The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-12-16

ernmcnt, whose deliberations are likely
to be looked back 20 as marking me
morable turning point in the history of
America. They were representatives
spokesman of the several independent
states OF this hemisphere and were as
seTnbled to discuss the financial and COM
mercial relations OF the republics Of the
two continents which nature and political
fortune have so intimately linked to-
gether | earnestly recommend to your
perusal the reports OF their proceedings,
and OF the actions of their committees.
You will get from them, l think. fresh
conception of the ease and intelligence
and advantage with which Americans
Of both continents may draw together in
practical cooperation and of what the
material foundations of this hopeful part
nership Of interest must consst--of how
we should build them and of how neces-
sary it is that we should hasten their
building.
Destiny Of Americas.
There Is, I venture to point out, an
especial significance Just now attaching
to this whole matter Of drawing the
Americas together In bonds Of honorable
partnership and mutual advantage be-
cause Of the economic readIustments
which the world must Inevitably witness
within the next generation, when peace
shall have at last resumed It's heathfuI
tasks. In the performance OF these tasks
believe the Americas to be destined to
play their parts together. / am inter-
ested to fix your attention on this pros
pect now because unless you take II with
in your view and permit the full sig
nificance of II to command your thought
cannot find the right light in which
to set forth the particular matter that
lies at the very front of my whole
thought, as address you today. mean
national defense.
Ideals Of Democracy.
No one who really comprehends the
spirit of the great people for whom we
are appointed to speak, can fail 60 per-
ceive that their passion is for peace, their
genius best displayed in the practice of
the arts Of peace Great democracIes are
not beIlIgerent. They do not seek or de.
sire war. Their thought is Of individual
liberty and Of the free labor that sup
ports 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 de-
mand lnmolested development and the
undisturbed government OF our own lives
upon our own principles of right and
liberty, we resent from whatever quarter
II may come, the aggression we ourselves
VIII not practice. We Insist upon security
In prosecuting our self chosen lines OF ma :
tlonal development. We do more than
that We demand Il 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 ali
partisans OF liberty on this side the sea,
and have deemed it as important that
our neighbors should be free from all
outside domination as that we ourselves
should be; have set America aside as a
whole for the uses Of independent nations
| and political freemen.
Can't Depend on Farmers.
Out of such thoughts grow all our noIi-
cies. We regard war merely as a means
or asserting the rights Of neople against
aggression. And we are as iercely jeai-
IN our own nation as Of aggression from
without. We will not maintain a stand
Ing army except for uses which are as
OF war; and we shall always see to It that
our military peace establishment is no
larger than is actually and continuously
needed Tor the uses Of days In which no
ieve In body OF free citizens ready and
sufficient to take care OF themselves and
or the governments which they have set
up TO serve them. In our constitutions
themselves we have commanded that 1sthe
right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed," and our conf
denee has been that our safety In times
OF danger would lie In the rising OF the
nation to take care of itself, as the farm
ers rose at Lexington.
Must Understand War.
But war has never been a nefA matter
s Of men and guns. II IL a thing of disci-
fight effectively upon a sudden summons,
they must know how modern fighting Is
done, and what TO do when the Summons
available and Immediately effective And
the government must be their servant in
this matter, must supply them with the
selves and Of Il. The mii liar ~ avn rnem 81
their government, which they will not al
low to direct them, they may properly use
to serve them and make their independ-
ence merely but the rights also OF those
with whom they have made common
cause, should they also be put In Jeopardy
They must be fitted to play the great
hemisphere. for which they are qualified
by principle and by chastened ambition
to play.
IT is with these ideals In mind that the
plans of the department. OF war for more
adequate national defense were conceived
which will be laid before you, and which
I urge you to sanction and put into effect
lied and discussed They seem to me the
essential first steps, and they seem to me
for the present sufficient.
Proposed Army increase. b.,
They contemplate an increase of the
standing force OF the regular army from
its present strength OF SOB officers and
1O2 9S5 enlisted men of all services to a
strength OF 7,136 officers and 1347O7 enlist
ed men, or l41,S43 all told, all services,
rank and file, by the addition of So COM
panies Of coast artillery 10 companies OF
engineers, 10 regiments of infantry, four
regiments of field artillery. and four aero
squadrons, besides $50 officers required for
a great variety of extra service, especially
the all important duty or training the citi-
zen force of which / shall presently speak
T92 non-commissioned officers for service
In drill, recruiting and he like. ard the
necessary quota of enlisted men for the
quartermaster corps, the hospital corps
the ordnance department. and other SINH
lar auxiliary services. These are the adj
ditions necessary to render the army ade-
qu7te for Its present duties duties which
IL has to perform not only upon our own
continental coasts and borders and at our
interior army posts, but also In the Phil
lppines, IN the Hawaiian islands, at the
isthmus and In Porto Rico.
BY way of making the country ready
to assert some part of its real power
promptly and, upon larger scale, should
occasion arise, the plan also contemplates
the army by a force OF
100000 disciplined citizens, raised In incre-
ments of $4,000 year throughout
period of three years, This IL vs. proposed
to do by process OF enlistment under
which the serviceable men of the country