Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-07-23
ROOSEVELT URGES
WAR PREPARATIONS
Cites Examples of China and Bel
GUM as Warning to
Nation.
DECLARES SWISS
PLAN EFFICIENT
Speaks Derisively of "Elocution
as Substitute for
Action

Theodore Roosevelt addressed the
Panama-Pacific Exposition crowds yes
terday on Preparedness for War. The
speech was given over almost en-
tirely to that theme and he set II
forth with new emphasis.
firmly believe that there should
be universal military service for our
young men on the Swiss model
said the former President, at II
point in his speech.
At another, referring to the price
which Belgium had paid because OF
her unpreparedness, he said:
"Some day or other it may well
be that we shall have to pay on a
ten.fold greater scale the same price
for exactly the same reasons; and II,
such should be the case, remember.
my fellow countrymen, that whereas
the case of the Belgians excited
warm sympathy, our misfortunes
would excite nothing but scorn and
contempt; for a rich, powerful,
boastful people invites the ridicule
of all mankind If, whether from sheer
Stiffness and short sightedness, or
from soft timidty, or from gross
and greedy devotion to the material
benefits Of the moment, it fails to
prepare itself to defend its own
rights with its own strength.
Elocution as Substitute.
Col. Roosevelt spoke derisiVely or
''elocution as a substitute for action:
and in his arraignment of those who
stood in the way Of preparedness for
war, he said the professional paci.
fists. the peace-at-any-price, non-re
sistance universal arbitration people
are seeking to Chinafy this country
to reduce it to the level of impo'
tence to which old China sank The
average Chinaman, he said, had ia
ken the view that China was too
proud to fight" and "in practice
made evident his hearty approval OF
that abject pacifist song, 1 Didn't
+ Raise My Boy to be a Soldier
With all of his old-time vigor, Col.
: Roosevelt denounced the all-incluslve
arbitration treaties. which the Unit.
ed States had entered into and said
that in declining to apply their prin-
4 ciple in, the case of the Lusltanla,
there had been evidence Of national
hypocrisy or else an utter reckless
ness OF folly in making promises. 1T
! was necessary! to repudiate the prln-
picle in the. ,Lusitania. case, the Col
onel agreed, but "a shameful thing
tol,iaaye put ourselves in such "a po.
4 ...tion that, it. had to be repudlated.
Scraps Of Paper.
The United States had treated the
Hague Conventions as mere "scrops
I of paper he said, when the demand
was made to show that our sigma
lures meant something. [.
II nave a very strong feeling ABOUT
the Panama Exposition said Col
Roosevelt in beginning his speech.
1T was my good fortune to AXE the
action in 1903, failure to take when
in exactly the shape | took it, would
have meant that no Panama Canal
would have been built for half a cen.
tury, and therefore that there would
have been no Exposition to celebrate
the building of the Canal. In every
thing we did in connection with the
acquiring of the Panama Zone we
acted in a way to do absolute JUS
ice to all other nations, to benefit
all other nations including especially
the adjacent states, and to render
the utmost service, from the stand
point alike of honor and of material
interest, to the United States. ! am
glad that this is the case, for il
T. ere were the slightest faint upon
our title or our conduct, it would
have been an improper and shameful
thing to hold this Exposition.
Doubles Efficiency.
'.The building Of the Canal nearly
doubles the potential efficiency OF
the United States navy. as long as
it is fortified and is in our hands,
but if left unfortified, it would at
once become a menace to us.
"What is true as to our proper
attitude in regard to the Canal is
no less true as regards our proper
attitude concerning the interests OF
the United States taken as a whole.
The Canal is to be a great agency for
peace; it can be such only n ex.
actly in proportion as 1t increased
our potential efficiency in war.
"Those men who like myself be-
lieve that the highest duty OF TINS
nation is to prepare itself against
war, 50 that it may safely trust its
honor and interest to its own
strength, are advocating merely that
we do as a nation regarding our gen