The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-12-08
Gentlemen - ,z- congress


The session upon which you are now
entering will be the closing session ot
the SiHty-third congress, q congress,
venture to say. which will long be re
membered for the great body OF
thoTghtful and constructive work
which It has done. in loyal response
10 the thought and needs OF the coun-
Try. | should like in this address to re-
view the notable record and try TO
make adequate assessment OF IL; but
no doubt We stand too near the work
that has been done and are ourselves
too much part OF II to play the part OF
historians toward it, Moreover, our
thoughts are now more OF the future
than Of the past
While Ne have worked at our tasks
OF peace the circumstances OF the
whole age have been 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 char
acter or OF intelligence. with sober
enthusiasm and confidence in the
principles upon which We were acting
which sustained 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 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 year
which will be forever memorable in
the history OF the world. is that We
face new tasks, have been facing them
these six months. must face them in
the months to come-face them with
out partisan feeling, like men who
have forgotten everything but com
mon duty and the fact that We are
representatives. OF 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.
Europe viii Need Our Help.
War has interrupted the means OF |
trade not only but also the processes
OF production. In Europe II is destroy |
Ing men and resources wholesale and |
upon a scale unprecedented and ap- !
palling. There is reason to fear that |
the time is near. II 1t be not already !
at hand, when several of the coun. |
tries OF Europe will hnd it 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 ft and |
ready than we have ever been.
II is OF equal consequence that the
nations whom Europe has usually sup
piled with innumerable articles OF |
manufacture and commerce OF which |
they are in constant need and without /
which their economic development
halts aud stands still can now get only
a small part Of what they formerly i'm
ported and eagerly look to US to supply
their all but empty markets 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 athwartJ }
the seas. not to our ports, but 10 the
ports OF Great Britain and OF the older
continent OF Europe do not stop TO
inquire why, or to make any comment
on probable causes What interests MS
Just now is not the explanation, but
the fact, and our duty and opportunity
In the presence Of IT, Here are mar
kets which We must supply, and We
must find the means OF action The
United States this great people for
whom We speak and act. should be
ready, as never before. to serve itself
and to serve mankind; ready with it's
resources, its energies. its forces OF
production, and its means of distribu. ,
tlon.
We Need Ships. ,
1t is very practical matter. a mat ,
ter OF ways and means We have the I
resources but are Wa fully ready to :
use them? And II We can make ready i
what We have, have We the means at
hand to distribute it, We are not fully ,
ready: neither have We the means OF ,
We are willing. but We :
are not fully able We have the wish |
TO serve and to serve greatly gener- q
ously: but We are not prepared as We I
should be. We are not ready to mo- a
billie our resources AZ once We are i
not prepared to use them Immediately q
and at their best. without delay and II
without waste. :
To speak plainly We have grossly q
erred in the way in which we have \
stunted and hindered the development h
Of our merchant marine And now, ~
when We need ships. We have not got Z,
them. We have year after year de q
bated. without end or conclusion. tine y
best policy TO pursue with regard te p