Produced by Bryan Ness, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE BY GEORGE H. MAXWELL THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE HOMECROFTERS RURAL SETTLEMENTS ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON MARYLAND BUILDING NEW ORLEANS COTTON EXCHANGE BUILDING 1915 _Copyright, 1916_, BY RURAL SETTLEMENTS ASSOCIATION. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. TO ALL HOMECROFTERS THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED "_Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war_" PREFATORY NOTE _Ammunition_ is necessary to win a battle. Where it is a great _Battle for Peace_, to be fought with pen and voice, the ammunition needed is _facts_. Whenever the people of the United States know the _facts_ relating to the subject to which this book is devoted, _then what it advocates will be done_. Much fault has been found with Congress because of the country's unpreparedness. Congress is not at fault. "The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain." The will of the people is the law. The people of this nation are unalterably opposed to a big Standing Army. When they know that the safety of the nation can be assured without either the cost or the menace of militarism, the people will demand that it be done, and Congress will register that popular decree, gladly and willingly. It is not at all surprising that Congress does not yield to the clamor of the militarists when they know the adverse sentiment of the people on that subject. President Schurman of Cornell recently said: "It would be self-deception of the grossest character if Americans made their love of peace the criterion of the military policy and preparedness of their country. It would be madness to enfeeble and imperil the United States because we believe peace the chief blessing of the nations." All that is true. But when the problem is analyzed _there is no other way that can be devised_, except that proposed in this book, that will safeguard the nation against foreign attack or invasion, and do it _adequately_, without incurring stupendous cost or creating a menace to liberty. Americans are a brave people, but they have a hereditary aversion to the clank of a saber in time of peace. There are a few books that every one who wishes to master the subject should read. First among these is "Fields, Factories and Workshops," by Prince Kropotkin, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. A new edition of this book has been recently issued which costs only seventy-five cents. "The Iron in the Blood" is a chapter in "The Coming People," by Charles F. Dole, published by T. Y. Crowell & Co. of New York. A reprint of this book can be had for twenty-five cents from the Rural Settlements Association.