The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-18
n 0 NECESSITY
FOR WAR SCARE
Taft Declares That Situation
Is Misunderstood and
Exaggerated.
KNOWS POPULAR WILL
People Will Never Consent to
Force as Large as Military
Men Want.
PHOTO FROM
Especial to The Times Dispatch.

lSPsEldl 10 me y lfneS-DlSPAt
Washington, December 1T.--Presi-
dent Taft tonight. in an address at
the banquet OF the American Society
for the Judicial Settlement of Inter-
national Disputes, declared that the
situation with regard to the national
defenses has been misunderstood and
exaggerated, At the same time he
admitted the necessity for preparation
for war, and in this connection dwelt
upon tho advantage that will accrue
with the opening of tho Panama Canal,
which, he declared, must be fortified.
Said the President:
There has been a great deal of
talk in the papers and some reference
in Congress to the supposed helpless
ness OF this country in case of foreign
invasion. venture to think that
much more has been made of this than
the facts, calmly considered, would
Justify. We have very good navy,
Canal it would be a much more eff
fective one. It would be useful to pre-
Vent the coming of an invading army
across the seas.
People VIII Not Consent
THE people Of this country viii
never consent to the maintenance of a
standing army which military experts
will pronounce sufficiently large TO
cope in battle With the standing
armies OF the greater powers should
they get by our navy, around our
harbor defenses and descend upon our
coast. II this leaves us In a position
of helplessness, then so be it. For
those who understand the popular will
in this country know that it cannot be
otherwise, We shall do everything in
the way of wise military preparation
If we maintain our present regular
army, If we continue to improve the
national militia, If we pass the pend
ing volunteer bill, to go into operation
when warts declared, and not TO in
yolve the nation in a dollars worth of
Expenses until the emergency arises:
IF we pass II law now pending in Con-
gress which will give us force OF
additional officers trained in military
art, and able in times of peace TO rem
der efficient service in drilling tho
militia of the States, and filling use
full quasi-civil positions that are OF the
utmost advantage to the government.
and If we. in Il reasonable time, ac-
cumulate- guns and ammunition enough
to equip and arm the force we could
enlist under sour colors in emergency.
II have said thiss-much n order to
fallay the so-called war scare which
papers during, the last few days, There
is not thesslightest reason for such n
sensation. We are at peace With all
the nations or the world and are likely
to remain so, as far, as we can see tnto
the future, Just a little more fore
little more attention to the
matter on the part of Congress, and We
shall have all Of the army. and all OF
the munitions and material OF war,
that we ought to have in n republic,
situated as we are, three thousand miles
on the one hand and five thousand on
tho other, from the source of invasion.
man than that of any other nation and
1T is not an unmixed evil that 1t is So.
because 1T necessarily restricts us to
the maintenance of force which is
In the ordinary policing
of this country and our dependencies
and furnishes an additional reason for
our using every endeavor to maintain
peace"
Wants Canal Fortified.
The President was particularly
strong in his demand for the rorti-
iication of the Panama Canal Speak
ing on the general supJect OF peace
and the settlement OF International diff
Eferences by means of arbitratlon he
said:
.It seems to be the view of many
that it Is Inconsistent for those OF us
who advocate any kind of preparation
G (Contmued on Eighteenth Pege,l