Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-12-09
to such as may be able to meet certain
definite requirements.


In treating of our foreign policy and OF
the attitude that this great Nation snouio
assume in the world at large, 1t is aDsoluIe-
ly necessary to consider the Army ana the
NAVY. and the Congress, through which the
thought of the Nation finds It's eXpresslon'
should keep over wildly in mind the Iunda-
mental fact that it is imp9sssiD e, TO t tieas
shape in the effort to secure justice 1of
others or justice for ourselves, save US con-
ditioned upon the attitude we are Wiling
to take toward our Army, and especlally
toward our Navy. 1t is not merely unWlse,
il is contemplate for a nation, as Iof an
individual, to use high-sounding language TO
proclaim its purposes, or TO take poSl 81, jus
tential force and then to refuse to PROVIDE
this force If there is no intention OF pro
viding and of keeping the force necessary
to back up a strong attitude tneh II Is Lar
better not to assume such an attitude .
The steady aim Of this Nation, as or al
enlightened nations, should be to strive TO
bring ever nearer the day when there shalI
prevail throughout the world the peace OF
Justice. There are kinds Of peace when
are highly undesirable, which are IN the
long run as destructive as any war. Iyfahts
and oppressors have many times mace
wilderness and called it peace. Many times
peoples who were slothful or timid or short!
sighted, who had been enervated by ease
or by luxury or misled by false teachings,
have shrunk in unmanly fashion from DO
ing duty that was stern and that needed
self sacrifice, and have sought to hide from
their own minds their shortcomings, their
ignoble motives, by calling them love or
peace The peace of tyrannouS terror, the
peace of craven weakness. the peace OF IN
Justice, all these should be stunned as we
shun unrighteous war. The goal TO set De
fore us as a nation, the goal which should
be set before all mankind, is the attain
ment of the peace Of justice, of the peace
which comes when each nation is not mere
ly safeguarded in it's own rights but scrup-
uously recognizes and performs its duty
toward others. Generally peace tells for
righteousness; but if there Is conflict be-
tween the two, then our fealty is due first
to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous
wars are common, and unrighteous peace is
rare; but both should be stunned. 1t is our
duty to remember that nation has no more
right to do injustice to another nation,
strong or weak, than an individual has to
do injustice to another Individual; that the
same moral law applies in one case as In
the other. But we must also remember
that it is as much the duty Of, the Nation
to guard its own rights and its own inter
ests as it is the duty of the Individual so
to do. Within the Nation the individual
has now delegated this right to the State,
that is, to the representative Of all the in
dviduals, and it is maxim of the law
that for every wrong there is remedy.
But~in international law we have not ad-
yanced by any means as far as we have
advanced in municipal law. There is as
yet no judicial way of enforcing a right
in international law. When one nation
wrongs another or wrongs many others,
there is no tribunal before which the wrong
doer can be brought. Either it is neces-
sary supinefy to acquieSce in the wrong,
and thus put a premium upon brutality
and aggression, oil else it is necessary for
the aggrieved nation yaliantly to stand up
for it's rights Until some method is de-
vised by which there shall be a degree of
international control over offending nations,
it would be a wicked thing for the most
civilized powers, for those with most sense
of international obligations and with keen
est and most generous appreciation of the
difference between right and wrong, to dis
arm. If the great civilized nations of the
present day should completely disarm, the
result would mean an Immediately recrud-
escence Of barbarism i'll one form Or. an
other. Under any circumstances a sufficient
armament would have to be kept up to
serve the purposes of international police;
and until international cohesion and the
sense of international duties and rights are
far more advanced than at present, ma
ton DESTROYS both of securing respect for
itself and of doing good to others must
have a force adequate for the work which
it feels is allotted to it as it's part of the
general world duty; A great free people
sink into helplessness before the powers Of
evil
Second Hague Conference.
We are in every way endeavoring to help
which will tend to bring us into more
friendly relations with the rest of man
kind. In pursuance of this policy shall
shortly lay before the Senate treaties of
arbitration with all powers which are will
ing to enter into these treaties with us.
Furthermore, at the request of the Inter
parliamentary Union, an eminent body com
posed of practical statesmen from all coun-
tries, l have asked the Powers to join with
this government in a second Hague con-
ference, at which it is hoped that the work
already so happily begun at The Hague may
be carried some steps further toward COM
pletion.
Policy Toward Other Nations of West
ern Hemisphere.
1t is not true that the United States feels
any land hunger or entertainS any projects
as regards the other nations of the West
ern hemisphere save such as are for their
welfare. All that this country desires is to
see the neighboring countries stable, or
derby, and prosperous. If nation shows
that it knows how to act with reasonable
efficiency and decency in social and political
matters if it keeps order and pays it's OBJ
legations, it need fear no interference from
the United States. Chronic wrong-doing,
or an impotence which results in a general
loosening of the ties of civilized society,
may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately
require Intervention by some civilized ma
ton, and in the Western hemisphere the
adherence of the United States to the
Monroe doctrine may force the United
States, however reluctantly, in fragrant
cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to
the exercise of an international police
power
In asserting the Monroe doctrine, in TAX
ing such steps as we have taken in regard
to Cuba, Venezuela and Panama, and in
endeayerng to circumscribe the theater of
war in the Far East, and to secure the
open door in China, we have acted in our
own interest as well as in the interest of
humanity at large. There are, however,
cases in which, while our own interests are
not greatly involved, strong appeal is
made to our sympathies. Ordinarily it is
very much wiser and more useful for us
to concern ourselves with striving for our
own moral and material betterment here
at home than to concern ourselves with
trying to better the condition of things in
other nations. We have plenty of sins of
our own to war against, and under orli-
nary circumstances we can do more for the
general uplifting of humanity by striving
with heart and soul to put a stop to civic
corruption, to brutal Iawlessness and yio
lent race prejudices here at home than by
passing resolutions about wrongdoing else
where. Nevertheless there are occasional
crimes committed on so vast a scale and
OF such. peculiar horror as to make us