Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-06-14
PRESIDENT SAYS QUIET
STRENGTH, NOT SWAGGER,
is AMERICAN IDEAL

IltHuHG SHdpt.
America, Fortunately does know
| what she wants to do with her forces.
America CAME into existence for par
ticular reason. You are so
| familiar with American history-at
| any rate In its general character
don't accuse you OF knowing the de-
tails Of ii, for / never found the
lyoungster who debut you are so
| familiar with the general character
Of American history that 1t doesn't
| seem strange to you, but 1t is very
strange history. There is none other
like It in the whole annals of man
| lSind---of men gathering out of every
civilized nation OF the world ON an un
used continent and building up the
| polity exactly to suit themselves, not
under the domination OF any ruling
| dynasty or of the ambitions OF any
royal family
! No Selfish Motives.
Now what we are preparing to do
is to see that nobody mars that, and
that being safe itself against Interior
ence from the outside, all its force Is
going 10 be behind its moral idea. and
mankind il going to going to know
that when America speaks she means
what SHE says / heard a man say to
another, III you wish me to consider
you witty, | must really trouble you
to make a Joke We have Il right to
say to the rest Of mankind, If you
don't want to interfere with us, If you
arc dlsinterested we must really
4 ~ 49, q a fr
that fact We are not in for anything
selfish and we want the whole mighty
power of America thrown into that
scale and not into any other.
"You know that the chief thing
that is holding many people back
from enthusiasm for what is called
prepare lness is the fear Of miitarism.
| | want to say word to you, young
gentlemen, about militarism. You are
not d nilitarist because you are mill
/ tary. Militarism does not consist in
the existence Of an army, not even in
the existence of n very great army.
! Militarism is a spirit. 1t is point OF
view. II is q system. II Is a purpose,
| The purpose of miltarism Is to use
armies for aggression. The spirit of
| militarism is the opposite of the civil
! ian spirit--the lcitiZen spirit. In u
country where miltarism prevails the
military man looks down upon the
civilian, regards him as inferior,
| thinks of him as intended for his, the
military mans support and use; and
just as long as America is America,
I that spirit and point OF view Is inn
possible with us There is as yet in
this country, 80 far as ! can discover,
no faint Of the spirit of militarism.
No Nepotism Involved.
you. young gentlemen, are not
preferred in promotion because of the
families you belong to- You are not
Drawn into tile academy because you
belong to certain influential circles
You do not come here with a long
tradition of military pride back of
you. You are picked out from the
citizens of the United States to
that part of the force of the United
States which makes 1t policy safe
against interference---you are the
part of American citizens who say to
tn use who would interfere You must
not and You shall not But you
are American citizens and the ideas
want to leave with you boys today -
this No matter what comes, always
remember that first of all you are cit
liens of the United States before you
are officers, and that you are officers
because you represent in your profes.
sion what the citizenship of the Unit
ed states stands for. There is no
danger of militarism If you are genu-
inc Americans, and | for one do not
doubt that you are. When you be-
gin to have the mllitaristic spirit
not the military spirit, that is all right
then begin to doubt whether you
are Americans or not.
"You know that one thing In which
our forefathers took pride was this,
that the civil power is superior to the
military power in the United states
once and again the people of the
United States have so admired some
great military man as TO make him
president of the United states, but
I he was communicating chief because
he was president, not because he had
been trained to arms, and his author
ity was civil, not military can teach
you nothing of military power but
am instructed by the constitution to
use you for constitutional and pa
! triotic purposes. And that is the only
use you care to be put TO. That Is
the only use you ought to care to be
put TO- for after ALL what is the use
in being an American If YOU do not
know what il is.
Defines Amcricanism.
1--WE have talked a good deal about
Americanism. ! think it TO be a mat
ter of pride with us to know what
Amerieanlsm really consists in. Amer
icanism consists in utterly believinA
in the principles of America and put.
ting them first as above anything that
might by chance come into competi-
ton with ii, and !, for my part, believe
that the American test is a spiritual
test II man has to make excuses
for what he has done as an Afneri-
can. | doubt his Americanism. He
ought to know at every step of his
action that the motive that lies De
hind what he does as a motive no
American need be ashamed of for
moment. Now we ought TO put this
test TO every man We know. We
ought to let 1t be known that any
body who does not put America first
can consort with us. But we ought
TO set them the example. We ought
to set them the example by thinking
Atnarieap fhoughte by entertaining