Show presidents WORD 16 10 prepa HE annual message pleads for concerted and efficient action FOR GREATER REGULAR ARMY citizen soldiery part of his plan problem of commercial mobilization stated state d DIt D Is loyalty among certain elements element in our national life serious menace to peace washington dec T president dent wilson wilbon wll today delivered the following mos bago bage to congress gentlemen ot of the congress since I 1 last had bad the privilege of addressing you on the state of the union the war of nations on the other side of the joao sea w which had then only begun to disclose its portentous proportions has extended its threatening and sinister scope until it has within its flame some portion of every quarter of the globe not excepting our own hemisphere has altered the whole face ot of international affairs and now presents a prospect 0 of reorganization and reconstruction such buch as ath statesmen and peoples have never been called upon to attempt before we have stood apart studiously neutral it was our manifest duty to do so BO not only did wo we have no part or interest in the tha policies which seem to have hava brought the conflict on it was necessary it a universal catastrophe was to be avoided that a limit should be set to the sweep of destructive war and that some part of the great family of nations should keep the processes of peace alive it if only to prevent collective economic ruin and the breakdown throughout the world of the industries dus tries by which its populations are fed and sustained it was manifestly the duty of the self belt governed go corned nations of this hemisphere to redress it if pos paz elble bible the balance of at economic loss and contusion in the other it they could do nothing more in the day ot at readjustment and recuperation we earnestly hope and believe that they can be of infinite service american nations partners la in this athla neutrality to which they were bidden not only by their separate life and their habitual detachment from the politics politico of lurose I but also by A a clear perception of international duty tho states of america have become conscious of a now new and more vital community interest and moral partnership in affairs more clearly conscious of the th a many common sympathies and interests and duties which bid them stand together there was a time in the early days of our own great nation and of the republics fighting their way peri pend dence enco in central and south america when the government ot of the united states looked upon itself as in some sort the guardian of the republics to the south of her as against any ant en croach monts ments or efforts at political feal control from the other side ot at the water felt it its duty to play the part even without invitation from them and I 1 think that we can claim that the task was waa undertaken with a true and disinterested enthusiasm for the freedom of the americas Amerl caa and the unmolested self government of her independent peoples but it was always difficult to maintain such a role without offense to the pride ot of the peoples whose freedom of action we sought to protect and without provoking serious misconceptions of our motives and ovary every thoughtful man of affairs must welcome tho the altered circumstances of the new day in whose light we now stand when irbon there to la no claim of guardianship or thought of wards but instead a full arid and honorable association as of partners between ourselves arid and our meigh neighbors bors in the interest of all america north and south our concern for or the independence and prosperity of the states of central itna and south america Is not altered we retain unabated the spirit that has inspired us throughout the whole life of our government and which was so frankly put into words by president monroe we still mean always to make a common cause of at national independence arid and of political liberty in america attitude toward mexico we have been put to the test in the case of mexico and wo we have stood the test whether we have benefited mexico by the course we have pursued remains to be seen lier her fortunes are in her own hands but we have at least proved that we will not take advantage ot at her in her distress and undertake to impose upon her an order and government ot of our own choosing we will aid and befriend mexico but wo we will not coerce her and our course with regard to her ought to be clent to all that we sook seek no political suzerainty or selfish control tho the moral Is that the states of america are riot not hostile rivals but cooperating friends and that their growing sense of community of interest alike in martira matt mat tira gra political and in mat tore economic Is likely to give them a now e as factors in international nat iqual affairs and in the political history bastory of the world drawing the tha americas Amerl caa together there Is I 1 venture to point out an e especial significance lust now attaching to this whole aholo matter of drawing the americas Amerl caa together in bonds ot at honorable honarable partnership and mutual addan tago go because of at tho the economic readjustments which tho the world must inevitably t witness within tile tho next generation when peace shall have bovo at last resumed its