The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-21
.BRID CEPORT MEN
 ARE EXECUTIVES OF NAVY LEACU1
Five Local Residents HOnOred By U. S. Defense Organ
 iZatiOn.

i Bishop, Edward L. Pollock, Andrew i L. Riker, c. Nathaniel Worthen and 1 Gen. Thomas L. Watson of Bridgeport, | Conn, have been appointed to the : mem bership committee of the Navy l League of the United States and will i help to represent that organization | in their district in the active, aggress- i've campaign which it is carrying on ! in all parts of the country in behalf i of adequate preparedness against in- l vasion and disaster. They will CO., operate with the members of the Navy leagues state committee for Connecticut of which Commander Frank s. Cornwen lis chairman and will lend their energetic and enthu- siastic support to the work undertaken to consolidate and organize, the over whe1ning sentiment of thinking peo- pie of that state in behalf of measures . of adequate preparedness A special letter has been forwarded to the gen i t1emen appointed by the Navy league notifying them of their appoint l ment.
 The letters are signed by Colonel ] Robert M. Thompson, president of the league, and read as follows: ] Dear Sir:
 s.In accordance with the instruc- tions of the Board of Directors. of the Navy league, I am hereby appointing you a member of the membership l trCO l tsIn the present days of internation- al strife and hysteria, we believe that lit is one of the first duties of every good citizen to work with all his might to insure the provision of such naval defenses for this country as enough to avoid being drawn into the naaelstrom of war; or shall render it certain that no hostile army shall ever set foot on our soil should the worse come and our nation be un- avoidably drawn int the strife.
 We believe that the best organ iezd and most potent of the forces working for adequate national de- lenses is the Navy league, and there fore do not hesitate to urge you as citizen and a patriot, to lend us your fullest and most enthusiastic aid and cooperation in our work to insure our country absolutely against the possibility of invasion by a foreign foe.
 .sThe secretary of the committee to which you have been. assigned will communicates with you sh ortly in re- gard to the particular manner in which your assistance will be of most value May we not count upon you to the fullest extent in this great pa i triotic work?
 (Signed)
 ROBERT M. THOMPSON, fPresid lent of the Navy League of the l U. s.
 l Great interest is felt all over the i country in the Navy Leagues sensa- i tiona1 campaign in behalf of ade- l quate national defense which has done I so much toward the awakening of the ltAmerican people to the danger of their l undefended condition
 1 The Navy league is not in any sense 1 a militarist organization. Since it's foundation more than 14 years ago it a1- G<@I- l intentional peace. Its president, ! General Horace Porter was twice del l egate to the World Peace Confer ence at the Hague, and in all it's ac- I tions and utterances the. league hs worked for and advocated peace, but until such a time as the possibility of war is reduced to much below its I present ratio it believes that it would be just as unwise for the United States to allow it's navy to deteriorate I as it would be for a householder to allow his fire insurance policy to lapse because he disapproved of fires and hoped there would be no more of i them.
 The Navy league holds that this I country's best, defense lies in the B. l GOO or more miles of water which sep l arate< 1t from the nearest of it's pow I erfuI neighbors. Should war ever be forced upon this country, the Navy league holds, it's battles ought not to be fought by armies on American soil, but by trained fighting men in ships far out on the ocean where destruc- ton of life and property will be kept Il to- minimum, and the savage blsi- | ness of killing wiH be kept as far as !possibIe from Americas homes and shores.
 To this end it has always advocated la navy second to none, which will be l bIe to guarantee absolutely that no ihostiIe army will be able ever to eff feet a landing upon the shores of our country, and in this demand it be- Heves it is backed by unanimous pub EIic opinion all over the country. The | most effective testimony to the popu- Iarity of the cause of the Navy lea que 1 with representative citizens all over the country is the manner in which it's mem bership has increased by leaps and bounds within the past few months until at present it numbers fE upon it's rolls more than 60,0OO mem bers.
 The Navy league is the oldest and fense societies. It was founded and neers and members are Admiral Dew ey, Theodore Roosevelt, Cardinal Gib- bons, Rt. Reverend Philip Rhine1and- | CT and pr. Lyman Abbott, while many of Arnerica's most prominent women 1 aref among the mem bers of its Wom- ans Section. It's accounts are and aI- ways have been opened to inspection. The headquarters of the Navy league Eare in the Southern building in Wash | ingtons D. c.