The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-05

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  to choose their own allegiance. Our ambition, also. all the world has knowl-
 edge of. It is not only to be free and prosperous ourselves, but also to be the friend and thoughtful partisan of those who are free or who desire freedom the
 world over If we have had aggressive purposes and covetous ambitions, they , were the fruit of our thoughtless youth as nation and we have put them aside. We shall, I confidently believe, never again take another foot of territory by conquest We shall never in any circum- l stances seek to make an independent peo- pie subject to our dominion; because we believe, we passionately believe, in the right of every people to choose their own allegiance and be free of masters alto gether. For ourselves we wish nothing but the full liberty of self-deveopment, and with ourselves in this great matter we associate all the peoples of our own hemisphere. We wish not only for the United States, but for them the fullest freedom of independent growth and of action, for we know that throughout this hemisphere the same aspirations are ev- anywhere being worked out, under diverse conditions but with the same impulse and ultimate object.
 National Duty
 'All this is very clear to us and will confidently predict, become more and | more clear to the whole world as the great processes of the future unfold them selves. It is with a full consciousness of such principles and such ambitions that we are asking ourselves at the present time what our duty is with regard to the armed force of the nation. Within a year we have witnessed what we did not believe possible, great European conflict involving many of the greatest
 nations of the world. The influences of great war are everywhere in the air. All Europe is embattled. Force every where speaks out with a loud and inn perfous voice in titanic struggle of governments, and from one end of our own dear country to the other men are asking one another what our own force is, how far we are prepared to maintain our selves against any interference with our national action or development
 Tn no mans mind, am sure, is there even raised the question of the wilful use of force on our part against any nation or any people. No matter what military or naval force the United States might develop statesmen throughout the world might rest as- sured that we were gathering that force, not for attack in any quarter, not for aggression of any kind, not for the satisfaction of any political Tor traditional ambition, but merely to make sure of our own security l We 1have it in mind to be prepared, but not for war, but only for defense; and with the thought constantly in our minds that the principles we hold most
 dear can be achieved by the slow pro cesses of history only In the kindly and wholesome atmosphere of peace, and not by the use of hostile force. The mission of America in the world is essentially mission l1d good will among men. She has become the horne and asylum of men of all creeds and races. Within her hospitable Borders they have found homes and congcrial associations and freedom and wide and cordial welcome, and they have become part of the bone and
 sinew and spirit of America itself. America has been made up out of the
 nations of the world and is the friend of the nations of the world.
 But we feel justified in preparing ourselves to yindicate our right to in- dependent and unmolested action by
 making the force that is in us ready
 for assertion.
 Citizen Soldiery
 And we know that we can do this
 in way that will be itself an illustra- ton of the American spirit In accord apce with our American traditions we
 want and shall work for only an army adequate to the constant and legiti-
 mate uses of times of international peace. But we do want to feel that
 there is a great body of citizens who
 have received at least the most rudi- mentary and necessary form of mili tary training; that they will be ready to form themselves into a fighting force at the call of the nation; and that the naticn has the munitions and sup plies with which to equip them with out al hp tn call thom into action. We wish to supply them with the training they need, and we think we can do so without calling them at any time too long away from their civilian pursuits
 "It is with this idea, with this con- ception, in mind that the plans have been made which it will be my privi- lege to lay before the Congress at it's next session. That plan calls for only such an increase in the regular army of the United States as experience has proved to be required for the perform ance of the necessary duties of the army in the Philippines, in Hawaii, in Porto Rico. upon the borders of the United States. at the coast fortifica- tions, and at the military posts of the interior For the rest, it calls for the training within the next three years of force of 100000 citizen soldiers to be raised in annual contingents of 133, ,0O0 who would be asked to en- list for tDree years with the colors and three years on furlough, but who dur ing their three years of enlistment with the coIors would not be organ
 ized as standing force but would be
 expected merely to undergo intensive training for a very brief period of each year. Their training would take place in immediate association with the or ganized units of the regular army. It would have no touch of the amateur about it, neither would it exact of tho l ha fhaxr cnl1ld