Defense or Tribute? (1916)

A board meeting of half a dozen men of national importance has been called, at which one arises to make a plea for preparedness. In it he reviews the wars since the old Roman days, in order to emphasize his argument that lack of preparation was responsible for lost battles. Each point is visualized by a cut-in picturing the historical events as he enumerates them, as for instance, Caesar's conquest of the Gauls (which looked like some of the big scenes from Cine's "Julius Caesar") ; just wars against the levying of tribute in Italy; the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution; "The Spirit of '70;" Indian uprisings, (effective silhouetting of night riders across the top of a hill) ; modern inventive genius (big guns, etc.) ; rapine and murder in modern times; a large extract from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (the historical event of the Crimean War), and so on. As the finish approaches, pictures of Lincoln and Grant are shown and it all concludes with a motion by one of the listeners to the speech for a resolution for preparedness, the meeting ending with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.