Show r A ADEQUATE DEFENSE ri JE FOR US a president wilson pleads for preparedness pa redness against foes abroad and within MESSAGE READ TO CONGRESS larger army and navy urged trained citizenry the nations greatest defense disloyal acts of foreign born citizens xen scored no fear of war washington dec 7 at a joint session of the house and senate the president today delivered his annual message H tie said aid in part pan as follows since I 1 last had the privilege of 0 addressing you on on the state stale of the union the war ot of nations on the other side ot of the sem sea which had then only begun to dis disclose ilose its portentous proportions has extended its threatening and sinister scope until it has swept adept within its name flame some portion of 0 enery quarter of 0 the globe not excepting our hemisphere has altered the whole face of 0 international affairs and now presents a prospect of reorganization and reconstruction such as statesmen and peoples have n never been called upon to attempt before we nave hae stood apart studiously neutral it was our manifest duty to do so 80 in the alie day of readjustment and recuperation we earnestly h hope and belleve believe that we via can be ot of infinite service in this neutrality to which they were bidden not only by their separate life and their habitual detachment from the polities politics of 0 europe but also by a clear perception cep tion of 0 international duty the states ot of america have become conscious of 0 a new and more vital community of 0 interest and mot coial al partnership in affairs more clearly conscious ot of the ninny many common sympathies and interests and duties which bid them stand together we have been put to the test lest in the case ot or mexico and we liae stood the test whether we hao hale benefited mexico by the course we have pursued remains to be seen her fortunes are in her own hands but we have at least proved that we will not take advantage ot of her in her and undertake to impose upon liz an order and government ot of our own choosing we will aid and befriend mexico but we me will ill not coerce her and our course with regard to her ought to be sufficient proof to all america that we seek no political suzerainty or selfish control not hostile rivals the moral Is that the states of amer ica are not hostile rivals but cooper co oper abing friends and that their growing of community of interest alike in matters political and in matters econom lc Is likely to give them a new cance as factors in international affairs and in the political history of the world it presents them as in a very deep and true sense a unit in world affairs spir deual partners standing together boguse thinking together quick with common sympathies and common ideals separated they are subject to all the cross currents of the confused cont used politics of a world of hostile rivalries united in spirit and purpose they cannot be disappointed of their peaceful destiny this Is pan it has none of the spirit of empire in it it Is the embodiment the effectual embodiment of ahe he spirit of law and independence and liberty and mutual service there iq 1 I 1 venture to point out in an especial significance just now attaching to this whole matter of raina ra Inq in the amer leas together in bonds of honorable partnership and mutual advantage because of the economic readjustments which the world must inevitably witness within the next generation when peace shall have at last resumed its healthful tasks in the performance of these tasks I 1 bellee believe the americas Amerl cas 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 adew and deimit 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 ko one who really comprehends the of the great people tor for whom we are arc appointed to speak can fall to per mile that their passion Is for peace their best displayed ds played in the practice of the arts of peace great democracies are mot belligerent they do not seek or desire war their thought Is of individual Ubert yand of the tree free labor that supports life and the uncensored thought that quickens quicken it conquest and dominion are inot in our reckoning or agreeable ng to our principles but just because we demand unmolested development and the undisturbed ROI go eminent of our own lives upon our own principles of right and liberty we reseat resent from whatever quarter it may come the aggression we ourselves will not practice tho we insist upon security in prosecuting our self chosen lines linen of national development we do more than that we W demand it also tor for others we so do not confine our enthusiasm tor for individual liberty and tree free national development to the incidents and movements of affairs which affect only ourselves we feet feel it wherever there Is a people that tries to walk in these difficult paths of independence and right from the first we have made common cause with all partisans of fit liberty on this side of the sea ca bild babie deemed it as Import important alit that ahat our neighbors should be tree free from all outside dorni domination nation as that we ourselves should be b have set america aside as a whole tor for the uses of independent nations and political freemen Ir cemen might to maintain right out of such thoughts grow all our poll cleo we regard war merely as a means of asserting the rights of a people against aggression and a are as fiercely jeal ou gus of coercive or dictatorial power within our own nation na lon as of aggression from without we will not maintain a standing army except for uses which are as ti ece in times of peace as in times 0 of war and we shall always see to it the that t our military peace establishment la Is no longer than Is actually and continuously needed for the uses of days in which no enemies move against us but we do believe in a body of tree free citizens ready and sufficient to take care of themselves and nd of the governments which they have set up to sere them in our constitutions Ahem themselves selves vei we haie hae commanded that the right of the people to keep and bear arme rm shall not be infringed and our coun confidence dence has been that our safety in times of danger would lie in the rising of the nation to take care of itself as the farmers rose at lexington but war lies lia never been a mere matter of men and guns it Is a thing of disca might it our citizens are ever to fight effectively upon a sudden summons they must know enow how modern fighting Is in done and what to do when the summons comes to render themselves immediately available ind and immediately effective and tho the rovern government ment must be their servant in th athla I 1 matter must supply them with the training they need to take care of themselves and of 0 it the military arm of 0 their government which they will not allo allow w to direct them they may properly us use e to servo erve t them hern and make their Inde independence pende n ce secure and not their own independence merely but the rights also of those with whom they have made common cause should they also be put in jeopardy they must be fitted to play tho the great role in the world and particularly in tills this for or which they are qualified by principle and by chastened chasteney chast ened ambition to play it Is s with these meals ideals in mind that the plans ot of the department of war tor for more adequate national defense were conceived w which aich will mill be laid before you and which I 1 urge lurge you to a sanction and put into effect as soon as they can be properly scrutinized and discussed they seem to me the essential first steps and they seem to me for the present sufficient