New Britain herald., 1916-05-19

strength of MT. Ford in the primaries, and of the strength of the advocates of half-preparednes at Washington, comes from the fact that no real al- formative of policy is offered with sin cerity and fearlessness.
 In urging universal military ser vice based on universal training,' Col onel Roosevelt said he believed in it because it would be not only of incal- culable benefit to the nation in the event of war, but of incalculable bene- fit to the individuals undergoing it. and therefore to the nation, as regards the work of peace." He continued:
 1T believe that the dog-tent would prove a most effective agent for democratizing and nationalizing our life; quite as much so as the public school, and far more so than the American factory and the American city as they are today. Preparedness through universal service would turn out to be the best possible school of ractical civics. In such a school all men who are Americans i'll spirit would get together and learn to work together, so as to insure cooperation among our people in social life and
 
 secure not merely liberty and op- portunity but also the sense of obliga- tion-wl1ich is just as important as the other two.
 We must abolish porl1-barrell methods in the army-as regards everything else. Remember that aft CT preparedness has been accepted by the country and the necessary funds voted, the real work will have only begun. England's navy represents over three centuries and Germany's army over two centuries of develop ment along an unbroken line of tra- dition and progress to the present st-.ge of efficiency. The first and all important essential is to divorce the army and navy organizations abso- lutely from politics.
 Colonel Roosevelt asserted that "the extreme naval party in Germany has recently advocated war with the Unit ed States on the ground that in tho end, as the result of such a war we would have to pay all the war expen- ditures of the Germanic powers and their allies.''
 'These enormous sums would be raised by taxation on all our citizens,' he said; those of German descent would pay as heavily as those of any other descent; and all would share equally the shame and dishonor, foreign foe is the foe of all of ,,s alike. If in this land the citizens of one national origin. successfully set the fashion of influencing this nation to it's own detrin1ent in the interest of the country from which they orig inally came, sooner or later it is ab solutely certain that the citizens of some other national origin will repeat the experiment.: and this country will be left degraded and helpless among the nations. If such an event befall us, the bitter bread of humiliation will be eaten by all of those who dwell in this land, no matter what their creed no matter what their national origin. It will be eaten by your children and grandchildren and great-grandchil- dren just as much as by mine.
 'Americanism is a matter of the spirit, not of birthplace or descent. Among the best Americans Thave ever known, among the closest to me in social and political life are, and have been, men born in, or men whose fa- thers were born in, Germany, Ireland, the Scandinavian kingdoms and other European countries. They stand on an exact level with the other Amer jeans, whose ancestors were here in Colonial times. We are all. part of the same people.
 We all stand together for our com- non flag and our common country. We must so prepare that this coun- try will be a good place in which the chllqren's children of all of US Q
 so prepare that we can repel all for eign foes and preserve the inestin7a f,1e right of settling for ourselves the fate of this mighty democratic republic. But the essence of this policy of full preparedness which remem Der is not only military but at least as much in dustrial and social is that it is purely defensive and is the best possible as- surance Of peace. No nation will ever attack a unified and prepared Amer ica"