Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-09
and settled policy with regard to mill
tarx estn hlish ments NXa navcr hsua

and settled policy with regard to mill
tary establishments. We never have
had. and while we retain our present
principles and Ideals we never shall
have. u large standing army. II asked,
Are you ready to defend yourselves?
we reply. Most assuredlyi to the ut
most: and yet we shall not turn Amer
lea into military camp. We will
not ask our young mon to spend the
best years OF their lives making SOL
diers of themselves. There Is another
sort of energy in us. 1t will know
how to declare itself and make itself
effective should occasion arise. And
especially when half the world Is OH
fire we shall be careful to make our
moral insurance against the spread Of
the confiagration very definite and GER
tain and adequate. indeed.
Let us remind ourselves. therefore, of
the only thing we can do or Will do.
We must depend In every time OF ma
tional peril, In the future as In the past.
not upon standing army. nor yet upon
u reserve army, but upon Il citizenry
Will be right enough. right American
policy, based upon our accustomed
principles and practices, to provide Il
system by which every citizen who will
volunteer for the training may be made
familiar with the use of modern arms,
Vic uuihiShto VI UNI uuu IlduOcufTS,
and the maintenance and sanitation Of
camps. We should encourage such
training and make II q means OF dis
cipline which our young men will learn
to value. 1t is right that we should
provide IL not only, but that we should
make II as attractive as possible, and
so induce our young men to undergo
1t at such times as they can command
little freedom and can sock tho physi-
cal development they need. for mere
healths sake, If for nothing more.
Every means by which such things can
be stimulated is legitimate. and such a
method smaclSs of true American ideas.
IT Is right. too. that the National
Guard of the States should be de-
veloped ana strengthened by every
means which Is not inconsistent with
our obligations TO our own people or
with the established policy OF our gov
crnment And this. also. not because
the time or occasion specially calls for
such measures. but because 1t should
be orr constant policy to mako these
provisions for our national peace and
safety.
WOULD CARRY REVERSAL
OF COUNTRY'S HISTORY
More than this carries with 1t n re-
Nersal of the whole history and char
acter of our polity. More than this
proposed at this time, permit me TO
say, would mean merely that we had
lost our self-posseSsion. that we had
been thrown off our balance by war
with which have nothing to do,
whose causes cannot touch us. whose
very existence affords us opportunities
OF friendship and disintcrested service
which should make us ashamed of any
thought of hostility or fearful prepa-
ration for trouble. This IL assurcdly
the opportunity for which people and
II government like ours were raised up.
the opportunity not only to speak. but
actually to cmbody and cxcmplify the
counsels of peace and amity and the
lasting concord which is based on JUS
tice and fair and generous dealing.
n powerful navy we have always re-
garded as our proper and natural
means of defense: and IL has always
been OF defense that we have thought
never of aggression of conquest.
But who shall tell MS now what sort OF
navy to build? We shall take leave
to be strong upon the seas. In the
future as in the past: and there will be
no thought of Offense or OF proyocation
I'm that. our ships are our natural bull
warks. When Will the experts tell us
just what kind we should construct
and when will they be right for ten
years together, II the relative efficiency
of craft of different kinds and uses con-
tinues to change as we have seen II
change under our very eyes In these
last few months?
But l turn away from the subject.