Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-03


that lie along the Pacific and the states
that lie along the gulf; and yet, after all,
feel that the advantage will be shared
In an only less degree by the states of the
interior and on the Atlantic coast. In
other words. 1t is a thoroughly national
work, undertaken for and redounding to
the advantage of the nation as a whole
Therefore 1 am glad to be able to re-
port to you how well we are doing with
the canal There is bound to be GER
tain amount of experiment, GER
tain amount of feeling our way, In task
SO gigantic-a task greater than any of
it's kind that has ever hitherto been
undertaken in the whole history of man.
kind; but the success so far has been
astonishing, and we have not met with a
single one of the accidents or drawbacks
which I freely confess l expected we
should from time to time encounter.
Strong Navy Needed
Now, gentlemen, this leads me up to
another matter for national considera-
tion, and that is our navy. The navy is
not primarily of Importance only to the
coast regions. 1t is every bit as much
the concern of the farmer who dwells
thousand miles from sea water as Of
the fisherman who makes his living on
the ocean, for II Is the concern OF every
good American who knows what the
meaning of the word patriotism is.
"This country Is definitely committed
to certain fundamental policies-to the
Monroe doctrine, for instance, and to
the duty not only of building, but when
1t is built, of policing and defending
the Panama canal. We have definitely
taken our place among the great world
powers, and 1t would be sign of ignoble
weakness, having taken such place, to
ehirIr IFS RESPONSIBILITIES.
''Therefore, unless we are willing to
abandon this place, to abandon our IN
sistence upon the Monroe doctrine, TO
give UP the Panama canal, and to be
content to acknowledge ourselves weak
and timid nation we must steadily bulld
up and maintain a great fighting navy.
Our navy is already so efficient as to be
a matter of just pride to every Amer
lean.
$50 long as our navy is no larger than
at present, 1t must be considered as an
elementary principle that the bulk of
our battle feet must always be kept
together When the Panama canal Is
built it can be transferred without diff
ficulty from one part of our coast to the
other; but even before that canal Is
built it ought to be thus transferred to
and fre from time to time. In couple
of months our fleet of great armored
ships starts for the Pacific. California,
Oregon and Washington have coast
line just as emphatically as the coast
line of New York and Maine, of Louisi-
ana and Texas.
Learn, Best at Sea
"Our fleet is going to its own home
waters in the Pacific, and after stay
there 1t will return to it's own home
waters in the Atlantic. The best place
for a naval officer to learn his duties is
at sea, by performing them, and only by
actually putting through voyage of this
nature, a voyage longer than any ever
before undertaken by as large fleet OF
any nation, can we find out just exactly
what Is necessary for us to know as to
our naval needs and practice our officers
and enlisted men in the highest duties OF
their profession.
Among all our citizens there is no
body of equal size to whom we owe
quite as much as to the officers and
enlisted men of the army and navy of
the United States, and / bespeak from
you the fullest and heartiest support,
in the name of our nation and of our
flag, for the services to which these
men belong.
I'm conclusion / wish. to say word
to this body, containing, as it does, so
many business men, upon what is pre-
eminently business proposition, ana
that Is the proper national supervision
and control of corporations.
Now that the questions of govern
nent are becoming SO largely economic,
the majority of our so-called constl-
tutional cases really turn not upon the
Interpretation of the instrument itself,
but upon the construction, the right ap-
prehension of the living conditions to
which it is to be applied. The con-
stitution is now and must remain what
it always has been; but 1t can only be
Interpreted as the interests, of the
whole people demand, If interpreted as
living organism, designed to meet
the conditions of life and not of death;
in other words. IL interpreted as Mar
shall interpreted it, as Wilson declared
it should be interpreted
'The constitution is unchanged and
Interchangeable save by amendment In
due form. But the conditions to which
it is to be applied have undergone a
change which is almost a transforma-
ton, with the result that many sub
jects formerly under the control of the
states have come under the control OF
the nation.
"a hundred years ago there was, ex-
cept the commerce which craWled along
our seacoast or up and down our in
terror waterways, practically no inter-
the mails, the telegraph and the tele-
phone, an immense part of our COM
merce is interstate. By the transfer
nation it has escaped from the power
of the state and come under the power
of the nation.
Therefore there has been a great
practical change in the exercise of the
national power. under the acts of con-
gress, over interstate commerce; while
on the other hand there has been no
noticeable change in the exercise of the
national power to regulate commerce
with foreign nations and with the In
dian tribes.
"The change as regards interstate
commerce has been not in the consti-
tuition, but in the business of the peo-
pie to which it is to be applied. Our
economic and social future depends in
very large part upon how the inter-
state commerce power of the nation is
interpreted.
Nation Should Control
'I believe that the nation has the
whole governmental power over inter-
state commerce and the widest dis
cretion in dealing with that subject
of course, under the express limits pre-
fnY fhn aNr-