call our Ambassador from Berlin, and hand Count
Bernstorff his passports. Congress should be summoned in extra session,
and an appropriation of at least $250,000,000 asked to put us in a
condition to protect our rights as a neutral civilized power. At the
same time we should invite all neutral nations of the world to join us
in a council of civilization to agree upon the steps to be taken to
protect the interests of all neutral powers and their citizens from such
wanton acts of destruction of life and property as those which Germany
has been committing and which have culminated in the destruction of the
Lusitania and of so many of her passengers.

Until now the National Administration has been proceeding not only on
the basis of "safety first," but of safety first, last, and all the
time. The time has arrived when we must remember the truth of what
Lowell so well expressed, that

'Tis man's perdition to be safe, when for the truth he ought
to die.

GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM.

BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY LEAGUE.

[From THE NEW YORK TIMES, May 11, 1915.]

_The army, navy, and coast defenses of the United States are declared to
be inadequate in an open letter signed by Joseph H. Choate, Alton B.
Parker, Henry L. Stimson, and S. Stanwood Menken, which was given out
yesterday in support of the plans of the National Security League. This
organization, which maintains offices at 31 Pine Street, has embarked on
a national campaign for better war defenses, and its appeal for members
and supporters is expressed by the catch-phrase, "a first defense army
of 1,000,000 workers."_

_The letter of Messrs. Choate, Parker, Stimson, and Menken contains most
of the arguments put forth by the league in asking public support and
enrollment. Its text follows:_

Careful investigation by our committees who have looked into the
question of national defense brings to light the following conditions of
affairs:

According to official Government reports, there are barely 30,000 mobile
troops in continental United States. These are distributed among
fifty-two widely scattered posts, which would make it impossible to
mobilize quickly at any given point. Even this small force is short of
officers, ammunition, and equipment. Furthermore, it has no organized
reserve.

Our National Guard, with negligible exceptions, is far below its paper
strength in men, equipment, and efficiency.

Our coast defenses are inadequate, our fortifications