The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-03
TO MAINTAIN THE
MONROE DOCTRINE
Powerful Navy and Efficient
Army Necessary.
ROOSEVELT AT CHICAGO
Calm in The Consciousness of Power, the Nation
Need Fear no Attempt to Violate the
Doctrine, He Declares Amid
Applause.
(By the Associated Press.)

(By the Associated Press)
Chicago, April 2.-Six thousand people
in hall. the seating capacity of which
is but five thousand, gave enthusiastic
greeting TO President Roosevelt when he
stepped upon the stage of the audito-
rum tonight The great building has
held many a throng but never one that
was more hearty and unstinted in it's
applause for any man than the crowd
that filled it tonight. From the first
floor to the roof, it was packed to it's
utmost capacity. Every seat was occu-
pied, and although the aisles were kept
clear, all the space in the lobbies and
en- the stairways was taken, and even the
passage-w ways leading to the hall from
the lower floor We're jammed with hun
dreds of men who were utterly unable to
hear a word of the Presidents address.
When the President. escorted by the
members of the local committee appeared
on the platform, he was met with great
enthusiasm, the vast crowd rising to its
feet, and supplementing it's hearty cheers
with waving programs and futtering
handkerchiefs. The President aeknowl-
edged his reception with repeated bows
and at once took his seat between Frank
lin MacVeagh, the chairman of the COM
mittee, and Mayor Harrison, who was to
deliver the formal address Of welcome
AS soon as his voice could be heard, Mr.
MacVeagh In a few words announced that
the nations chief executive would be
made welcome to the city by Mayor
Harrison, who then spoke briefly, ex-
tending to the President a hearty well
come and expressing the pleasure felt
by the people of Chicago at his visit,
and Offering him their best wishes for
a happy and pleasant trip during his two
months vacation.
The President bowed his thanks to
Mayor Harrison and to Mr.. MacVeagh
who introduced him to his audience and
expressed his pleasure at the cordial re-
ception extended to him upon the first
stop of his long trip and then turning
directly to the audience in front of him,
proceeded in his peculiarly energetic
manner to deliver his address The ad-
dress throughout was received in most
cordial manner. The address was as
follows;
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
L
merely about the Monroe Doctrine, but
about our entire position in the Western
Hemisphere position so peculiar an
predominant that out of ii has grown tn6
acceptance of the Monroe Doctrine as
cardinal feature of our foreign policy
and in particular ! wish to point on
what has been done during the Lifetime
of the last Congress to make good oul
position in accordance with this historic
policy.
Ever since the time when we definitely
extended our boundaries westward to tn
Pacific and southwark to the Gulf, since
the time when the old Spanish and Por
tuguese colonies to the south of us as
serted their independence, our Natiol
has insisted that because of its primac!
in strength among the nations of th'
Western Hemisphere it has sertain dutic'
and responsibilities which oblige it t.
take a leading part thereon. We holC
that our interests in this hemisphere are
greater than those of any European pow
er possibly can be, and that our duty Il
ourselves and to the weaker republic
who are our neighbors requires us to se'
that none of the great military powers
from across the seas shall encroach upol
the territory of the American republic
or acquire control thereover.
This policy, therefore, not only forbid
us to acquiesce in such territorial ac
quisition but also causes us to object t
the requirement of control which woul,
in its effect be equal to territorial ag
grandizement. This is why the Unitet
State has steadily believed that the con
Struction of the great Isthmian canal
the building OF which is to stand as TIL
greatest material feat of the twentieth
century-greater than any similar feat il
any preceding century-Should be done b,
no foreign nation but by ourselves. TIL,
canal must of necessity go through tn
territory of one of our smaller sister re
publics. We have been scrupulousl
careful to abstain from perpetrating an,
wrong upon any OF these republics L
this matter. We do not wish to interfer
with their rights in the least: but, Will
carefully safeguarding them, to build tn
canal ourselves under provisions whic
viii enable us, If necessary, to police an
protect 1t, and to guarantee its neutrali
ty, we being the sole guarantor. Our in
tention was steadfast; we desired actio
taken so that the canal could always b
used by us in time of peace and wa
alike, and in time of war could never b
rsed to our detriment by any nat'o
which was hostile to us. Such action. b
the circumstances surrounding it, wa
necessarily for the benefit and not th
detriment of the adjacent American re
Fublics.
After considerably more than half {
n century these objects have been exactl
fulfilled by the legislation and treatie
Of the last two years. Two years ag
We were no further advanced toward tn