The Benson signal., 1915-12-11
ASKS ADEQUATE
DEFENSE FOR U. S.
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.

Of War.
Washington, Dec. 7.-At joint session
Of the house and senate the president to-
day delivered his annual message. He
said in part as follows:
Since / last had the privilege of ad-
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 portentous proportions. has
extended its threatening and sinister scope
until it has swept within it's 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 reorganiza-
tion and reconstruction such as states
men and peoples have never been called
upon to attempt before.
We have stood apart, studiously neutral.
It was our manifest duty to do SO. In
the day of readjustment and recupera-
ton we earnestly hope and 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 clear per-
ception of international duty, the states
of America have become conscious OF
new and more vital community of inter-
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 have stood the test.
Whether we have benefited Mexico by
the course we have pursued remains to
be seen. Her fortunes are in her own
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 own
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-
Mtical suzerainty or selfish control.
Not Hostile Rivals.
The moral is, that the states Of Amer
ica 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 new signifi-
canoe as factors in international affairs
and in the political history of the world.
1t presents them as in 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-
ed, Nthey 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
teas together in bonds of honorable part
nership and mutual advantage because of
the economic readjustnents which the
world must inevitably witness within the
next generation, when peace shall have
at last resumed it's healthful tasks. In
the performance of these tasks believe
the Americas to be destined to play their
parts together. I am interested to fix
your attention on this prospect now be-
cause unless you take it within your
view and permit the full significance of
It 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 ad-
dress you today. / mean national de-
fense.
TO one who really comprehends the
spirit of the great people for whom we
are appointed to speak can fail to per-
geaius 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 uncensorcd thought that
uuickens it. Conquest and dominion are
not in our reck konng, or agreeable to our
principles. But just because we demand
unmolcsted development and the undis-
turbed government Of our own lives upon
our own principles Of right and liberty.
we resent. from whatever quarter il may
come, the aggression we ourselves will not
practice We insist upon security in
prosecuting our self-chosen lines of ma
tionaI development We do moro than
that We demand it also for others. We
do not confine our enthusiasm for indi-
vidUal liberty and free national develop
ment 20 the incidents and movements of
affairs which affect only ourselves. We
feel it 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 it 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
ms mons 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 iercely jeal-
Gus of coercive or dictatorial 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 peare as in times
Of war; and we shall always to ii
that our military peace est ablishment is
no longer than is actually and continuous
ly needed for the uses of days in which
no enemies move against But we
DO believe in a body of free citizens ready
and sufficient 10 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 oe nfringed." 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 al Lexington
But war has never been a mere matter
of men and guns 1t is thing of disci-
plIned might If our citizens are ever to