The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-30

I would only a twelvemonth ago, even after the European war had started have seemed incredible, and yet now | the things that no man anticipated have happened. The titanic struggle 1 continues The difficulties of the worlds | affairs accumulate.
 | What are the clements of the case | In the first place, and most obviously, | two thirds of the world are at war. Nations in the Orient have become | involved as well as nations in the west, | and everywhere there seems to be | creeping even upon the nations disen- gagged the spirit and threat of war | All the world outside of America is l on fire. Do you wonder that mems
 imaginations take color from the situ- | ation? Do you wonder that there is a great reaction against war? Do you wonder that the passion for peace l grows stronger as the spectacle grows | more tremendous and more overwhelm- l ing?
 DO you not see how all the sensi- | tive places of our life touch these great
 disturbances? Now in the midst of that, what is it that we are called on to | do as a nation? I suppose that from 1 the first America has had one peculiar
 and particular mission in the world. Other nations have grown rich, my | fellow citizens; other nations have l l sources in comparison with the other nations of the world; other nations | have built up empires and exercised | dominion. We are not peculiar in any l of these things, but we are peculiar 1 in this: That from the first we have dedicated our force to the service of | justice and righteousness and peace J We have said, Our chief interest ] is not in the rights of property but in the rights of man; our chief interest 1 is in the spirits of men that they l mi ght be free that they might enjoy 1 their lives unmolested so long as they | observed the just rules of the game,
 that they might deal with their fellow ] men with their heads erect, the sub | jects and servants of no man but the servants only of the principles upon l which their lives rested And Amer 1 ica has done more than care for her l own people and think of her own for ! tunes in these great matters. She has ! said ever since the time of President Monroe that she was the champion or ! freedom and the separate sovereignty
 of peoples throughout the western
 hemisphere. She is trustee for those ideals and she is pledged. deeply and 1 permanently pledged, to keep those mo- mentous promises.
 PLAY OTHERS PART
 | "She not only therefore must play her part in keeping this conflagration 1 from spreading to the people of the 1 United States, she must also keep this conflagration from spreading on this 1 side the sea. These are matters in which our very life and our whole pride are embedded and rooted and we | can never draw back from them. And I, my fellow citizens, because of the | extraordinary office with which you have entrusted me, must, whether 1 will or not, be your responsible spokes- man in these great matters.
 For my own part, l am sorry that these things fall within the year of national political campaign. They ought to have nothing whatever to do | with politics. The man who brings partisan feeling into these matters and seeks partisan advantage by means of 1 them is unworthy of your confidence Let us forget that this is year of national elections. The thing to do now is for all men of all parties to think along the same lines and to do the same things and forget every differ 1 ence that may have divided them. | And what ought they to do? Well, in | the first place, they ought to tell the | truth. There have been some extraor-
 dirary congregations. both of the mili-
 tary weakness and the military strength
 of this country. Some men tell you that we have no means of defense and others l tell you that we have sufficient means ] of defense, and nither statement is 1 true.
 1 Take, for example. the matter of our l coast defenses. It is obvious to every 1 man that they are of the most vital im- portance to the country. Such coast de- lenses as we have are strong and ad
 mira ble, but we have not got coast de- lenses in enough places. Their quality 1 is admirable, but their quantity is in sufficient. The military authorities of this country have not been negligent; they have sought adequate appropriations from | Congress and in most instances have ob . 1 taired them so far as we saw the work ! in hand that it necessary to do. And | the work that they have done in the use of these appropriations has been admir- able and skilful work. Do not let anybody deceive you into supposing that the army of the United State, so far as it has had opportunity, is in any degree un- worthy of your confidence.
 NAVY IS FOURTH
 And the navy of the United States; you have been told that it is the second | in strength in the world. I am sorry to | say that experts do not agree with those 1 who tell you that Reckoning by it's ac- l tual strength, I believe 1t to be one of the
 most efficient navies in the world; but it's | strength ranks fourth, not second. And 1 you must reckon with the fact that it is l necessary that that should be our first arm of defense, and you ought to insist l that everything should be done that it | is possible for us to do to bring the navy up to an adequate standard of strength 1 and efficiency.
 l Where we are lacking more perhaps is | on land, and in the number of men who | are ready to fight. Not the number of
 fighting men, but the number of men whc
 1 are ready to fight. Some men are born
 troublesome; some men have trouble
 | thrust upon them, and other men acquire
 trouble l think I belong to the second
 class. But the characteristic desire ot
 America is not that she should have 6
 great body of men whose chief bushes.
 is to fight, but a great body of men who
 know how to fight and are ready to figh'
 1 when anything that is dear to the nation