The Monticellonian., 1915-12-09
ASKS ADEQUATE
 DEFENSE FOR U. $.
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- xens Scored-No Fear
 of War.

cf War.
 Washington, Dec 7.-At joint sessor of the house and senate the president to- day delivered his annual message. Ht said in part follows:
 Since l last had the privilege of ad- dressing you on the state of the Union the war of nations on the other side oi the sea, which had then only begun to disclose its portentous proportions, has extended it's threatening and sinister scope until it has swept within its 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- ton and reconstruction such as states men and peoples have never been called upon to attempt before.
 We have stood apart. studieusly neutral. It was our manifest duty to do In the day of readjustment and reeupera- ton 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 poll 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 eoerce her; and our course with regard to her ought to be sufficient proof to all America that we seek no po- ntieal suzerainty or selfish control.
 Not Hostile Rivals.
 The moral Is, that the states of Amer flea 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 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 unit in world affairs. spir- itual partners, standing together because thinking together. quick with common sympathies and common ideals. Separat- ed, they are subject to all the cross cur
  of hostile rivalries; united In spirit and purpose they cannot be disappointed of their peaceful destiny.
 This Is Pan-Americansm. It has none Of the spirit of empire in it. It Is the e1n- 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 icas together in bonds of honorable part nership and mutual advantage because of the economic readjustments which the world must inevitably witness within the next generation. when peace shall have at last resumed its heaithful tasks. In the performance of these tasks I 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 1t to command your thought l cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very front of my whole thought as I ad- dress you today. l mean national de- fense.
 No one who really comprehends the spirit of the great people for whom We are appointed to speak can fail to per ceive that their passion is for peace. their t 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 uncensored thought that quickens 1t. 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 il may come, the aggression we ourselves will not practice. We insist upon security in prosecuting our self-chosen lines of na- tional development We do more than that. We demand 1t also for others We co not confine our enthusiasm for indi- vfdual liberty and free national develop ment to the incidents and movements of anairs which affect only ourselves. We feel 1t 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 this side of the sea. and have neemed It as important that our neighbors should be free from all uritside 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 polt- cies. We regard war merely as a means of asserting the rights of people against aggression. And we are as aercely ieal- ous of coerclye or dictatoral 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 no enemies move against us But we do believe in body of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care Of themselves and of the governments which they have set up to serve them. h our constitutions themselves we have comma nded that .the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." and our confidence has been that our safety in times of danger would lie fin the rising of the nation to take care of itself. as the farmers rose at Lexington
 But war has never been mere matter Of men and guns. IL is a thing of disci- plined might If our citizens are ever 10 fight effectively upon sudden summons. they must know how modern fighting is done and what to do when the summons comes to render themselves Immediately available and immediately effective. And
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