East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-12-07
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.


Continued from page one)
reports of their proceedings ana of
the actions of their committees. ym
VIII get from them, / think. fresh
conception of the ease and intelIi.
gence and advantage with which
Americans of both continents may
draw together in practical coopera-
ton and of what the material foun-
dations of this hopeful partnership of
interest must consist,-of how we
should build them and of how neees-
sary 1t is that we should hasten their
building,
Amertcans Stand Together.
There is, l venture to point ont,
an especial significance just now at
taching to this whole matter OF
drawing the Americas together IN
bonds of honorable partnership and
mutual advantage because of the eco
nomlc readjustments which the
world must inevitably witness with
In the next generation, when peace
shall have at last resumed its health.
tuI tasks. In the performance of
these tasks l believe the Americas
TO be destined to play their parts to-
Sether l am interested to fix YOUR
attention on this prospect now be-
cause unless YOU take il within YOUR
view and permit the fun significance
OF it to command your thought /
cannot find the right light in which
TO set forth the particular matter that
/ lies at the very front of my Whole
thought as l address you today. l
mean national defense.
No one who really comprehends the
spirit of the great people for whom
we are appointed to speak can fail
to perceive that their passion is FOR
peace, their genius pest displayed in
the practice of the arts of peaee
Great democracies are not belliger-
ent' They do not seek or desire war
Iheir thought is of individual liber-
" and of the free labor that sun.
ports life and the uncensored
+ thought that quickens it. Conouest
ana dominion are not in our reckon.
ing, or agreeable to our principles
but Just because We demand unmo-
tested development and the undis-
lurbed government of our own lives
upon our own principles of right and
liberty we resent, from whatever
quarter 1t may come, the aggression
we ourselves will not practice We
insist upon security in prosecuting
our selt-chosen lines of national de-
elopment. We do more than that
we demand 1t also for others We
do not confine our enthusiasm for
individual liberty and free national
development to the incidents and
movements of affairs which affect
only ourselves We feel it wherever
there is a people that tries to walk
in these difficult paths of independ-
ence and right. From the first we
have made common cause with all
partisans of liberty on this side of
the sea, and have deemed II as i'm.
+ portant that our neighbors should be
/ free from all outside domination as
4 that we ourselves should be; have set
America aside as a whole for the
uses of independent nations and po-
lltical freemen.
out of such things grow all our
policies. We regard war merely as
j a means of asserting the rights of a
| people against aggression. And we
are as fiercely jealous of coercive or
dictatorial power within our own ma
tion as of aggression from without.
| We will not maintain a standing army
except for uses which are necessary
in times of peace as IN times of war.
and we shall always see to it that
/ our military peace establishment is
no larger than is actually and con-
tinuousy needed for the uses Of days
in which no enemies move against
US. But we do believe in a body of
free citizens ready 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 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 in the rising of the nation to take
care Of itself as the FARMERS rose at
Lexington.
Must Learn to Fight.
But war has never been a mere
matter of men and guns. It is d
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 summons
comes to render themselves immedi-
ately available and Immediately ef-
fective. 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 gov
ernment, which they will not allow to
direct them, they may properly use
to serve them and make their inde-
pendence secure-and not their own
independence merely but the rights
also OF those with whom they have
made common cause, should they al
so be put in jeopardy. They must be
fitted to play the great role in the
world, and particularly in this hem
isphere, for which they are qualified
by principle and by chastened ambi-
tion to play
It is with these ideals in mind that
the plans OF the department of wal