The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-12-11

practice. We insist upon security
in prosecuting our self-chosen lines
of national development. We do
more than that. We demand it also
for others"
War. the president declared, was
regarded by the United States mere
ly as a means of asserting the rights
of a people against aggression, and
hal I'VE are as fiercely jealous OF
coercive or pictorial power within
our own nation as from aggression
from without" He said the nation
would not maintain a standing armv
except for uses which are as neces-
sary in times of peace as in times
of war, but that the country die
believe, in a body of free citizens
ready and sufficient to take carr
of themselves and of the govern
ment.
Need of Preparation
But war has eve been a mere
matter Of men and arms. 1t is a
thing of disciplined might. If our
4 ONCl ~ II5ht
upon a sudden summons, they must
know how modern fighting is done.
aud what to do when the summons
comes to render themselves imme-
diately available and Immediately
effective"
The president presented the war
department plans for strengthening
the army as 1.-The essential first step
and for the present sufficient. The
plans include the increasing of the
standing army to a force of 141 ,S43
men of all services, and the estab-
lishment of a supplementary force
of 100000 disciplined citizens, who
would undergo training for short
periods throughout three years of a
six years enlistment.
, 1T would depend upon the pa
triotic feeling of the younger mon
of the country whether they re-
sponded to such a call to service or
not. 1t would depend upon the
patriotic spirit of the employers OF
the country whether they made it
possible for the younger men in
their employ to respond under ia
vorable conditions or not"
Outlining the details of the navy
plan presented by Secretary Dam
iels. the president said hat ''it in
wolves only a shortening of the time
within which plans long matured
shall be carried out; but it does make
definite and explicit a program
which has heretofore been only i'm
plicit, held in the minds of the COM
mittees of naval affairs and dis
closed in the debates of the two
houses but nowhere formulated or
formally adopted"
Merchant Marine
The presiden mt sad that in order to
secure national self-efficiency and
self-security the country must have
a merchant marine.
For it is a question of i%ndepend-
ence. If other nations go to wal
or seek to hamper each others com.
merce. our merchants. it seems are
at their mercy, to do with as they
please. We must use their ships.
and use them as they determine. Our
independence is provincial, and it is
only on land and within our own
borders. We are not likely to be
permitted to use even the ships of
other nations in rivalry of their own
trade. and ere without tleans II e.
tend our commerce even whore the
doors are wide open aai our goods
desired. Such a situation il not TO
be endured. IT is of cap tal import
ance not only that the United States
should be its own CARRIE on the
seas and eI 10Y the ecoormic indie
peudence which only an adequate
merchant marine would give it. but
also that the American hemisphere
as a whole should enjoy a like in
dependence and self-sufficiency. II
it is not to be drawn into the tangln
of European affairs"
Purchase of Ships
The task of building up an ade-
quate merchant marine. Mr.. Will
son said, must be undertaken ulti-
mately by American capital, but in