Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-08

Il on IRE" Laughter amplhed the ap-
piaus when President Wilson suggested
that the country should be ashamed "of
any thought Of hotility or fearful prepara-
tion for trouble" Laughter was renewed
when he asked the naval experts TO tell
what sort Of naval craft should be built
20 be effective for the next 10 years
President Wilson accompanied by the
secret service men left the capitol for
the White House at t:15 o'clock.
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS
The President spoke as follows:
Gentlemen of the Congress:
The session upon which you are now
entering will be the closing session OF
the SD Congress, a Congress, 1 ven
ture TO say, which win long be remem-
barred for the great body of thoughtful
and constructive work which It has done,
IN loyal response to the thought and needs
OF the country. should like In this ad-
dress to review the notable record and
try 70 make adequate assessment OF it;
but no DOUBT we stand too near the work
that has been done and are ourselves too
much part OF It to play the part of his
torians toward Il.
Moreover. our thoughts are now more of
the future than of the past While we
have worked at our tasks of peace the
altered by war What we have done for
our own land and our own people we did
with the best that was In us, whether OF
character or OF intelligence, with sober
enthusiasm and confidence in the prin-
ciples upon which we we're acting which
suEtained us at every step of the difficult
undertaking; but II is done. II has passed
from our hands. II is now an established
part of the legislation of the country
Its usefulness, its effects, will disclose
themselves in experience What chiefly
strikes us now, as we look about us dur
ing these closing days OF o year which
will be forever memorable in the history
OF the world, Is that we race now tasks,
have been facing them these six months,
must face them In the months to come
face them without partisan feeling, like
men who have forgotten everything but
a common duty and the fact that we are
representatives of a great people, whose
thought is not Of us, but of what America
owes to herself and to all mankind in
such circumstances as these upon which
we look amazed and anxious.
War has interrupted the means OF trade
not only but also the processes OF produc-
ton. In Europe it is destroying men and
resources wholesale
and upon a scale un-
Effect of precedented and APP
the War on palling' IherS ls rea-
son to fear that the
commerce time is near, II II be
not already at hand,
when several of the
countries of Europe will hnd 1t difficult
to do for their people what they have
hitherto been always easily able to do
many essential and fundamental things
At any rate, they will need our help and
our manifold services as they have never
needed them before; and we should be
ready. more fit and ready than we have
ever been.
IT Is OF equal consequence that the ma
tions whom Europe has usually supplied |
with innumerable articles of manufacture |
and commerce of which they are I'm con- |
slant need and without which their eco
nomic development halts and stands still |
can now get only q small part OF what
they formerly imported and eagerly look
TO us to supply their all but empty mar
kets. This is particularly true OF our own
neighbors the States, great and small. Of
Central and South America. Their lines
of trade have hitherto run chiefly athwart
the seas. not to our ports, but to the ports /
of Great Britain and of the older Con-
tinent OF Europe. I do not stop to in
qliire why or to make any comment on
probable causes, What interests us just
row is not the explanation but the fact.
and our duty and opportunity in the pres
rnce of 1t. Here are markets which we
must supply, and we must find the means
nf action. The United States, this great
Feople for whom we speak and act, should
~ ready. as never before, to serve itself
itpd to serve mankind; ready with its re-
sources, its energies It's forces of pro-
duetion and its means of distribution.
IL is very practical matter, a matter
pt ways and means. We have the re-
4ources. but are we fully ready to use
them? And, II we can make ready what
Ne have. nave we the means at hand to
distribute 1t? We are not fully ready;
Af# ka
tion We are willing, but we are not
fully able. We have the wish to serve
and to serve greatly, generously but we
are not prepared as we should be. We
arc not ready to mobilize our resources
At once. We are not prepared 10 use
them Immediately and at their best, with
out delay and without waste
To speak plainly, we have grossly
erred in the way IN which we have
stuntsd and hindered the development OF
our merchant ma
rne And now, when 4
Needs OF we need ships, we
Merchant have not got them.
We have year after
Naiihs year debated, with
out end or conelu-
~ pursue with regard to the use Of the
pres and forests and water powers OF our
rational domain In the rich States OF the
Vest, when we should have acted; ana
.he5 are sun locked up. The key Is still
'nrned upon them, the door shut fast at
#hieh thousands OF vigorous men, fun
y Initiative, knock clamorously for ad- c
nittanee. The water power of our navi- /
Fable streams outside the national do. J
main also, even in the Eastern States, |
Fhere We have worked and planned for
generations, Is still not used as Il might I
Pc, because We win and we won't; be- /
1ause the laws We have made do not in [
diligently balance encouragement against !
restraint. We withhold by regulation. I
I have come 10 ask you to remedy and '
correct these mistakes and omissions. q
wen at this short session OF q Congress I
shich would certainly seam 10 have done \
~ the work that could reasonably be ex- I
'ectsa Of r. The time and the circuna- I
Itaness are extraordinary, and so must :
,ur Efforts be also. :
Fortunately, two great measures, hns- Y
y conceived, the one 70 unlock, with i
lroper safeguards the resources OF the Z