Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-12-03

the end, as we hope and believe make
worldwide peace possible. The peace con-
ference at=The Hague gave definite 3ex-;
preston to this hope and belief and mark
ed a stride toward their attainment. 3
The Monroe Doctrine.
This same peace conference acquiesced
in our statement of the Monroe doctrine
as compatible with the purposes and aims
of the conference. @2r
The Monroe doctrine should be the car,
dinal feature of the foreign policy of all
the nations OF the two Americas as it is OF
the United States. Just seventy-eight
years have passed since President Mon
roe in his mi message announced that
the American continents are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European power" In
other words. the Monroe doctrine is a dec,
~laration that there must be no territorial
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by n n~on-An1erican
power at the expense of any American
power on American soil. 1t is in nowise
Intended as hostile to any nation in the
old world. Still less is 1t intended to give
cover to any aggression by one new world
power at the expense of any other 1t is
simply a step. and a long step, toward as
surfing the universal peace Of the world by
securing the possibility of permanent
peace on this hemisphere.
During the past century other influences
have established the ~permanence and in
dependence Of the smaller states of Eu-
rope. Through the Monroe doctrine we
hope to be able to safeguard like indie
pendence and secure like ~permanenee for
the lesser among the new world nations.
This doctrine has nothing to do with the
commercial relations of any American
power save that it in truth allows each Of
them to form such as it desires. In other
words. it is really a guarantee of the COM
mercial independence OF. the Americas.
We do not ask under this doctrine for any
exclusive commercial dealings with any
other American state. We do not guaran-
tee any state against punishment If II
misconduct itself provided that punish
ment does not take the form of the acqui-
sition of territory by any non-American
power.
Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guar
antee Of our own good faith. We have
not the slightest desire to secure any ter
ritory at the expense of any of our neigh
bors. We wish to work with them hand
in hand. SO that all Of us may be uplifted
together, and we rejoice over the good
fortune of any of them. we gladly hail
their material prosperity and political sta
bility and are concerned n alarmed If
any Of them fall into industrial or political
chaos. We do not wish to see any old
world military power grow up on this
continent or to be compelled to become a
military power ourselves. The peoples of
the Americas can prosper best If left to
work out their own salvation in their own
way.
The Navy.
The work of upbuilding the navy must
be steadily continued. No one point of
our policy. foreign or domestic. is more
important than this to the honor and ma
terial welfare and, above all. to the peace
of our nation in the future. Whether We
~ - 40 - --.,-k
nize that we have international duties no
less than International rights. Even T.
our flag were hauled down in the Philip
pines and Porto Rico. even if we decided
not to build the isthmian canal. we should
need a thoroughly trained navy of ade-
quate size or else be prepared definitely
and for all time to abandon the idea that
our nation is among those whose sons go
down to the sea in ships. Unless our com.
merce is always to be carried in foreign
bottoms we must lave war craft to PRO-
tect it.
Inasmuch, however. as the American
people have no thought of abandoning the
path upon which they have entered. and
especially in view Of the fact that the
becoming one of the matters which the
whole people are united in demanding. it
is imperative that our navy should be put
and kept in the highest state Of efficiency
and should be made to answer to our
growing needs. So far from being in any
way a provocation to war. an adequate
and highly trained navy is the best
guarantee against war. the cheapest and
most effective peace insurance. The cost
Of building and maintaining such a navy
represents the very lightest premium for
insuring peace which this nation can pos
| sihly pay,
Probably no other great nation in the
world is so 3nviO1lS for noa ca &c NO
There is not a single civilized power
which has anything whatever to fear
from aggressivenesS on our part. All we
want is peace. and toward this end we
wish to be able to secure the same re-
spect for our lights from others which
we are eager and anxious to extend to
their rights in return. to insure fair treat
enent to us commercially and to guaran-
tee the safety of the American people.
Our people intend to abide by the Mon
roe doctrine and to insist upop it as the
one sure means of securing the peace of
the western hemisphere The navy offers
US the only means of making our insist
ence upon the Monroe doctrine anything
but a subject Of derision to whatever ma
ton chooses to disregard 1t. We desire
the peace which comes as Of right to the
Just man armed: not the peace granted on
terms of ignominy to the raven and tho
weaklin8.
At Il not possible to Improvise a navy
after war breaks out. The ships must
be built and the men trained long in ad-
vance. Some auxiliary vessels can be
turned into makeshifts which will do in
default of any better for the minor work,
and a proportion of raw men can be
mixed with the highly trained, their
shortcomings being made good by the
skill of their fellows. but the efficient
hghting force of the navy when pitted
against an equal opponent will be found
almost exclusively in the warships that
have been regularly built and in the off,
GERS and men who through years of faith
ful performance of sea duty have been
trained to handle their formidable but
complex and delicate weapons with the
highest efficiency. In the late war with
Spain the ships that dealt the decisive
blows at Manila and Santiago had been
launched from two to fourteen years, and
they were able to do as they did because
the men in the coming towers. the gun
turrets and the engine rooms had through
long years of practice at sea learned how
to do their duty.
Our present navy was begun in 1882. At
that period our navy consisted of a collec-
ton OF ~antiquated wooden ships already
almost as out of place against modern
war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades
and Hamilcar, certainly as the ships Of
TrOmD and Blake. Nor at that time diI