healthful tasks in the performance for mance of at these tasks I 1 believe tho the americas to be destined to play their parts together I 1 am interested to fix your attention on this prospect now because unless you take it within your view and permit tho the full significance of it to command your thought I 1 cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very front of my whole thought as I 1 address you today I 1 mean national defense no one who really comprehends tho the spirit of tho the great people for whom we are appointed to speak can fall fail to perceive that their passion Is tor for peace their genius best displayed in the practice of at the arts of peace great democracies arb not belligerent they do not seek or desire war their thought to Is of individual liberty and of the tree free labor that supports ahto and the un thought that quickens it conquest and dominion aro are not in our reckoning or agreeable to our principles dut but lust just because we demand unmolested development and the undisturbed govern government nent of our own lives upon our own principles of right and liberty we resent from whatever quarter it may come the aggression gres sion wo we ourselves will not practice wo we insist upon security in prosecuting our self chosen lines of national development we do more than that wo we demand it also for others question of preparedness out of such thoughts grow all our policies we regard war merely as a means of asserting the rights of a people against aggression and we are as fiercely jealous of at coercive or dictatorial tat orial power within our own nation as of aggression from without we will not maintain a standing army except for uses which are as necessary in times of peace as ail in times of war rind and we shall always see BOO to it that our military peace establishment is no larger than is actually and continuously needed tor for the uses of at days in which no enemies move against us dut but we do believe in a body of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care of themselves and of the governments which they have set up to serve them but war has never been a mere matter of men and guns it is a thing of disciplined might if our citizens are ever to fight effectively upon a sudden summons they must know how modern lighting fighting is IB done and what to do when the summons comes carries to render themselves immediately available and immediately effective and the government must be their servant in ahls hla matter must supply them with the training they need to take care of themselves and of it it is with these ideals that the plans ot of the department of at war for more adequate national defense which will be laid before you and which I 1 urge you to sanction and put into effect as soon as they can bo be properly scrutinized and discussed they seem to me the essential first steps i and they seem tome to me tor far the dr present besent sufficient larger army plan they contemplate an increase of tire standing force of the regular army from its present strength of officers and enlisted men of at all services to a strength of officers and enlisted men or all told all services rank and file by the addition of fifty two companies of coast artillery fifteen companies of engineers ten regiments of infantry four regiments of field artillery and tour four aero squadrons besides officers required tor for a great variety of extra service especially the all important duty of training the citizen force of at which I 1 shall presently speak noncommissioned officers tor for service in drill recruiting and the like and the necessary quota of at enlisted men for the quartermaster corps the hospital corps tile the ordnance department and other similar auxiliary services these are the additions necessary to render the army adequate tor for its brement duties duties which it has to perform not only upon our own continental coasts arid and borders arid and at our interior army posts but bul also in the ilia philippines in the Ila hawaiian wallan islands at the isthmus and in porto rico uy by way of making tile the country ready to assert some part of its real power promptly and upon a larger scale should occasion arise the plan also contemplates supplementing the army by a force of disciplined citizens raised in increments of a year throughout a period of three years this it Is in proposed to do by a process procesa of enlistment unter under which the serviceable men of the country would be asked to bind themselves to serve with the colors tor for purpose of training for short periods through throughout oat three years and to come to the colors at call at any time throughout an additional furlough period of three years this force of men would be provided with personal accoutrements as fast as enlisted and their equipment for the field made ready to be supplied at any time they would be assembled for training at stated intervals at convenient places in association with suitable units of at the regular army their period of annual training would not necessarily exceed two months in n the year at least so much by tho the way of I 1 preparation for defense seems to we me to be absolutely imperative now we cannot do less the naval program the program which will be laid before you by the secretary