The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-19
COL. ROOSEVELT ACCUSES TEUTON
 NAVAL LEADERS
Declares Their Plan Was to Make U. S. Pay Expenses of Warfare.

Detroit, Mich, May 19.-Colonel The odoEe Roosevelt, in an address today,
 reiterated his opposition ito all kinds
 of hyphenated -Americanism," advo-
 cated universal military service based
 on universal training, and declared
 that we must abolish pork barrel =
 methods in onr national defense, stop
 talking and get down to the actual
 business of thorough preparedness 1T
 we are ito make this nation as strong
 as are it's convictions in reference to
 right and wrong. 3N~
 Colonel Roosevelt prefaced his speech by announcing that he had scome here to Michigan because in
 the, primary for the selection of dele
 gates to the Republican National Con
 vention MT. Ford was victorious, and
 following on his victory here, he
 showed a marked popular strength in
 Nebraska and Pennsylvania. The ef-
 feet of this showing has been -imme-
 diately visible upon many of the pol
 iticians within and without Congress-
 I've through our representatives at
 Washington said Colonel Roosevelt,
 '+have absolutely refused in the small est degree to prepare during these 22
 months of world cataclysm. We have
 refused to learn the smallest part of
 the lesson being written on the scroll of torment in Europe. We have fatu- ously refused to take the smallest step, either to do our duty to ourselves
 or to do our duty to others We have endeavored to deceive ourselves by announcing that in this policy of su- pine inaction and of failure to perform duty, we are actuated by the loft1eSt
 motives I doubt whether we have really deceived ourselves, and most certainly we have not deceived others.
 There is not a nation in the world
 which believes that our course of con- duct hassaheea4s5i icta ted-vby anything save stiTnfdfty,sTss worthy Shrinking
 from effort and responsibility, and cold and selfish love of money making
 Tn any serious crisis there are al
 ways men who try to carry water on both shoulders. These men try to es- cape the hard necessity of choice be-
 tween two necessarily opposite altern- atixes, by trying to work up some conn promise. Tn actual practice this
 compromise usually proves to combine with exquisite nicety all the defects and none of the advantages Of both courses. It is true that in ordinary political matters compromise is essen
 tia1. It is true that in ordinary times it is essential But there come great crises when compromise iS either inn
 possible or fatal. This is one of those, crises. There is no use in saying that we will fit ourselves to defend our-
 selves a, little, but not much. Such $ position is equivalent to announcing that, if necessary; we shall hit, but that we shall only hit soft. The only right principle is to prepare thorough Iy or not at aI1- The only right prTn- cip1e is to avoid hitting if it is possible to do so, but never under any cfrcum- stances to hit soft. To go to war little, but not much, is the one abso- lutely certain way to ensure disaster. Fro prepare a little, but not much, stands on a par with a, city develop ing a fire department which, after 2, fire occurs. can put it out a little, but not much sl
 Colonel Roosevelt declared that the Wilson administration has taken no steps for preparedness, and has done nothing efficient to sustain our na- tiona1 rights Because, he said, the administration had at intervals, wen tured feebly to speak in contradiction of it's non-action,'' the ultra-pacif1sts and their followers have refused it any whole-hearted support. They ob- ject, Colonel Roosevelt added, "even to make believe preparedness; they in
 sist on even more thorough going helplessness tha an that which we had
 so amply provided at Washington
 We must make this nation as
 strong as are it's convictions in refer
 ence to right and wrong" declared
 Colonel Roosevelt Tt little matters
 what our ideals may be and what
 achievements we may hope for, if
 these ideals and achievementsN cannot
 be reduced to action. The events of the past. and the events of today.