they contemplate an increase of the th standing force of the tha regular army from its present strength of 6 officers and enlisted men of all seril sen ices ces to a strength of officers and enlisted men or all told all services rank and file by the addition of 62 52 companies of coast artillery 15 companies of engineers ten regiments of infantry tour four regiments of field artillery and four aero squadrons besides ont cers required for or a great variety of 0 extra sen ice especially the all important duty of aral training ang the he citizen l force of which I 1 shall presently speak 92 non commis cloned officers for service in drill recruiting and the like and the necessary quota of enlisted men for the quartermaster corps corp the hospital corps the ordnance department and other similar auxiliary services these are the additions necessary to render the army adequate for its present duties duties which it has to perform not only upon our own oan continental coasts and borders and at our interior army posts but also in the philippines ip pines in tho the hawaiian islands at the isthmus and in porto rico force of trained citizens by way of making 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 OOOO fl disciplined citizens raised in increments of a year throughout a period of three years this it Is proposed to do by a process of enlistment under which the serviceable men of the country would be asked to bind themselves to serve with the colors tor for purposes of training tor for short abort periods throughout 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 bo be provided with mith personal accoutrements its as fast as enlisted and their equipment tor 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 the regular army their period of annual training would not necessarily exceed two months in the year it would depend upon the patriotic feeling pc of the younger men of the country whether they responded to such a call to service or not it would depend upon the patriotic spirit of the employers of the tha country whether they made it possible for the younger men in their employ to respond under favorable conditions or not 1 I tor for one do not doubt the patriotic devotion either of our young men or of those who give them employment those tor for whose benefit and protection they would in fact enlist the program which will be laid before you by the secretary ot of the navy Is similarly conceived it involves only a shortening of 0 the time within which plans long matured shall be carried out but it does make definite and explicit a program which his bag heretofore been only implicit hold held in the minds of the committees on naval affairs and disclosed in the debates of the two houses house but nowhere formulated or formally adopted it seems to me very clear that it will be to the th advantage of the country tor for the congress to adopt a comprehensive plan for putting the navy upon a tooting footing of 0 strength and efficiency and to press that plan to completion within the next five years we have always looked to the navy of the country as our first and chief line of defense we have always seen it to be our manifest course of prudence to be strong on the seas tear by year we have been creating a navy which now ranks very high indeed among the navies of the maritime nations we should now definitely determine how we shall complete what we have berrun end and how soon program lor for the navy the secretary of the navy Is asking also for the immediate addition to the personnel of 0 the navy of sailors 2500 apprentice seamen and marines this increase would be sufficient clent to care tor for the ships which are to be completed within the fiscal year 1917 and also tor for the number of men which must be put in training to man the ships which will be completed early in 1318 1918 it Is also necessary that the number of midshipmen at the naval academy at annapolis should be increased by at least in order that the force of officers should be more rapidly added to and authority is asked to appoint for engineering duties only approved graduates of engineering colleges and for service in the aviation corps a certain number of men taken from civil life if this full program should be carried out we should have built or building in 1921 according to the estimates of survival and standards of classification followed by the general board of the department an effective navy consisting of 0 27 battleships of the first line six battle cruisers 23 2 L Ittle shIps of the second line ten armored cruisers 13 scout cruisers five first class cruisers three second CI class cruisers ten third class cruisers de broyers tr IS 18 fleet submarines coast submarines six monitors 20 gunboats gun boats four supply ships 15 fuel ships tour four transports three tenders to torpedo vessels eight vessels of special types and two ammunition ships this would be a navy fitted to our needs and worthy of our traditions trade and shipping but armies and instruments of war are only part of what has to be considered it if we are to consider the supreme matter of 0 national self sufficiency and security in all its aspects there are other great matters which will be thrust upon our attention whether we will or not there thera Is for example a lery ery pressing question of trade and shipping involved in this great problem of 0 national adequacy it so Is necessary for many weighty reasons of national efficiency and development that we should have a great merchant marine the great merchant fleet we once used to make us rich that great body of sturdy sailors who used to carry our flag into every sea and who were the pride and often the bulwark of tho the nation we a have almost brhen out of existence by inexcusable neglect and indifference and by a hopelessly blind and provincial polley policy of so called economic protection it Is high time we ive repaired our mistake and resumed our commercial independence on the seas for it to Is a question ot of independence if other nations go to war or seek to hamper each others commerce our merchants it seems are at their mercy to do with as they please we must use their ships and use them as they determine we have not ships enough of our own we cannot handle our own commerce on the seas our independence Is provincial and Is only on land and within our oarn borders we are not likely to be permitted to use even the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own trade and are without means to extend our commerce even where the doors are wide open and our goods deal desired red such a situation Is not to be b endured it Is of capital importance not only that the united states should be its own carrier on the t teas a and enjoy the economic independence which only an adequate merchant marine would give five it but also that the american hemisphere as aa a whole should enjoy a like independence and self sufficiency if it Is not to be drawn into the he tangle of european affairs without such independence the whole question of our political unity and self determination Is very seriously clouded anti and complicated indeed moreover we can develop no true or effective american policy without ships of our own not ships of war but ships of peace carrying goods and carrying much more creating friendships and rendering indispensable serl sen ices ces to all interests on this side of the water they must move constantly back and forth between the americas american they are the only shuttles shutt loa that can weave the delicate fabric of sympathy comprehension confidence and mutual dependence in which we clothe our policy of america for americans ships are needed the task |