COLLECTIVE ACTION NECESSARY

The Special Aid Society for American Preparedness held its first public meeting last evening in Sanders Theatre. Professor Barrett Wendell '77 presided.

Mr. Brooks Adams '70 was the first speaker. He emphasized the vitalness of the preparedness movement, defining preparedness as "the raising the level of national thought so that a nation can control its situation at a given moment."

"America," he said, "is a land where individualism takes precedence. While the benefits of this in regard to other questions may be good or bad, there can be no doubt as to its effect on preparedness. We need collective thinking and collective action. So long as we are individual, we will be hopelessly unprepared."

Mr. Adams emphasized strongly the part which woman might play in the struggle for preparedness. "There are two fields in which women may work; one economic, the other moral. In the former she can by thrift and system save enough to pay the expenses of the entire American army, and in the latter she can prove herself worthy of men's dying for, as she has in former days."

Bringing the discussion down to more specific problems, Mr. Walton A. Green '04 spoke on "The Federalization of the Militia." He pointed out the difficulties of having an efficient army, when it is divided into 48 units, and he showed the uselessness of a militia to a state itself which is paying for its upkeep. "The police power should be exercised by a mounted constabulary which is capable of doing so, and the army should be inside the control of the federal government where it can be efficiently maintained."

After the meeting blanks were passed among the audience for application for membership, and pamphlets describing the purposes and organizations of the society.