The Spectator., 1915-12-07
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 Dsloyal Acts of Foreisn-Sorn Citi-
 zens Scored-No Fear
 cf War.

Washington. Dec. 7.-At a joint session of the house and senate the president to- day delivered his annual message. He said in part as follows:
 Since I 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 it's 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 noe 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- tion we earnestly hope and believe that We can be of infinite service.
 In this neutrality. to which they were bidden not only by their separate life and their habitual detachment from the poli- tics of Europe but also by clear per ceptiOn of international duty, the states of America have become conscious of a new and more vital community of inter est and moral partnership in affairs, more 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- litical suZerainty or selfish control. Not Hostile Rivals.
 The moral is. that the states of Amer lea are not hostile rivals, but cooper atng friends, and that their growing sense of community of interest. alike in matters political and in matters econom- ic, is likely to give them a new signifi- canoe as factors in international affairs and in the political history of the world, It presents them as in very deep and true sense a unit in world affairs, spir l itual partners, standing together because thinking together. quick with common sympathies and common ideals. Separat- l ed, they are subject to all the cross cur rents of the confused politics of world l of hostile rivalries; united in spirit and | purpose they cannot be disappointed of | their peaceful destiny.
 This Is Pan-Americanism. It has none of the spirit of empire in it. It Is the en- 1 bodiment, the enectual embodiment. of l the spirit of law and independence and liberty and mutual service.
 | There Is, I venture to point out. an espe
 cial significance just now attaching to | this whole matter of drawing the Amer l icas together In bonds of honorable part | nership and mutual advantage because of | xk,A l{,..t rl,t t-k Sl, | world must inevitably witness within the next generation, when peace shall have | at last resumed its healthful tasks. In l the performance of these tasks l believe | the Americas to be destined to play their l parts together. am interested 10 fix l your attention on this prospect now be- | cause unless you take it within your view and permit the full significance of 1t to command your thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies al the very front of my whole thought as I ad dress you today I mean national de- fense.
 No one who really comprehends the | spirit of the great people for whom we arc appointed to speak can fail to per ceiVe that their passion Is for peace. their genius best displayed In the practice of the arts of peace Great democracieS are not belligerent. They do not seek or de- sire war. Inelr thought IS or lnulNluual liberty and of the free labor that supports l life and the uncensorcd thought that | quickens It Conquest and dominion are not in our reckoning. or agreeable to our | principles. But just because we demand unmolested development and the undis- | turbed government of our own lives upon our own principles of right and liberty | we resent, from whatever quarter u may come, the aggression we ourselves will not l practice We insist upon security in l prosecuting our self-chosen lines of nn- tional development We do more than
 that. We demand it also for others. We
 do not contlne our enthusiasm for indi-
 vidual liberty and free national develop
 ment 70 the incidents and movements of
 affairs which affect only ourselves We | feel it wherever there is a people that
 tries 10 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 1t 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
 nations and political freemen.
 Might to Maintain Right.
 Out of such thoughts grow all our poli-
 eies. We regard war merely as means of asserting the rights of people against
 
 ous of coerclve 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 peace as in times of war; and we shall always see to it that our military peace establishment is no longer than is actually and continuous | ly needed for the uses of days in which 1 no enemies move against us. But we do believe in body of free citizens ready l and sufficient to 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 l right of the people to keep and bear 1 arms shall not be infringed," 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 l farmers rose at Lexington.
 | But war has never been a mere matter | of men and guns, It Is a thing of disci- | plined might. If our citizens are ever to | fight effectively upon a sudden summons