Defenseless America

Foreword

THIS BOOK IS PRESENTED

WITH THE

COMPLIMENTS OF THE AUTHOR

To a Few Selected Leaders of American Thought and Shapers of Public Opinion

Dear Reader :'

I send you this book in the hope that if not already convinced, you will be convinced by it of the defenseless state of this country — convinced that our danger is as great as our weakness. I hope that you may be moved to use your influence that this country may, by adequate preparation against war, safeguard the property, honor and lives of its people and the sanctity of the American home from violation by a foreign foe.

If you are already convinced of our great need then the reading of this book may still strengthen your conviction and stimulate your e:fforts in the cause of national defense.

FOREWORD

After you have read the book, kindly lend it to your friends, that they also may read it.

Defenseless America was published a year ago at two dollars per copy. Several editions of the book have already been printed and' sold.

Soon after the publication of the work I presented ten thousand copies, with my compliments, to students graduating in American universities. This has given many persons the impression that Defenseless America is a book for free distribution.

To correct such an impression, let me say most emphatically that this book is not free, except to a few persons whom I have selected, and to whom I have sent it free at my own personal expense, for the good of the cause of national defense.

The book has exerted so marked an influence in rousing the people of this country to their needs for defense against the red hell of war, that the publishers, through patriotic duty, have placed the good it is doing above all considerations of profit to themselves, and have supplied me copies of this edition of the work absolutely at cost.

The publishers have also put an edition of the book on sale, of which this copy is a specimen, at only fifty cents a copy. In order to enable them to do this, I have cut out all royalties on sales which they may make.

FOREWORD

This edition of the book may be bought of or ordered through any book store at fifty cents a copy, or from the publishers, Hearst's International Library Company, 119^ West 40th Street, New York, N. Y., who will send single copies of the book to any address on receipt of sixty cents, or they will send ten copies of the book, in a single package, to any address on receipt of ^ve dollars — fifty cents a copy.

Copies of the regular library edition, printed on superior paper and bound in extra cloth, gold stamping, may be obtained fro-m booksellers or direct from the publishers at two dollars a copy. Many of the readers of this book have already seen that wonderful motion picture play, *'The Battle Cry of Peace,'' founded upon it.

Commodore J. Stuart Blackton, President of the Vitagraph Company of America, who wrote the scenario of *^The Battle Cry of Peace", has this to say about Defenseless America : —

**To the fearless patriotism of Hudson Maxim and the plain, practical, straightforward truths in his book, * Defenseless America,' I owe the inspiration and impetus which caused me to conceive and write the scenario of ^The Battle Cry of Peace.'

**The object of both book and picture is to arouse in the heart of every American citizen a sense of his strict accountability to his government in time of need, and to bring to

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FOREWORD

the notice of the greatest number of people in the shortest possible time the fact that there is a way to insure that peace for which we all so earnestly pray/'

Commodore Blackton, being a staunch patriot and a man with phenomenal vision and breadth of understanding, and being one of the largest producers of motion pictures in the world, saw at once, as soon as he read Defenseless America, that the best way to impress the American people ' with the message of the book, as he had himself been impressed by reading it, was to visualize that message in a great motion picture. Then the people would be able to see, with their own eyes, those terrible things happening in our country and in our very homes, which are happening abroad and which are surely going to happen to us if we do not prepare, and immediately and adequately prepare to save the country.

Faithfully yours,

HUDSON MAXIM. *

MAXIM PARK, Landing P. O., NEW JERSEY, 1916

Preface

THE main object of this book is to present a phalanx of facts upon the subject of the defenseless condition of this country, and to show what must be done, and done quickly, in order to avert the most dire calamity that can fall upon a people — that of merciless invasion by a foreign foe, with the horrors of which no pestilence can be compared.

We should bring a lesser calamity upon ourselves by abolishing our quarantine system against the importation of deadly disease and inviting a visitation like the great London Plague, or by letting in the Black Death to sweep our country as it swept Europe in the Middle Ages, than by neglecting our quarantine against war, as we are neglecting it, thereby inviting the pestilence of invasion.

Self-preservation is the first law of Nature, and this law applies to nations exactly as it applies to individuals. Our American Republic cannot survive unless it obeys the law of survival, which all individuals must obey, which all nations must obey, and which all other nations are obeying. No individual, and no nation, has ever disobeyed

PREFACE

that law for long and lived ; and it is too big a task for the United States of America.

It is the aim of this work to discover truth to the reader, unvarnished and unembellished, and, at the same time, as far as possible, to avoid personalities. Wherever practicable, philosophic generalizations have been tied down to actualities, based upon experiential knowledge and innate common-sense of the eternal fitness of things.

The strong appeal of Lord Roberts for the British nation to prepare for the Armageddon that is now on, which he knew was coming, did not awaken England, but served rather to rouse Germany.

Admiral Mahan pleaded long with his country for an adequate navy. All the Great Powers of the world except America were stimulated by his logic to strengthen their navies. The beautiful, imaginative, logical language of General Homer Lea, on Americans military weakness, in his ** Valor of Ignorance ' ' and * * The Day of the Saxon, ' ' has caused many a gun to be made, many a battalion of troops to be enlisted, and many a warship to be built — in foreign countries.

The eloquent words of wisdom of Lord Eoberts, Admiral Mahan, Homer Lea, and all real friends of peace and advocates of the only way of maintaining peace — by being prepared against war — have fallen on a deaf America. I am well aware

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PREFACE

of the fact that nothing I can say will rouse the people of my country to the reality and magnitude of their danger, and to a true appreciation of the imperative necessity for immediate preparation against war.

Possibly this book may lessen a little the effect of the pernicious propagandism of the pacifists — may somewhat help Congressional appropriations for defense — may place a few more men and a few more guns on the firing-line, and thereby save the lives of a few of our people — may save a few homes from the torch — may lessen the area of devastation — may, by adding a little power to our resistance, help to get slightly better terms from the conquerors for our liberation.

Pacifism has ringed the nose of the American people and is leading them, blind and unknowing, to the slaughter. War is inevitable. It matters not that, if this country could be roused, it might be saved. When it is impossible to vitalize the impulse necessary to the accomplishment of a thing, that thing is impossible. So, I say, war is inevitable and imminent.

The American people could not now be roused sufficiently to avert the impending calamity even by a call that would rift the sky and shake down the stars from heaven!

Fate has decreed that our pride shall be humbled, and that we shall be bowed to the dirt. We must first put on sackcloth, ashed in the embers

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PREFACE

of onr bnrniiig homes. Perhaps, when we build anew on the fire-blackened desolation, our mood may be receptive of the knowledge that we must shield our homes with blood and brawn and iron.

Hudson Maxim.

Maxim Park,

Landing P. 0., New Jersey.

I viii ]

Contents

CHAPTBB PAOK

Introduction. Our Great Obsession xiii

I Dangerous Preachments ... 1