The Minneapolis journal., 1904-12-06
OUR ARMY AND NAVY

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- OUR ARMY AND NAVY .'s|,
Roosevelt Idea Of the "Big stick''
Made Clearer to the Public. =
In treating Of our foreign policy and
of the attitude that this great nation !
is absolutely necessary to consider the
e9my and thru tne which eSVS the thought
Of the nation. finds. it's expires
sion. should keep ever vividly
in mind the fundame ntal. fact that it is
impossible to treat our foreign pollcy,
whether this policy takes shape, IN the
effort to secure Justice Tor others Gr
Justice for ourselves, save as condl-
toned upon the attitude we are willing
to take, toward bur army and especially
toward our navy -
It is not merely unwise, it IS con
te1nptible, for a nation, as Tor an lnal-
vidual, to use high-sounding Language
to proclaim it's purposes, or to take po-
sitions which are ridiculous II unsup-
ported by potential force, and tnen TO
refuse to provide this force. II Jhere Is
no intention Of providing and o. o. Keep, s,e
ing the force necessary 10 20. pacA Ge4tou up ,o% a
strong attitude, then it Is far oetIer ho5
W The si1s steady aim Of this nation, as Of
fa11 enli ehtened nations, should pe TO
strive. to bring ever nearer, the aay
when there shall prevail jthruout tne
world The peace, of Justice. :.f
10 There sre.,o arer of peace WHICH are
highly iund desirab4ey which are IN the
long ruin" as destructive as any war.
Tyrants and >oppressqrs nave many y
times made wilderness apd -caAeu 1o ~
| VINO
bslothful or timid or shortsighted, VINO
had been enervated by ease or, by lux
ury. or misled by false teachings, nave
shrunk in unmanly fashion from dong
dntV that was stern and that needed
selfsacrifce, and have sought to hide
from their own minds their shortcom-
ings, their ignoble motives, by: calllng
them love OF peace. .I..: /,
The peace of :tyrannous terror, the
peace of craven weakness, the peace OF
Injustice, all these should be Stunned
as we shun unrighteous war. The goa1
to set before us as nation, the goal
which should be set before all mankind,
is the attainment of the peace OF JUS
tice," Of the peace which comes wne9
each nation is not merely sateguafoeo
in it's own rights, but scrupulousiy rec,
ognizes and performs its duty toward
others.
Generally peace tells for righteous
ness. but if there is conflict between
the two, then our fealty is due first to
the cause Of righteousness. Unrlghte-
GUS wars are common, and unrlghteous
peace is rare; but both. should be
Stunned. The right Of freedom and
the responsibility for the exercise OF
; that right can not be divorced.
.. One of our great poets has we'll and
finely said that freedom is not a gift
that tarries long in the hands OF cow
ards. Neither does it tarrY long in, the
: hands of those too .slothful, too dlshon
est, or too unintelligent to exercise IT..
; The eternal vigilance which is the
price of liberty must be exercised, some
, times to guard against outside foes!
: altho of course far more often to guard
| against our own selfish or thoughtless
l shortcomings. .@:rF-S. T..1.:.
: If these. self-evident truths are KEEP
: before us, and only,i if they are so KEEP
| before us, we shall have a clear idea Of
: what our foreign policy in its larger
{ aspects should be- It is our duty tt
1 rememb Der that a nation has no more
tion, strong or weak, than an individual
has to do injustice to- another individ
:, :, ual; that the same moral law apple
. . in one case as in the other. But w
. |. must also remember that it is as mucl
+ the duty of the nation : to guard it
Il own rights ana 1IS own lnteTeSuS "
f it is the duty OF, the individual SO t.
j. do. Within the nation the individual
9 has now delegated this right to tn
l. state-that is, to. the representat1.v
of all the individuals-andi it is maxir
of the law that for every wrong ther
is a. remedy. But in international lay
q we have not advanced by any mean
- as far as we have advanced in mt
d nicipal law. There is as yet no ju,dic!io
IS way of enforcing right in interna
t, tional law. When one nation wrong
h another or wrongs many others, ther
Q is no tribunal before which the wrong
Y doer can be brought. Either it is neces
e sary supinely to acquiesce in the wrong
7. and thus put premium upon brutallt
2 and aggression, or else it is necessar
l. for the aggrieved nation valiantly t
II stand up for it's rights. .
. Until some method is devised: b
y which there shall be a. degree of inte
- national control over offending nation
!, i it would be a wicked thing for the mos
"a civilized powers, for those with mos
% q sense of international obligations an
>. with keenest and most generous appr
. citation of the difference between rig1
n- and wrong, to disarm.
- If the great civilized nations Of tt
- present day should completely disarr
. the result would mean an immedia1
>. recrudescence of barbarism in onezfor
f. or another. Under any circumstances
1r sufficient armament would have to
j. kept up to serve the purposes of inte
n. national police; and until information
:. cohesion and the sense of information,
er duties and rights are far more advance
le than at present a nation deslrous bo1
10 of securing respect for itself and I
how