The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-07


 is truism to say that every nation, sa CT in America or anywhere else wn,ca e sires to maintain its freedom ns inue snce. must ultimately realize tn.. r.rs,nd of such independence can not pc
 iron, the responsibility of making good use of 1t. .,
 In asserting the Monroe Doctrine. in tax tnr .uch stepr as we have taken in regard to Cuba. venexuela. and Panama, ana -n' endeavoring to circumscribe the the.''e o' war in the Far Fast. and to secure the open door in China. we have acted m ou. vwn Sr interest as well as in the interest or hu- ynanity at large. There are, however, cases in which. while our own ipteres,s ar9 "o' greatly involved. strong appeal IS maae to our sympathies. Ordinarily It n very "uo'' wiser and more useful for us to concern our selves with striving for our own mora ana material betterment here at home than to concern ourselves with trying 10 oetter @ .ne condition of things in other nations. we have plenty of sins of our own to war against, and under ordinary circumstances we can do more for the general upiifting or humanity by striving with heart ana soui to put a stop to civic corruption, to brutal iawlessness and violent race preyuoices here at home than by passing resoiutions about wrongdoing elsewhere. Nevcrtheiess there are occasional crimes committed on 50 vast . scale and such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it Is not our manifest duty to enieavor at least to show our dfsapprovaI of the deed and our sym pathy with those who have suffered by It. The cases must be extrenSe In which such a course Is Justifiable. There must DC no effort made to remove the mote rom our brothers eye # we refuse to rcmove~the beam from our own. But in extreme cases action may be Justifiabie and proper What form the action shall take must depend upon the circumstances of the case; that IS. upon the degree of the atrocity and upon our power to remedy 1t. The cases in which ws could interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put stop to intolerabie con ditions in Cuba are necessarily few. Yet 1t is not to be expected that . people like ours in spite of certain very obvious snort cominss, nevertheless as a whole shows by its consistent practice it's belief in the prin- cipies of civil and religious liberty and oi orderly freedom, e people among whom even the worst crime. like the crime or iynch- ing is never more than sporadic, so that in dividuals and not classes are moiested in their fundamental rights-it is inevitable that such . nation should desire eagerly to give expression to its horror on an occasion like that of the massacre of the Jews if1 Kishenef or when it witnesses such sys- tematic and long-extended cruelty and op- precision of which the Armenians have been the victims. and which have won for them the indignant pity of the civilized world.
 Rights of American Citizens Abroad.
 Even where 1t Is not possible to secure in other nations the observance of the prin- ciples which we accept as automatic. 1t Is necessary for us firmly to regard their creed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or born abroad. It has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the right for our Jewish ow-citizens to nA Ira Rua- sian territory. Such conduct is not only un- just and irritating toward us but 1t is difficult to see its wisdom from Russia s standpoint No conceivabie good Is accom- plishd by it. If an American Jew or an American Christian misbehaves himself In Russia he can at once be driven out: but the ordinary American Jew. like the ordin- ary American Christian. would behave just about as he behaves here. that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; and where this is the case 1t is a wrong against which we are entitled to protest to refuse him his passport without regard to his com duct and character. merely on racial and religious grounds. Tn Turkey our difficulties arise less from the way in which our citi- indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia.
 The Navy.
 The strong arm of the Government in en- forcing respect for its just rights in inter national matters is the Navy of the United States. I most earnestly recommend that there be no halt in the work of upbuild- ing the American Navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us as people than to keep the Navy adequate to the needs of this country's position. We have undertaken to build the Isthmian Canal. We have under taken to secure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the Orient. We have under taken to protect our citizens from improper treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the application of the Monroe Doctrine to the Western Hemis- phers. Unless our attitude in these and all similar matters Is to be a mere boastful sham we can not afford to abandon our naval program. Our voice is now po- tent for peace. and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. But our protesta- tions upon behalf of peace would neither re- ceive nor deserve the slightest attention If we were impotent to make them good.
 The war which now unfortunately rages in the Far East has emphasized in strtk- ing fashion the new possibilities Of naval warfare. The lessons taught are both stra- tegic and tactical. and are political as well as military. The experiences of the war have shown in conclusive fashion that while sea going and sea-keeping torpedo destroy ars are indispensable, and fast lightly arm ed and armored cruisers very useful. yet that main reliance. the main standby. fh any navy worthy the name must be great battle ships. heavily armored and heavily gunned. Not Russian or Japanese battle ship has been sunk by torpedo boat. or by gunfire. while among the less protected ships. cruiser after cruiser has been destroy ed whenever the hostils squadrons have got ten within range of one anothers weapons. There will always be a large field of use- fulness for cruisers. especially of the more formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo boat destroyers paying less heed to their having a knot or two extra speed than to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks. and. if necessary. for months at a time. It Is wise to build sub marine torpedo boats, as under certain cir cumstanoes they might be very useful. But most of all we need to continue building our fleet of battleships, or ships power. fully armed that they can inflict the maxi- mum amount of damage upon our oppon- ents. and well protected that they can suffer a severe hammerinR in return without fatal Impairment to their ability to fight and maneuver Of course ample means must be provided for enabling the personnel of the Navy to be brought to the highest point of efficiency. Our great fighting ships and torpedo boats must be ceaselessiv trained and maneuvered in squadrons. Ths officers and men can only learn their trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high seas. In sthe event of war it would be far better to have no ships at all than to have ships of a poor and ineffective type. or ships which. however good. were yet man ned by untrained and unskiled crews The best officers and men in a poor ship could do nothing against fairly good opponents; and m the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers and men aboard her have become adepts in their duties. The craftsmanship in our Navy has improved in an extraordinary degree during the last nd hn .Ihn Aho