Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1915 — NAVAL LECTURER TO VISIT RENSSELAER [ARTICLE]

NAVAL LECTURER TO VISIT RENSSELAER

Stereopticon Views of Battle Ships Will Be Seen at Free Lecture On January 27th. A lecture and stereopticon views of the growth and development of the United States navy from the time of wooden yvarships to the present super-dreadnaughts will be given at the Ellis opera house Wednesday evening, Jan. 27th, being entirely free of charge. Arrangements have been made to deliver the same lecture and views at St. Joseph’s college for the benefit of the faculty and teachers in the afternoon of the same day. The officers of the navy league are as follows: General Horace Porter, president; Charles C. Glover, treasurer; Robert M. Thompson, chairman executive committee; Henry H. Ward, vice president; Joshua Evans, assistant treasurer; Arthur H. Dadmun, secretary; Wm. M. Lewis, field secretary Honorary members, Josephus .Daniels, secretary of the navy; Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy; Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo; Henry Watterson, Elihu Root, Rev. Lyman Abbott, James Cardinal Gibbons, Theodore Roosevelt, and scones of other influential men. The navy league of the United States opened its middle western campaign in November and since that time has gained a great amount of enthusiastic support. The Office Men’s Association of Duluth, Minn., joined the league in a body. The students of Illinois University have formed a junior section and scores of other business organizations and institutions rre about to take similar action. - W. M. Lewis, the field secretary, is having more calls to address ffieetings than he can fill, such is the interest in his popular illustrated lecture on the navy. Among his next five weeks’ visits are St. Joe, Mich; Gary, St. Louis, East St. Louis, Omaha and several other, places of importancfe. It should be remembered that the navy league is not a society for the encouragement of war but for the advancement of peace. A fire department does not entirely prevent fires in a city, but it decreases the number of conflagrations wonderfully. A nation with adequate defense may some times be attacked by an enemy, but it suffers far less than a nation unprotected. George Washington once said: ‘To be prepared lor war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” The U. 8. is not a'military nation; our army is small in proportion to our territory and population; and,’ being so situated geographically that any Tear of invasion need be anticipated only from the sea, our main strength must necessarily be concentrated in the navy. With the Panama Canal and a coast line of nearly 20,000 miles to defend, and with colonial possessions separated from us by a great ocean, it is but natural that the navy should be our principal protection. !Mr. Lewis will present over a hundred remarkable stereopticon slides during his lecture in Rensselaer. These pictures give a fascinating history of our navy from the sailing vessels of the Revolution down to the most modern dreadnaughts. Come and see and hear him. The Rensselaer band will furnish the music free. •