Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-03-17
BY the Associated Press


NEW YORK, Mar. 16.-The
tert OF an address By Secretary
OF State Byrnes tonight before
the Society OF the Friendly Sons
OF st. Patrick at the Hotel Aston:
We Americans realize that thu
victory over the Axis was not al
American victory alone. The vic.
tory was won by the peoples OF
many countries welded together II
powerful alliance. But as Amer.
leans we are proud that we con.
tributed nightly to the defeat Of
the Fascists and Nazis in Europe
and that we played the major part
in the defeat of Japan.
Irish Americans, in turn, are
aware that the blows struck by
America were struck by Americans
of every race and faith. But WE
of Irish blood take honest pride ir
the number of Kellys and Burkes
and Sheas whose names appear in
the wars roll of honor.
These Irish lads came from the
cities and the farms, from the fac
tories and the fields. They came
to the decks of our ships, to the
cockpits of our planes and to the
turrets of our tanks. They came
to the landing barges and to the
foxholes. And when their guns
and the guns of their comrades be-
gan to sound, it became certain
that victory would be ours.
Deeds Long Remembered.
Tonight time does not permit me
to recite to you Friendly Sons of
St. Patrick the names and deeds of
these Irish heroes. But their names
and deeds will not soon be for
gotten and there will be many an
opportunity for more gifted Irish
tongues to tell the tales of their
gallantry.
I know that in these troubled
days you are more anxious to look
to the future than to the past-to
consider what we must do now in
order to insure that the sacrifices
of these men have not been in vain.
Consequently, desire to return
to subject to which I referred
two weeks ago, the military strength
of the United States.
We Americans love peace We
are a Nation of civilians, not SOL
diers. 1t is fundamental to our
system of government that military
authority be subordinate to civilian
authority.
Even in the midst of total war,
we have maintained this principle.
The American soldiers and sailors
who made military history from
New Caledonia to Tokyo and from
North Africa to Berlin were not
professional soldiers and sailors.
They were civilians in uniform.
This is a fine tradition. Having
preserved it in war, we should not
relinquish it in peace.
Nation Cannot Disarm.
The problem is how to reconcile
our civilian traditions with the ne
cessity to maintain our military
strength at level to match our
responsibilities in the world.
No nation is more willing than
the United States to participate
in any reasonable plan for the gen.
eral reduction of ornaments. But
while other nations remain armed
the United States, in the interest
of world peace, cannot disarm.
Between 1918 and 1941 there grew
up in this country an important
body of pacifist sentiment. The
dominant theme of this movement
was that the way to end war was
not to prepare for war. 1t was
argued that plain men the world
over hated war and that there
would be no more war If all these
plain men simply refused ever to
fight again.
If the United States were to
scrap all its ornaments and COM
pletely demobilize it's Army and
Navy, it was said. the force of its
example would compel the rest of
the world to follow suit. The peace
full instinct which underlay this
point of view is an admirable one,
The trouble with the idea is that
1t does not work.
Without consciously deciding to do
so, we actually tried it. BY the time
the Nazis attacked Poland in 1899
we had permitted our armed strength
to dwindle to token proportions.
When the war came and the realiza-
ton slowly grew upon us that we
would not be spared we regretted
that we were not prepared. The
political parties then indicted each
other for the lack of preparedness
The argument was no substitute for
weapons.
Incited by Our Weakness.
We learned that the example OF
weakness set by the United States
did not compel Italy and Japan ano
Germany to follow suit. On tie
contrary, our weakness melted them
to ever holder aggressions. Only the
accidents of history gave us two
years in which to prepare before the
blow fell at Pearl Harbor.
Those two years were not enough
to repair the damage. We were not
ready on December 7, 1941, and the
consequence was that brave mer
died to regain the ground we could
not hold in the first weeks of war
This tragic experience makes US
realize that weakness invites ag-
erosion. Weakness causes others to
act as they would not act if they
thought that our words were packed
by strength.
Today there is grave danger that
tn sense of relief which accompanies
the end of the war may cause us
once again to do unwittingly what
we would never do consciously.
No one in or out of Government
desires to extend for a single day
more than is necessary the enforced
separation of men from their fam
lilies and from their peacetime bust
ness or employment.
But those who bear the RESPONSE
bility for the security and welfare
of the Nation are alarmed at the
possibility that sufficient numbers of
Inv, -, l.