The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-07

4idef1ti0n TOT Ine fcpOft 8n0 Fec0mm6nua- tions of the governor of Porto Rico.
 Foreign Policy.
 Tn treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great Nation should assume in the world at large. it is abso- | iutely necessary to consider the Army and | the Navy. and the Congress, through which the thought of the Nation finds It's express sion. should keep ever vividly in mind the | fundamental fact that 1t Is impossible to treat our foreign policy. whether this policy | takes shape in the effort to secure justics | for others or justice for ourselves, save as l conditioned upon the attitude we are will | ing to take toward our Army and especially
 toward our Navy. It is not merely unwise. l 1t is contemptible, for a nation. as for an in-
 dividuai to use high sounding language to proclaim its purposes or to take positions which are ridiculous if unsupported by po- tential force. and then 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. then 1t is far better not to ashume such an attitude The steady aim of this Nation. as of an
 enlightened nations should be to strive to
 bring ever nearer the day wieen there shall
 prevail throughout the world the peace of
 justice. Thefe are kinda of peace which are
 highly undesirable. which are in the long
 run as destructive as any war. Tyrants and
 oppressors have many times made wilder.
 ness and called 1t peace. Many times peo-
 ples who were slothful or timid or short-
 sighted. who had been enervatei by ease or
 luxury, or misled by false teachings, have
 shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty
 that was stern and that needed self
 flee and have sought to hids from their
 own minds their shortcomings. their ignoble
 motives. by calling them love of peace. The peace of tyrannous terror. the peace of craven weakness. the peace of injustice. all
 these should be shunned as we shun the un- righteous war. The Goal to set before us as
 a nation, the goal which should be set for all mankind, is the attainment of the peace
 of justice. the peace which comes when each nation is not merely safe guarded in it's own rights, but scrupulously recognizes and performs it's duty toward others. Gen. orally peace tells for righteousness: but if there Is conflict between the two. then our feaity is due first to the cause of righteous ness Unrighteous wars are common and
 unrighteous peace Is rare: but both should
 be summed. 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 . gift that tarries long in the hands | of towards. Neither does 1t tarry long In | the hands of the too slothful too dishonest. or too unintellisent to exercise 1t. The l eternal vigilance which is the price of lib- | erty must be exercised. sometimes to guar | against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard against our own selfish | or thoughtless shortcomings.
 If these self-evident truths are kept be- | fore us. and only if they are 90 kept before | us. shall have a clear idea of what our | foreign policy in It's larger aspects should | be. It is our duty to remember that a na- | tion has no more right to do injustice to | another nation. strong or weak. that an in dividual has to do injustice to another in- | dividtIal; that the same moral law applies | in one case as in the other But we must also remember that 1t Is as much the duty | of the Nation to guard its own rights and | its own interests as it is the duty of the individual to do so. Within the Nation the | individual has now delegated this right to | the State. that is. to the representatives Of | all the individuals. and 1t Is a maxim Of | the law that for every wrong there is a | remedy. But in international law we have l not advanced by any means as far as we l 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 ia no tribunal before which the wrong
 doer can be brought Either 1t Is necessary | supinely to acquiesce in the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and asgres- | sion. or else it is necessary for the aggrfev- | ed nation valiantly to stand for its rights. Until some method Is devised by which there shall he Q degree of international control l over offending nations. 1t would be a wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for | for those with the most sense of internation- | al obligations and with keenest and most | generous appreciation of the difference be- | tween right and wrong, to disarm. If the great civilized nations of the present day | should completely disarm. the result would | mean an immediate recrudescence of bar l barisrn in one form another. Under any
 circumstance a sufficient armament would | have to be kept up to serve the purposes
 of International police: snd until interna-
 tionaI cohesion and the sense of internaton-
 al duties and rights are far more advanced | than at present. a nation desirous of secur- | ing both respect for itself and of doing
 good to others must have force adequate
 for the work which it feels is allotted to 1t
 as its part of the A general world duty.
 Therefore 1t follows tkat a self-respecting.
 just, and far-seeing nation should on the
 one hand endeavor by every means to aid | in the development of the various move
 ments which tend to provide substitutes ! for war; which tend to render nations in | their actions toward one another. and indeed | toward their own peoples. more responsive | to the general sentiments of humane and | civilized mankind; and on the other hand
 that 1t should keep prepared. while scrupu- | lsusiy avoiding wrongdoing itself, to repel
 any wrong. and in exceptional cases to take | any action which fin a more advanced stage | of international relations would come under | the head or the exercise or the ihterhAtioH- | al police. A great free people owes it to
 itself and to all mankind not to sink into
 helplessness before the powers of evil.
 | Arbitration Treaties.
 | We are in every way endeavoring to help
 on. with cordial good will, every movement | which will tend to bring us into more l friendly relations with the rest of mankind l In pursuance of this policy shall shortly Hay before the Senate treaties of arbigation
 with all the powers which are willing to
 enter into these treaties with us. It is not 1 possible at this period of the worlds ede- 1 velopment to agree to arbitrate all matters but there are many matters of possible diff ference between us and other nations | which can thus be arbitrated. Furthermore | at the request of the InterparliamentaFy Union an eminent body composed of prac- | tical statesmen from all countries. have | asked the Powers to join with this GoV- ernment in a second Hague conference. at
 which 1t is hoped that the work already
 so happily begun at The Hague may be
 carried some steps further toward compile
 tion. This carries out the desire expressed
 by the first Hague conference itself
 Policy Toward Other Nations of Western | Hemisphere.
 l It is not true that the United States feeis | any land hunger or entertains any projects | as regards other nations of the Western | Hemisphere save such as are for their vel
 fare. All that this country desires Is to
 see the neighborinE countries staoie' order- ly, and prosperous Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count | upon our hearty friendship If nation
 shows that 1t knows how to act with reason | able efficiency and decency in soclal ana political matters if 1t keeps oraer and pays its obligations 1t need fear no interference
 from the United states, Chronic wrons'o-