Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-03

the Will and the strength to make it eff
tective This last point, my fellow-citizens,
is all important, and Is one which as
people We can never afford to forget
believe in the Monroe doctrine with all my
heart and soul; I am convinced that the
Immense majority Of our fellow -countrymen
SO believe in 1t; but 1 would infinitely pre-
fer to see US abandon it than to see us put
1t forward and buster about 1t, and yet
fail to build up the efficient fighting strength
which In the last resort can alone make 1t
respected by any strong foreign power
whose interest 1t may ever happen to be to
violate 1t.
Boosting and clustering are as objec-
tionable among nations as among individ-
uals, and the public men of great nation
owe 1t to their sense of national self-re-
spect to speak courteously Of foreign pow
ers just as brave and self-respecting man
treats all around him courteously. But
though to boast is bad, and causelessly to
insult another, worse; yet worse than all is
1t to be guilty Of boasting, even without
insult. and when called to the proof to be
unable to make such Boosting good. There
Is homely old adage which runs: Speak
softly and carry big stick; you will go
1ar II the American nation will speak
softly. and yet build, and keep at pitch of
the highest training. a thoroughly efficient
navy, the Monroe doctrine will go far I
ask you to think over this. If you do, you
WIN WI l. come to the conclusion that it is mere
plain common sense, so obviously sound
that only the blind can fail to see its truth
and only the weakest and most irresolute
can fail to desire to put it into force
Advance Of the Navy.
Well, in the last two years 1 am happy
to say we have taken long strides in ad-
vance as regards our navy. The last Con-
gress, In addition to smaller vessels, pro-
vided nine Of those formidable fighting
ships upon which the real efficiency Of any
navy In war intimately depends. It pro-
Vlded, moreover, for the necessary addition
OF officers and enlisted men to make the
ships worth having. Meanwhile the Navy
Department has seen to it that our ships
have been constantly exercised at sea- with
the great guns, and in maneuvers SO that
their efficiency as fighting units, both in
been steadily improved. Remember that
all OF this Is necessary. A warship is
huge bit of mechanism, well-nigh as deli
cate and complicated as 1t is formidable.
1t takes years to build 1t. 1t takes years to
teach the officers and men how to handle
1t to good advantage. 1t Is an absolute i'm
possibility to improvise navy at the cut
set Of war No recent war between any
two nations has lasted as long as it takes
to build battle ship; and it is just as i'm
possible to improvise the officers or the
crews as to improvise the navy.
To lay up a battle ship and only send 1t
afioat at the outset of a war. with a raw
crew and untried officers, would be not
merely folly, but a crime, for it would
invite both disaster and disgrace The
navy which SO quickly decided in our favor
the war in 1898 had been built and made
efficient during the preceding fifteen years.
The ships that triumphed off Manila and
Santiago had been built under previous ad-
ministrations with money appropriated by
previous Congresses. The officers and the
men did their duty so well because they
had already been trained to it by long sea
service. All honor to the gallant officers
and gallant men who actually did the fight
ing; but remember, too, to honor the pub
lie men, the shipwrights and steel workers.
the owners Of the shipyards and armor
plants, to whose united foresight and exer-
ton We owe it that in 1898 we had craft so
good. guns so excellent, and American sea-
men of so high a type in the coming tow
ers, in the gun turrets, and in the engine
rooms. 1t is too late to prepare for war
when war has come; and If we only pre-
pare sufficiently no war will ever come
We wish a powerful and efficient navy. not
for purposes of war. but as the surest guar
anty Of peace. II we have such a navy
If We keep on building 1t up-we may rest
assured that there is but the smallest
chance that trouble will ever come to this
nation; and we may likewise rest assured
that no foreign power will ever quarrel
with us about the Monroe doctrine