The San Francisco call., 1904-10-04
WORK OF ROOSEVELT.

There has been continuity in the sentiments
of our Presidents on this subject up to this
day. Mckinley deplored with every pulse of
his honest and kindly heart the advent Of
the war which he had hoped might not come
in his day. and gladly hailed the earliest mo-
mept for making peace and President Roose-
Welt has the same tireless energy in the work
of concord that he displayed when he sought
peace and insured 1t on the field of battle.
No Presidents in our history have been so
of arbitration and of every peaceful
settlement OF differences. l mention them to-
gether because their work has been harmo-
NOUS and consistent. We hailed with Joy the
generous initiative OF the Russian Emperor and
sent to the conference at The Hague the best
men We had in our civic and military life.
at the beginning of it's voyage, threatened with
death before II had fairly begun to live, it
was the American Government which gave Ii
the breath Of life by inviting the republic of
Mexico to share appeal to its jurisdc-
tion; and the second case brought before 1t
at the instance OF Mr. Roosevelt who de-
clined in its favor the high honor of arbitrat-
ing an AFFAIR of worldwide Importance
1 beg you to believe it is not by way of
boasting that 1 recall these incidents to your
minds; 1t Is rather as a profession of faith
in cause which the present administration
has deeply at heart that / ask you to remem-
Der, in the deliberations upon which you are
entering the course to which the American
Government is pledged and which it has stead
true that in those years we have had a hum
dred days of war-but they put an end forever
to bloodshed which had lasted a generation
We landed few platoons of marines on the
isthmus last year; but that act closed with
out shot sanguinary succession of trivial
wars. We marched little army to Peking: !:
but 1t was to save not only the beleaguered le-
cations, but great imperiled civilization. BY
mingled m & I1 gentisness and energy to which most
tice, We have given to the Philippines il not
peace, at least a nearer approach to II than
they have had within the memory of men
II our example is worth anything to the
world. we have given it in the vital matter Of
disarmament. We have brought away from
the Far East $4,000 soldiers whose work was
done. and have sent them back to the fields
of peaceful activity. We have reduced our
army to its minimum of go. 600 men; in fact
we may say we have no army. but in place
of one a nucleus for drill and discipline We
have three-fourths of one soldier for every thou
sand Of the population-a proportion which II
adopted by the other powers would at once
eliminate and rumors of wars from the
daily thoughts OF the chanceries of the world.
PREVALENCE OF WAR SPIRIT.
But fixed as our tradition is. clear as is our
purpose in the direction Of peace. no country
Is permanently immune to war so long as the
desire and the practice of peace are not uni
versal II we quote Washington as an advo-
Sa,s sr Of b peace II Is but ~ fair as0 to quote him
one OF the most effectual means OF preserving
peace And at another time he said: ..'r9
an active external comperce the protection OF
a naval force is indispensable. To secure re-
spect to neutral flag requires a naval force
orsanzed and ready lay to vindlcste It from insult
of evil is not 10 support approve it; but
the facts must be faced. Human history is
long desolate story of bloodshed All the
arts unite in the apparent conspiracy to give
precedence to the glory Of arms Demos
thenea and Pericles adjured the Athenians bv
the memory OF their battles. Horace boasted
that he had been a soldier. non sine gloria
Even Milton. in that sublime sonnet where
he said Peace hath her victories no less than
those of war also mentioned among godIy
trophies of Cromwell ''Darwent's stream with
blood Of Scots imbued." In almost every SER
mon and hymn we hear in our churches. the
Imagery OF war and battle is used We are
charged to fight the good fight of faith; we
are to sail through bloody seas to win the
prize. The Christian soldier is constantly mar
shaled to war. Not only In our habits and
customs. but in our daily speech and In our
inmost thoughtsewe beset by the obsessior