Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-07-03
NATIONS DEFENSE URGED
BEFORE SECURITY LEAGUE
Safety of United States eopardzed BY Failure of Public
Servants to Prepare for War; Declares Former Secretary
Bonaparte Enrolment Of Men for Army is Advocated

enemy she has not hesitated TO hon.
bard unprotected towns and villages.
or TO torpedo unarmed merchant yes
sells. IL was inevitable TINT such an
attitude mus: so1ner or later bring
Germany into anita spn.sm with the
rights OF every neutral nation dwell
ine in or doing business in Europe.
I'VE were not concerned as a nation
in the origin or causes OF the war;
we are now vitality Interested in It's
results We cannot stand by and see
centuries Of progress swept into the
dust hep without vital injury To our
national rights. From the maritime
code which regulated sea- trade In the
middle ages until today il has been be-
yond dispute that the lives of neutral
passengers, even on the merchantmen
Of ones enemy. must be protected.
Psclficists Are Scored.
Theodore Roosevelt's views on arbi-
tration treaties. war unpreparedness
md Taeificists. expressed in q letter
written By him under date OF June I'd
to Hudson Maxim, were given the
gathering by Maxim After referring
To- letters on unpreparedness sent TO
Maxim by Oscar Straus and others.
Colonel Roosevelt's missive continued:
II was saddened Dy the extraordi.
nary letter sent you by the three
young men who purported to speak
for the senior class Of the college of
which they are members. The course
OF conduct which these men and those
like them advocate for the nation
would. OF course. not only mean a pc
culiarly craven avoidance or national
duty by our people at this time, but
would also inevitably tend permanent.
ly to encourage the spirit OF individual
cowardice no less than of national cow
a-dice.
The professional pacincists, the
professional peace-at-any-price men,
who during the last FIVE years have
been SO active who have pashed the
misehievous all-arbitration treaties IT
w $ III ston, who have condoned our
criminal inactivity as regards MeSico,
and abeye all, as regards the cues
tiofs created by the great world war
now raging nd who have appIauded
our abject failure to live up to the OBJ
legations imposed upon Us as a sigma
tory power Of The Hague convention,
are at best an unloYely body Of men,
and, taken as a whole, are probably
the most undesirable citizens that this
country contains.
The prime duty for this nation Is
to prepare itself. so that IL can pro-
tect. itself. II Is wicked TO be neutral
between right and wrong, and this
statement can be successfully refIted
only by men who are prepared to hold
up Pontius plate. the archtypical neu-
tral OF all time, as worthy OF our adj
Folly, S.ys Dickinson.
1t would be the blindest folly for
this country to regulate its conduct
upon the assumption that there will
be no more wars. or intrust its des-
tiny to any temporal power but its
own" said Jacob M. Dickinson, former
secretary Of war, In an address advo-
eating better military and naval pre-
raredness. At present, he said. the
army and navy defenses Of the United
States were wholly inadequate for war
with any irst-class power He added
that the idea of our getting into war
Is not altogether chilnerical.
Dickinson was a speaker at q mass
meeting in Carnegie Hall OF the Peace
ind Preparation Conference, in session
here, under the auspices Of the Ma
.i0nal Security League.