The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-03-05

ana fS TO eH6fOxtc TUB pTOper 1nuu0nC6
in defense Of its W trade interests,
in the maintenance Of traditional
American policy against the colonial
ton of European monarchies In this
hemisphere, and In the promotion of
peace and international morality. i
refer to tie cost Of maintaining q
proper army. a proper navy and suit
able Notifications upon the mainland
of the United States and in its depend
encies.
We should have an army so organ
lied, and so differed, as to be capable
in time of emergency, in cooperation
with the national militia, and under
the provisions Of a proper national
volunteer law, rapidly to expand into
a force sufficient to resist all probable
invasion from abroad and to furnish
a respectable expeditionary force, IL
necessary, in the maintenance Of our
traditional American policy which
bears the name of President Monroe.
Calls for Strong Army and Navy.
Our Notifications are yet in a state
Of only partial completeness and the
huhibS VI lSh Z ietl 10 u
cient. In a few years, however, the
usual annual appropriations for our
coast defenses both on the mainland
and in the dependencies, will make
them sufficient to resist all direct at
tack, and by that time we may hope
that h men to man them will be pro-
vided as a necessary adjunct. The
distance of our shores from Europe
and Asia Of course reduces the neces-
sity for maintaining under arms a
great army, but it does not take away
the requirement of mere prudence,
that we should have an army sufi-
ciently large and so constituted as to
form a nucleus out of which a suit
able force can quickly grow.
What has been said Of the army
may be affirmed in even a more en-
phatic way of the navy. A modern
navy cannot be improvised. 1t must
be built and in existence when the
emergency arises which calls for its
use and operation. My distinguished
predecessor has in many speeches and
messages set out with great force and
striking language the necessity for
maintaining a strong navy commensur-
ate with the coast line, the govern
mental our and the foreign trade
of our nation; and 1 wish to reiterate
all the reasons which he has pre-
sented in favor of the policy of main
tanning a strong navy as the best con
servator of u peace with other ma
lions and the best means of securing
respect for h assertion of our rights,
the defense of our interests and the
exercise of our influence in interna-
tional matters.
Our international policy is always
to promote peace. We shall enter
into any war with a full conscious
ness of the awful consequences that
1t always entails, whether successful
or not, and we, Of course, shall make
every effort, consistent with national
honor and the highest national inter-
est, to avoid a resort to arms. We
favor every fundamentally, like that
of The Hague tribunal and arbitration
treaties made with a view to its use
in all international controversies, in
order to maintain peace and to avoid
war. But We should be blind to ex-
listing conditions, and should allow
ourselves to become foolish idealists,
If We did not realize that with all the
nations of the world armed n pre-
pared for war, We must be ourselves
in a similar condition, in order to pre-
vent other nations from taking ad-
vantage of us and of our inability to
dafnnd ny1r fntarncfc and oconrt n,rr
rights with a strong hand. In the
international controversies that are
likely to arise in the orient, growing
out of the question of the open door
and other issues, the United States
can maintain her interests intact and
can ecure respect for her just de.
mands. She will not be able to do SO,
however, If 1t is understood that she
never intends to back up her asser
ton Of right and her defense of heI
interest by anything but mere verbal
protest and diplomatic note. Fol
these reasons, the expenses of the
army and navy and of coast defenses
should always be considered as some
thing which the government must pay
for, and they should not be cut of
. through mere consideration of econ
: omy. Our government is able to af
ford a suitable army and a suitable
: navy. 1t may maintain them withou
the slightest danger to the republic
' or the cause of free institutions, ant
: fear of additional taxation ought no
+ to change a proper policy In this re
i gard.
The policy of the United States II
the Spanish war, and since, has givel
1t a position of influence among tn
: nations that 1t never had before, ant
I should be constantly exerted to sc
curing to its bona fde citizens, wheth
er native or n~aturalized, respect TO
them as such in foreign countries
r We should make every effort to pre-
vent humiliating and degrading pre-
hibition against any of our citizen
wishing temporarily to s%ojourn in fol