The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-12-07
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS TODAY
Every Recommendation in Presidents Document Had
Reference to Plans for Strengthening the National
Defenses

whatever quarter it may come, the ag-
/ erosion we ourselves will not practice
/ We insist upon security in prosecuting
our self-chosen lines of national devel-
opment. We do more than that We de
mand it also for others -
| War, the President declared, was re-
garded by the United States merely as
means of asserting the rights of a
! people against aggression, and that
eve are as fiercely Jealous of coerclve
or dictatorial power within our own ma
] ton as from aggression from without. -
He said the nation would not maintain
| standing army except for uses which
are as necessary in times of peace as
in times of war, but that the country
| did believe, in body of free citizens
ready and sufficient to take care of
| themselves and of the government.
:" But war has never been a mere
matter of men and arms, he con
! tinued. cit is a thing of disciplined
might. If our citizens are ever to fight
| effectively upon a sudden summons,
they must know how modern fighting is
done, and what to do when the sum
mons comes to render themselves i'm
mediately available and Immediately
effective. And the government must
be their servant in this matter, must
supply them with the training they
need to take care of themselves and of
it. The military arm of their govern
ment, which they will not allow to di-
rect them, they may properly use to
serve them and make their independ-
ence secure and not their own indie
pendence merely, but the rights also of
those with whom they have made com
mon cause, should they also be put in
jeopardy
The President presented the war de-
partment plans for strengthening the
army as "'the essential first STEP and
''for the present sufficient. The plans
include the increasing of the standing
larmy to force of 141, S43 men of all
services, and the establishment of a
supplementary force of 100000 dis
ciplined citizens, who would undergo
training for short periods throughout
three years of a six years enlistment.
lit would depend upon the patriotic
feeling of the younger men of the coun-
try whether they responded to such a
call to service or not, - said the Presi-
dent. cit would depend upon the pat
riotic spirit of the employers of the
country whether they made it possible
for the younger men in their employ to
respond under favorable conditions or
not. / for one, do not doubt the pa
+ triotic devotion either of our Young men
, or of those who give them employment
those for whose benefit and protec-
ton they would in fact enlist. | would
look forward to the success of such an
experiment with entire confidence
I Outlining the details of the navy
plan presented by Secretary Daniels
, the president said that 1T involves
only shortening of the time within
which T,lanC lpper mat shall hp sa
f ried out; but it does make definite ant
c explicit a program which has hereto
: fore been only implicit, held in th'
] minds of the committees on naval af
fairs and disclosed in the debates o.
) the two houses but nowhere formulated
+ or formally adopted. 1t seems t
9 me very clear that it will be to the ad
{ vantage Of the country for congress
n to adopt a comprehensive plan for put
4 ting the navy upon a final footing o
e strength and efficiency and to pres
o that plan to completion within the mex
f five years.
!. The President said that in order t
IL secure national self-efficieney and self
! security the country must have a mer
d chant marine.
For it is question of independ
e ence,' he asserted. eff other nation
/ go to war or seek to hamper each 9th
l. er's commerce, our merchants, it seem:
Is are at their mercy, to do with the
e please We must use their ships, an
20 use them as they determine. Our indie
1t pendence is provincial, and it Is onl
.e on land and within our own borders
l. We are not likely to be permitted t
j. use even the ships of other nations
n rivalry of their own trade, and al
s. without means to extend our commerce
A. tha lpOrS wide
n and our goods desired. Such situt
rs ton is not to be endured. 1t is of cap
O. tai importance not only that the Unite
n States should be its own carrier on til
IN seas and enjoy the economic indepent
n ence which only an adequate merchaI
marine would give it, but also that II
in American hemisphere as a whole shoul
ID enjoy a like independence and self-su
lie ficiency, if it is not to be drawn int
IN the tangle of European affairs
~ The task of building up an adequa
N, merchant marine, Mr.. Wilson sal
at must be undertaken ultimately /
in American private capital, but in Il
Sc meantime, he declared, every leg
of obstacle standing in the way of Il
building, purchase and American re
he istration of ships should be remov,
ca and the government should undertal
ng to open routes, especially between Il
lse two American continents. When t
srs risk has passed and private capital b
is gins to find its way into these ne
ice channels, he added, the governme
nd may withdraw.
Id The President told congress that pl
nd posals would be made during the co
RS, ing session for the purchase or &C
be- struction of ships to be owned and
it'll rected by the government. The me;
lis. ure, he said, would be similar to tn
the submitted to the last congress, but me
les flied in some essential particulars.
ted In outlining the financial conditi
be of the government, the President f
nv lowed closely the statement reeen
en- given out by Secretary McAdoo.
un- said that the additional revenue
md quired to carry out the program of II
,r.nl r.nt Il