The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1915-12-09
President Wilson Pleads for Pre-
paredness Against Foes
Abroad and Within.
MESSAGE READ TO CONGRESS
Larger Army and Navy Urged
Trained Citizenry the Nations
Greatest Defense - Disloyal
Acts of Foreign-Born Citi-
zens Scored-No Fear
of War.

Washington, Dec. AT a joint session
Of the house and senate the president to-
day delivered his annual message. He
said in part as follows:
Since l last had the privilege of adj
dressing you on the state of the Union
the war of nations on the other side of
the sea, which had then only begun to
disclose its p]ortentous proportions. has
extended its threatening and sinister scope
until it has swept within its flame some
portion of every quarter of the globe, not
excepting our hemisphere, has altered the
whole face of International affairs, and
now presents a prospect of r~eorSaniza-
ton and reconstruction such as states
men and peoples AVE never been called
Upon to attempt before.
We have stood apart, studiously neutral.
1t was our manifest duty to do so. In
the day OF readjustment and recupera-
ton we earnestly hope n believe that
we can be Of INFINITE service.
IN this neutrality, to which they were
hidden not only by their separate life and
their habitual detachment from the poll
tics of Europe but also by a clear per-
ception of international duty, the states
of America have become conscious of a
new and more vital community of inter
est and moral partnership in affairs, more
clearly conscious of the many common
sympathies and interests and duties which
bid them stand together.
We have been put to the test In the case
of Mexico, and We ave stood the test.
Whether we have benefited Mexico by
the course we have pursued remains to
be seen. Her fortunes are in her w
hands. But we have at least proved that
we will not take advantage of her in her
distress and undertake to impose upon
her an order and government of our W
choosing.
We will aid and befriend Mexico. but
we will not coerce her; and our course
with regard to her ought to be sufficient
proof to all America that we seek no po-
litical suzerainty or selfish control.
Not Hostile Rivals. q
The moral is, that the states of Amer
lea are not hostile rivals, but cooper
ating friends, and that their growing
sense of community of interest, alike in
matters political and IN matters econom-
ic, Is likely to give them a new signif-
canoe as factors In international affairs
and in the political history of the world.
1t presents them as In a very deep and
true sense a unit In world affairs, spir-
itual partners, standing together because
thinking together, quick with common
sympathies and common ideals Separat-
Cd, they are subject to all the cross cur
rents of the confused politics of a world
of hostile rivalries; united in spirit and
purpose they cannot be disappointed of
their peaceful destiny.
This is Pan-Americanism. 1t has none
Of the spirit of empire in it. 1t is the en-
bodiment, the effectual embodiment, of
the spirit of law and independence and
liberty and mutual service.
There is, / venture to point out, an espe-
cial significance just now attaching to
this whole matter Of drawing the Amer
icas together in bonds of honorable part
nership and mutual advantage because OF
the economic establishments which the
world must inevitably witness within the
next generation. when peace shall have
at last resumed its healthful tasks. In
the performance OF these tasks / believe
the Americas to be destined to play their
parts together. l am interested to fix
your attention on this prospect now be-
cause unless you take 1t within you
view and permit the full significance of
1t to command your thought l cannot
find the right light in which to set forth
the particular matter that lies at the
very front of my whole thought as l ad-
dress you today. / mean national de-
Tense.
No one who really comprehends the
spirit of the great people Tor whom we
are appointed to speak can fail to per-
ceive that their passion Is for peace. their
genius best displayed in the practice of
the arts of peace. Great democracies are
not belligerent. They do not seek or de-
sire war, Their thought Is OF individual
liberty and of the free labor that supports
life and the uncensored thought that
quickens It. Conquest and dominion are
not In our reckoning, or agreeable to our
principles. But just because we demand
unmolested development and the undis-
turbed government Of our own lives upon
m nn,n xrinatNlne 80 xinht a,l Iskaut,
we resent, from whatever quarter II may
come, the aggression we ourselves will not
practice. We insist upon security in
prosecuting our self-chosen lines of ma
tional development. We do more than
hat. We demand 1t also for others. We
do not confine our enthusiasm for indi-
vidual liberty and free national develop
ment to the incidents and movements of
affairs which affect only ourselves. We
feel 1t wherever there is a people that
tries to walk in these difficult paths of
independence and right. From the first
We have made common cause with all
partisans of liberty on this side of the
sea-, and have deemed II as important
that our ~neighbors should be free from
all outside domination as that we our
selves should be: have set America aside
as a whole for the uses of independent
nations and political freemen.
Might to Maintain Right.
Out Of such thoughts grow all our poll
cies. We regard war merely as a means
Of asserting the rights of a people against
aggression. And we are as fercely jeal-
Gus Of c~oercive or d!ctatorial power with
In our own nation as Of aggression from
without. We Will not maintain a stand
ing army except for uses which are as
necessary In times of peace as In times
Of war; and We shall always see to II
that our military peace establishment Is
no longer han Is actually and continuous
ly needed for the uses OF days In which
no enemies move against us. But we
do believe In a body of free citizens ready
and sufficient to take care of themselves
and of the governments which they have
set up to serve them. In our constitutions
themselves we have commanded that "the
right Of the people TO keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed." and our
confidence has been that our safety In
times OF danger would lie In the rising OF
the nation to take care of itself. as the
farmers rose at Lexington.
But war has never been a mere matter