Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-24
are now assured of having that canal with
in a comparatively short time.
Canal Opposed by Great Interests.

Gentlemen, I want to warn you not to
be misled by interested clamor Every man
who had to do with bringing about the con-
struction of the canal knows that for dec
| AIDES 1T was opposed, and successfully OPP
posed, by great commercial interests which
not wish to see canal speedily dug through
not wish to canal speedily dug through
the fsthmus and communication between
the Atlantic and Pacific speedily estab-
lished. 1t seems to evident from GER
| tain things l see in a portion of the daily
press that those causes are still active, and
| that they are going to try to bring up the
issue with the hope of putting off for ten
! or hfteen years or over the digging of that
canal. Their weapons have been and are
| every form of Misrepresentation and gen.
! tlemen. they will fail You need not have
the slightest alarm. Uncle Sam has start
| ed to dig that canal. and it will be dug, and
SOON The people who largely, by the
circulation of false rumors and by direct
| misstatement seeking to create confusion,
such as will defer the building of the canal,
will be disappointed.
I'VE have as a people the right to feel
genuine satisfaction with the progress that
| has already been made Let me point out
something Of which you here will appre-
| ciate the Specification. the sanitation of the
| sthmus. Do you remember that a couple
OF years ago men said you could not dig
that canal because yellow fever was cpl
demic always there? We are digging it
! with a cleaner bill of mortality than the
isthmus has ever known before l am
happy to be able to tell you that from in
formation received this very day 1 find that
those who have just returned from the 18TH
mus are not only pleased, but astonished at
the excellent trim in which the project is
1t is going on well, and it will go along
even better in the future.
Crooked Public Servants.
Now, of all the things said about me to-
| day. in the more than kind, in the overland
illusions to me, perhaps 1 was specially
pleased by what Col. Russell said as to my
attitude toward crooked public servants
will take advice about appointing men, but
| If find they are crooked l do not take any
advice at all about removing them We have
Scriptural authority for saying that offenses
must come, and the Good Book says woe
| to them through whom they come / cam
not guarantee and no human being can,
that there will not be casonal man of
an improper kind appointed or an occa-
sional well-meaning man, who after being
appointed goes wrong. But [ can say every
enc within the power of, the government
will be made to hunt such man out of the
public service and to punish him to the full
est extent OF the law.
Here in this seaboard city I want to say
another word and that is about the United
States navy. Again Judge Semmes, in pass
ing by the monument of your iluStrious
father, l felt the thrill of pride that all
Americans must feel that the names of their
Combatants in that famous ship duel are
COI1I0eL1OIdleu III the UdIIleS Oh the Near
sarge and Alabama in the United States
navy now, and that if ever they have to go
into action they will go into action side by
side, manned by Americans against COM
mon foe.
We Must Protect Canal.
81 know that an audience composed as
this audience is of who either them
selves fought or whose fathers fought in the
civil war appreciate to the full the sound
7 Pularl
of never bluffing unless you mean to make
good We undertook to build the canal be.
cause we said that owing to our position
and interest and stand we were the only ma
ton that could or should do 1t. That means
that we have got to protect ii and police it
ourselves We do not ask anybody else to
help us to do the work we have allotted to
ourselves. We must, therefore bring up and
keep up our navy TO the highest point OF
efficiency.
I'VE can afford to have a small army,
although must insist upon its being kept
up to the highest pitch of efficiency that,
| am glad to say, regular army, in its
Individual unit has attained. But in the
event of war--a which l hope will
never come-the American people in the flu
ture as in the past, must land rely
mainly upon its volunteer soldiers But
while it is a comparatively simple task
TO turn man of the proper character,
physique and training into a good soldier,
YOU cannot improviSe either battleshtp
or the crew of a battleship. At sea the
battle has to be fought with the ships
and the crews that have been prepared be-
fore the war begins.
To Profit by Lessons of History.
and we wish to profit by the lessons
of our own history and the lessons of other
history in seeing that our navy is always
kept adequate to our needs. 1t is not neces-
sary to have a very large navy, but it is
| necessary that, ship for ship, it should
be Just a little the most efficient navy
in the world In battle the shots that
count are the shots that hit.
There are plenty of gallant fellows-we
saw them among the Spaniards-who will
go down with their ships. That is all right.
If there is nothing else to be done, go
down with the ships rather than surrender.
But try to make the other fellows ship go
down first. l want our people to feel that
In assuming to dig the isthmian canal,
in assuming the position We have assumed
as regards this western hemisphere and in
the oriental seas, we bind ourselves to keep
our navy at such point of efficiency that
there shall be no chance of humiliation at
the hands of any foreign foe