support and encour- agement of our National Guard pork barrel methods of making approprsa-
 tions, inefficient methods of disburse-
 ment, maintenance of useless navy yards
 and obsolete army posts, the supremacy of politics over patriotism in matters re- quiring attention of Congress, and provid- 1 Ing for the common defense, indiffer- 1 ence of Congress to proposals of our ex- perts-the army and navy boards. ~ l We do not believe in a large standing ! army, but we are striving for strong volunteer force, well balanced navy, and an increase in the regular army of 1 20 GOO. We believe in the economical ex- penditure of public funds for national de- fense. and. therefore, favor the budget | system for appropriations. We should adopt a definite military and naval policy and maintain and organize reserve for | each branch of the service, abolish use- less navy yards and army posts, and con-
 centrate ahe army in few posts straeetg- 1 ically located. Millions of dollars thus 1 could be saved annually. We are opposed
 to extravagant appropriations, but favor necessary appropriations to increase and l strengthen our defenses. We do not be- lieve in miitarism, but in patriotism which | dictates wise and sane preparedness. l We would be unpatrlotic were we to in | vite attack through lack of proper de- 1 lenses. We believe in peace. but feel | that peace can be more thoroughly se- | cured through the strengthening of these l defenses."