of the naty nay la Is similarly conceived it involves only F shortening of the time within STRIKING POINTS IN PRESIDENT WILSONS MESSAGE the department of war contemplates an increase of the standing force of the regular army from its lt present strength of officers ficera of and enlisted men to officers and enlisted men and supplementing the army by a force of disciplined citizens it will be to the advantage of the country for the congress to adopt a comprehensive plan for putting the navy upon a final footing of strength and efficiency the gravest threats against our national peace and safety have been uttered within our own borders it Is necessary for many weighty reasons of national efficiency and development that we should have a great merchant marine it seems to me a clear dictate of prudent statesmanship and frank finance that in what we are now to undertake we should pay as we go we should be following an almost universal example of modern gov if we were to draw the greater part or even the whole of the revenues we need from the income taxes we have been put to the test tn in the case of mexico and we have stood the test whether we have benefited mexico by the course we have pursued remains to be seen our concern for the independence and prosperity of the states of central and south Ar america perica I 1 Is riot not altered which long matured shall bo be carried out but it does make definite and explicit a program which has heretofore horo been only implicit hold in tho the minds ot at tho the two committees on oil naval affairs and disclosed tit in the debates ot of tho the two houses bounce but nowhere formulated or formally adopted it seems seema to mo very clear that it will bo be to tho the advantage advant ago aco of the country for the congress to adopt a comp comprehensive plan for putting tho the navy upon a final footing of at strength and clency and to press that plan to completion within tile tho next five years WO we have always looked to the navy of the country as ail our first and chief line of defense we have always seen it to bo be our manifest course of prudence dence to bo be strong on the seas year by year we hays have been creating a navy which now ranks very high indeed among tho the navies of at the maritime nations wo we should now definitely determine termine how we shall complete what wo we have begun and how soon the program to bo be laid before you contemplates the construction within five years of ton tea battleships six battle cruisers ten scout cruisers fifty destroyers fifteen fleet submarines eighty live five coast submarines tour four gun boats one hospital ship two ammunition ships two fuel oil ships arid and one regular repair ship it Is proposed that of this number wo we shall the first year provide tor for tho the construction of at two battleships two battle cruisers three scout cruisers fieten dost destroyers five fleet submarines twenty five coast submarines two gunboats gun boats and one hospital ship tho the second year two battleships oab one scout cruiser ten do Bt st four fleet submarines fifteen coast submarines one gunboat and one fuel oil ship the third year two battleships one battle cruiser two scout crul cruisers vera five destroyers two fleet submarines and fifteen coast Bub submarines marInes tho the fourth year two battleships tle ships two battle cruis cruisers eis two scout trul sers ten destroyers two fleet submarines fifteen coast submarines one ammunition ship arid and one fuel oil ship and tho the filth fifth year two battle i ships one battle cruiser two scout cruisers ten destroyers dest two fleet submarines fifteen coast submarines one gunboat one ammunition ship and one repair ship more men man for the navy the secretary of the navy la asking also for the immediate addition to tile the personnel of at tho the navy of at sailors 1200 apprentice seamen beaman and 1600 1500 marines this increase would be sufficient to caro care for tile the ships which aro are to be completed within the fiscal year 1917 and also for the tha number of men which must bo be put in training to man the ships which will be completed early in 1918 it Is also necessary that tho the number of midshipmen at the naval academy at annapolis should be increased by atlease at least three hundred it if taits full program should bo be carried out we should havo have built or build ing in 1921 according to the estimates of survival and standards of classification followed by tho the general board of the department an effective navy consisting of 27 battleships of the first line G battle cruisers 25 battleships of tho the second line 10 armored cruts cruisers 13 scout cruisers 6 first class cruisers 3 second class cruisers 10 third class crul cruisers sero destroyers 18 fleet submarines coast submarines 6 monitors 2 20 gunboats gun boats 4 supply ships 15 fuel ships 4 transports 3 tenders to torpedo vessels 8 vessels of special types and 2 amount ammunition ships this thin would be a navy fitted to our needs and worthy of our but armies and instruments of war are only part of what has to be considered it we are to consider tho the BU all promo matter of national solf cy and security in all its ita aspects there are other great matters which will be thrust upon our attention whether we will or |