Weekly journal-miner., 1909-03-10

tobSs anu Lut great improvement Ol
 waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large ex-
 penditure if properly performed. While
 some of them, like the reclamation of , arid lands, are made to pay for them selves, others are of such an indirect benefit that this cannot be expected of them. A permanent improvement, like ! the Panama Canal, should be treated as distinct enterprise, and should be paid for by the proceeds of bonds. the
 issue of which will distribute its cost between the present and future gener- ations in accordance with the benefits derived. It may well be submitted to l the serious consideration of congress whether the deepening and control of
 the channel of great river system,
 like that of the Ohio or of the Missis.
 sippi, when definite and practical plans
 for the enterprise have been approved
 and determined upon, should not be
 provided for in the same way.
 Then, too, there are expenditures of
 government absolutely necessary if our
 country is to maintain its proper place
 among the nations of the world, and
 is to exercise its proper influence in
 defense of its own trade interests, in
 the maintenance of traditional Ameri-
 can policy against the colonization of
 European mOnarchies in this hemi-
 sphere, and in the promotion of peace
 and international morality. I refer
 to the cost of maintaining a proper
 army, proper navy and sitable for
 tifcations upon the mainland of the
 United States and in its dependencies
 We should have an army so organiz-
 ed, and so officered, as to be capable in
 time of emergency, in cooperation
 with the National Militia, and under
 the provisions of a proper national vol
 unteer law, rapidly to expand into a
 force sufficient to resist all probable
 invasion from abroad and to furnish
 a respectable expeditionary force, if necessary. in the maintenance of our traditional American policy which
 bears the name of President Monroe
 Our Notifications are yet in state of only partial completeness, and the number of men to man them is insuf
 fieient. In a few years, however, the
 usual annual appropriations for our coast defences 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 the men to man them will be pro- Vided as a necessary adjunct. The dis tance of our shores from Europe and Asia of course reduces the necessity for maintaining under arms great army, but it does not take away the requirement of mere prudence, that we should have an army sufficiently large and So constituted as to form a nu- cleus out of which suitabIe force can quickly grow.
 What has been said of the army may be affirmed in even a more emphatic cannot be improvised. It must be built and in. existence when the emergency arises which calls for its use and Op- eration. My distinguished predecessor has in many speeches and messages set out with great force and striking language the necessity for maintain ing a strong navy commensurate with the coast line, the governmental re- sources and the foreign trade of our nation; and l wish to reiterate all the reasons which he has presented in fav or of the policy of maintaining al strong navy as the best conservatOr of our peace with other nations and the best means of securing respect for the assertion of our rights, the defense of our interests and the exercise of our influence in international matters. ]
 Our international policy is always to 1 promote peace. We shall enter into l any war with a full consciousness of | the awful consequences that it always | entails. whether successful or not, and l we. of course, shall make every effort, | consistent with national honor and the | highest national interest, to avoid re sort to arms We favor every instru- like that of The Hague Fri lunal and arbitration treaties made with view to its use in all interna- .ional controversies. in order to main ain peace and to avoid war. out we ;nould be blind to existing conditions, md should allow ourselves to become 'oolish idealists, if we did not realize hat with all the nations of the world lrmed and prepared for war, we must le ourselves in a similar condition, i'll ,rder to prevent other nations from aking advantage of us and of our in- .bility to defend our interests and as ert our rights with a strong hand. In he international controversies that
 re likely to arise in the Orient, grow ng out of the question of the open Ioor and other issues, the United states can maintain her interests jn- [ act and can secure respect for her just emands She will not be able to do O, however, if it is understood that he never intends to back up her as $ ertion of right and her defense of CT interest by anything but mere yer al protest and diplomatic note. For hese reasons, the expenses of the ar | " and navy and of coast defenses hOuld always be considered as some ! hing which the government must pay { or, and they should not be cut off s trough mere consideration of ecOnO- ! ". Our government is able to afford t
 suitable army and a sitable navy. c | may maintain them without the ] ightest danger to the republic or the V luse of free institutions, and fear of V dditional taxation ought not to change t
 proper policy in this regard. Q
 The policy of the United States in [