Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-12-12
All important Problem Which
Now COnfrontS Congress,
Says President.
SHIPS OUR GREATEST NEED
America Fears No Nation and is Am
ply Able to Defend ltself-Great
Task Ahead In Helping to
Restore Peace-Economy
Is Strongly Urged.

the greater part Of his attention. The
message follows:
Gentlemen Of the Congress:
The session upon which you are now
entering will he the closing session of
the Sixty-third congress. a congress, /
venture to say, which will long be re-
membered for the great body of
thoughtful and constructive work
which It has done, in loyal response
20 the thought and needs Of the coun-
try. | should like in this address 10 re-
view the notable record and try 10
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 1t to play the part Of
historians toward il. Moreover, our
thoughts are now more of the future
than of the past.
While we have worked at our i~~'-s
Of peace the circumstances o.. ..r
whole age have been altered bv
What we have done for or ou. I'D
and our own people we Jid VII
best that was in Us, whether @
acter or of intelligence, with
enthusiasm and a audience in ,.e
principles upon which We were act. 1g
which sustained US at every step Of
the difficult undertaking; but it is
done. II has passed from our hands.
1t is now an established part OF the
legislation Of the country. Its useful
ness, its effects, will disclose them
selves in experience. What chiefly
strikes us now, as we look about US
during these closing days of a year
which will be forever MEMORIAL F..
the history Of the world, is thal sn
face new tasks, have been fncins a.a
these six months. must face th. n
the months to cCme-face thcu r..
out partisan feeling, like men Who
have forgotten everything but a com
mon duty and the fact that we are
representatives Of a great people
whose thought is not of us but of what
owes to herself and to all
mankind in such circumstances as
these upon which we look amazed and
anxious.
:. Europe Will Need Our Help.
War has Interrupted the means of
trade not only but also the processes
Of production. In Europe it is destroy
Ing men and resources wholesale and
upon a scale unprecedented and APP
palling. There is reason to fear that
the time is near, If 1t be not already
1T hand, when several of the coun-
tries of Europe will find 1t difficult to
10 for their people what they have
been always easily able to do,
many essential and fundamental
.hings. 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
'eady than we have ever been.
1t is OF equal consequence that the |
lations whom Europe has usually sup
,lied with innumerable articles of |
and commerce Of which |
hey are In constant need and without |
which their economic development |
lalts and stands still can now get only |
! small part of what they formerly i'm |
'orted and eagerly look to US to supply |
heir all but empty markets. This is
true of our own neighbors, |
he states, great and small, of Central |
md South America. Their lines of |
rade have hitherto run chiefly athwart
he seas, not to our ports, but to the
'orts Of Great Britain and of the older
continent OF Europe. | do not stop to
inquire why. or to make any comment
n probable causes. What interests US
ust now is not the explanation, but
he fact, and our duty and opportunity
n the presence Of it. Here are mar
let's which we must supply, and we
must find the means OF action. The
United States, this great people for
Vhom we speak and act, should be
eady, as never before, to serve itself
nd to serve mankind; ready with its
esources, its energies, Its forces of
and its means of distribu.
lon.
We Need Ships.
II Is very practical matter, a mat
er OF ways and means We have the
esources, but are we fully ready to
se them? And IL we can make ready
THAT we have. have we the means at
and to distribute it? We are not fully
eady; neither have we the means of
distribution. We are willing, but we
re not fully able. We have the wish
o serve and to serve greatly. gener-
usly; but we are not prepared as we
hould be. We are not ready to mo-
ilize our resources at once. We are
ot prepared to use them immediately
nd at their best, without delay and
'ithout waste.
To speak plainly we have grossly
red In the way In which we have
tunted and hindered the development
I our merchant marine. And now,
hen we need ships, we have not got
hem. We have year after year de-
ated, without end or conclusion, the
est policy to pursue with regard to