US Presidency
1909

It may well be submittedto the serious consideration of Congress whether the deepening and controlof the channel of a great river system, like that of the Ohio or of theMississippi, when definite and practical plans for the enterprise havebeen approved and determined upon, should not be provided for in the sameway. Then, too, there are expenditures of Government absolutely necessaryif our country is to maintain its proper place among the nations of theworld, and is to exercise its proper influence in defense of its own tradeinterests in the maintenance of traditional American policy against thecolonization of European monarchies in this hemisphere, and in the promotionof peace and international morality. I refer to the cost of maintaininga proper army, a proper navy, and suitable fortifications upon the mainlandof the United States and in its dependencies.