Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-09-03
By Associated Prfsi.

| By Associated Press.
| Omaha, Neb., Sept 2.-Theodore
Roosevelt delivered the following ad
dress in this city today:
In travelling in Europe last spring
one thing which especially struck me
was the fact that the two feats which
made the deepest impression abroad
were the cruise Of the battle feet
around the world, and the digging OF
| the Panama canal. These were the
two feats to be credited to the Ameri'
| can people during the past decade,
which had most profoundly and favor.
! ably affected foreign judgment OF
America during that time. Such judg'
ment depends not in the least upon
what people say they can do. but on
what they actually do; upon their
willingness to- meet responsibilities
| and the success of their efforts to
meet them.
| Now, there is no use of nation
| cdaiming to be a great nation unless
it is prepared to play great part.
A nation such as ours cannot possibly
play a great part in international af-
fairs, cannot expect to be treated al
weight in either the Atlantic or the
Pacific, or to have it's voice as to the
Monroe Doctrine, or the management
of the Panama canal needed, unless
! it has strong and thoroughly etfi-
cient navy. Within the last decade
! the American navy has been about
trebled in strength, and much more
than trebled in efficiency, due to its
extraordinary progress in marksman'
ship and maneuvering. So. So far from
this increase in naval strength repre-.
senting on our part either a menace
or aggression to weaker nations or
a menace of war to stronger nations,
it has told most powerfully for peace.
Everywhere in Europe the cruise OF
the battle fleet around the world was
accepted, not only as an extraordi-
nary feat, rejecting the highest honor
movements which tended markedly to
promote peaceful stability in interna-
tional relations. No nation regarded
the cruise as fraught with any men
ace of hostility to itself; and yet every
nation accepted it as proof that we
were not only DESTROYS ourselves to
keep the peace. but able to prevent
the peace being broken at our ex-
pense. No cruise in any way approach
ing it has ever been made by any
fleet of any other power; and the best
naval opinion abroad had been that
no such feat was possible, that is,
that no such cruise as that We &C.
tually made could be undertaken by
a feet of such size without innumer-
able breakdowns and accidents. The
success of the cruise, performed as it
was without single accident i'm
feasurably raised the prestige, not
only of our fleet but of our nation;
and was a distinct help to the cause
of international peace.
As regards the Panama canal, re-
ally think that outside nations have
juster idea than our own people of
the magnitude and success of the
work wish our people realized what
is being done on the 1sthmus If
man of intelligence who had never
left this country asked me whether
would advise him to make short trip
to Europe. or trip to the Panama
canal. l would. without hesitation. ad-
wise him to go to the Panama canal.
He would there see in operation the
completing of one of the great feats
Of modern times. Colonel Goethals
and the men working under him are
rendering a service to this country
which can only be paralleled in our
past history by some Of the services
rendered in certain wars.
Six years ago last spring the Amer
lean government took possession Of
the Isthmus. The first two years were
devoted to the sanitation of the 18TH
mus. to assembling the plant and the
working force. and providing quarters.
food. and water supplies. In all these
points the success was extraordinary.
From one of the plague spots of the
globe. one of the most unhealthy re-
gions in the entire world. the Isthmus
has been turned into a singularly
healthy place of abode. where the
death rate is small. and where hun
dreds of children are now being rails
ed under favorable conditions as in
most parts of the United tSates The
quarters. food. and water supply are
excellent, and the plant the best ever
gathered for such purpose. Active
excavation on large scale did not
begin untl4 January. 1907. Three years
and half have gone by since then.
and three-fifths of the total excava-
ton has already been accomplished.
The amount taken out has passed any
thing which previous experience war
ranted us in believing to be possible.
In 1908 and 1909 the monthly aver
age of rock and earth removed was
three million cubic yards. notwith- |
the fact that nine months of !
each year constituted a season of very
heavy rainfall. There remains to be !
only about sixty million /
cubic yards If we could keep up the
past average excavation this should |
be done in twenty months; hut it is |
impossible to maintain such a ratio as !
the depth increases; for the output
necessarily diminishes as the field of
operation narrows. Still. it is certain
that such rate can be maintained as