Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-14

| tivated the very spirit which our own
peace-at-any- price men wish this country
to adopt. For centuries China has re-
fused to provide military forces and has
treated the career of the soldier as infe-
rior in honor and regard to the career of
the merchant or of the man of letters
There never has been so large an empire
which for so long time has so resoiuteiy
proceeded on the theory of doing away
| with what is called ''miltarism." Whether
the result has been happy in internal az
| fairs need not discuss: all the advanced
reformers and farsighted patriots in the
Chinese empire are at present seeking u
may add with our hearty gOod-WilD for
radical and far-reaching reform in in
ternal affairs. In external AFFAIRS the
| policy has resulted in various other ma
! tions now holding large portions of Chi
nese territory. while there is very acute
| fear in China lest the empire. because or
its defenselessness. be exposed to aDsO-
lutte ACKNOWLEDGMENT. and its well Wishers
are able to help it only in small meas
ure because no nation can help any other
unless that other can help itself
Appeals From Distressed.
| The State Department is continually APP
pealed to to interfere on behalf of peo-
Piles and Municipalities who insist that they
are suffering from oppression: now Jews
in one country. now Christians in another;
now black men said to be oppressed by
white men in Africa. ArmenianS, 10
! reans. Firms. Poles. representatives of all
appeal at times to this government. All
of this oppression is alleged to exist in
time of profound peace, and frequently.
although by no means always, 1T is al
legged to occur at the hands of people
who are not very formidable In mill
tary sense. In some cases the accusa-
tons of oppression and wronSdoing are
doubtless ill-founded. In others they are
we'll founded and in certain cases the
most appalling loss of life is shown to
have occurred. accompanied with fright
full cruelty. 1t is not our province to de-
eide which side has been right and which
has been wrong in all or any of these
controversies / am merely referring to
the loss of life. 1t is probably a con-
sentative statement to say that within
the last twelve years. al periods of pro-
found peace. and not as the result of
war. massacres and butcheries have
CURED in which more lives of men. wOm-
en- and children have been lost than in
any single great war since the close of
the NapOleOnic struggles.
To any public man who knows of the
complaints continually made to the State
Department there is an element of grim
tragedy in the claim that the time has
gone by when weak nations peoples
can be oppressed by those that are strong
err without arOusng effective protest from
other strong interests. Events still fresh
I'm the mind of every thinking man show
tnat neither arD1tfdt1On HOT any OtneT Qe-
vice can as yet be invoked to prevent the
gravest and most terrible WrOngdoing to
peoples who are either few in numbers or
who. If numerous. have lost the first and
most important of national virtues-tne
capacity for self defense.
Value of Sea Power.
When a nation happily situated as is
ours-that is. when it has no reason to
fear or TO be feared by its land neighbors
the fleet is all the more necessary foE
the preservation of peace. Great Britain
has been saved by its fleet from the neces-
sity of facing one of the two alternatives
of submission to conquest by a foreign
power or Of itself becoming great mill
tary power.
Ine United States can hope for per-
manent career of peace on only one con-
dition. and that Is. on condition of build
ing and maintaining first-elass navy;
and the step to be taken toward this end
at this time is to provide for the building
of four additional battleships. I earnestly
wish that the Congress- would pass the
measures for which | have asked for
strengthening and rendering more eff
cient the army as we'll as the navy; all
of these measures as affecting every
branch and detail of both services are
sOrely needed and it would be the part
of far-sighted wisdom to enact them all
into laws. but the most vital and imme-
date need is that OF the four batteships.
Washington's Warning.
To carry out this policy is but to act in
the spirit of George Washington: is but
to continue the policies which he out lined
when lie said. Observe good faith, and
justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace
and harmony with all. Nothing is
more essential than that permanent in
Veterate antipat HES against particular ma
tfons and passionate attachments for 9th
ers should be excluded. and that in place
OF them just and amicable feelings toward
all should be cultivated.
Il cannot recommend to your notice
measures for the fulfillment of our duties
to the rest of the world without again
pressing upon you the necessity of placing
ourselves i'm condition of complete de-
Tense and of exacting from them the full
fi!lment of their duties toward us The
United States ought not to indulge per
suasion that. contrary to the order of
human events. they will forever keep at a
distance those painful appeals to arms
with which the history of every other
nation abounds. There is rank due To
the United States among nations which
will be withheld. If not absolutely lost. by
the reputation Of weakness. If we desire
to avoid insult. must be able to repeI
1t: If We desire to secure peace, one of
the mort powerful instruments of our
rising prosperity. it must be known that
We are at all times ready for war
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House. April IA, 1908.