public control. If more direct preparation for defense is necessary, a hundred steamships, fast but of moderate size, built here to carry mail, express and passengers to all parts of the world, would be of greater use in case of need than ten dreadnaughts, and far less wasteful in the meanwhile. A million officers and men engaged in works of engineering, public improvement and public service would at less expense or at no ultimate loss be more effective than any standing army of the existing kind. If Great Britain has ten billion dollars to throw into the abyss, we with twice the wealth could easily afford to invest an equal sum for the defense and welfare of the people.
The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have contributed about one half of the men who have given England leadership in government, science and letters. Now two thirds of their students have enlisted in the war; Trinity College has been converted into a military hospital. Could we not select from those who would not otherwise have the opportunity men of ability
