HOME DEFENSE

The announcement by Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the Navy Department plans to establish a series of naval courses at the University adds one more opportunity for college men to show themselves ready to respond to the call of the times. The government is now fully awake to the imperative need for the nation so to prepare itself that it shall be capable to defend its people at all times from the ravages of an unexpected enemy.

The establishment of military and naval units in all the colleges and universities of the country is merely enlarging the scope of service for trained men. If we attribute our advances to the institutions under which we live, then we must be ready to uphold those institutions for what the advances are worth. Preparedness to defend with arms is the natural complement to ability to promote with judgment and foresight, and the man who develops the one at the expense of the other, the man who builds up a beautiful country without providing for its security, evidences a surprising lack of that judgment and foresight he aimed to cultivate.

The willingness of the University to give credit for such work and the addition of these military and naval courses to its regular curriculum show a realization of the prime importance of every student to prepare himself for all-around service. The creation of a great country with adequate means for its maintenance in the face of all attacks will be the ambition of all colleges, and in educating young men to meet all exigencies which may arise, they will perform a true and complete service to the United States.