Part 15

I fail to see how any good American can be other than a better American when he comes here to Annapolis and sees the Academy as it is and as it soon will be, thanks to the wise munificence of Congress; and I am not surprised that you who graduate from this institution should make the kind of men that as a rule you do make afterward; should show the qualities of courage, of lofty fidelity to duty, of devotion to the flag, and of farsighted preparedness to meet possible future emergencies; should show the traits which I think, Captain Brownson, I can say without flattery, characterize the service to which you belong. I am not surprised that you should show those traits, for I should be heartily ashamed of you if you did not. More than any other people in this country, with the sole exception of those in the sister service who have had your advantages, you owe a peculiar fealty to the Nation which has trained you, which has given you a career in after life, a career in which, if you do your duty, you are sure to lead honorable lives, and to deserve well of the Republic; and a career in which there is always the chance that you may spring into one of those few places to be occupied by the men of the Nation who win deathless fame for themselves by the way in which they serve the Nation in the hour of the Nation’s need. On the one hand we have the right to expect a peculiar measure of self-sacrificing service from you. On the other hand we have the right to expect from the representatives of the people a peculiar care for your interests. It is well that every public man should feel under a particular obligation to see to the welfare of the Army and the Navy. Governor Warfield, if you will pardon the personal allusion, I want to thank you for the way in which you have made evident your feeling toward this institution, for the reception you gave just the other night to these very men about to graduate. It is well that they should understand that because of the position they hold the Governor of the great State in which the institution is situated recognizes their possibilities of usefulness to the country, the obligations due them, and the obligations we have a right to feel that they will recognize to the whole Nation in return.

There are a good many baseless alarms which some worthy people feel from time to time in this country, and which other less worthy people affect to feel, but of all foolish crimes, of all baseless figments of a disturbed imagination, the cry of militarism in this country is the most foolish and the most baseless. Not only there does not exist now, but there never has existed in recent times, any nation so wholly free as this is from any danger of excessive militarism, so wholly free from any danger of an undue growth of the military spirit. The danger is now, will be, and always has been, the exact reverse; the danger is lest we do not take sufficient thought in preparing the men and material which will make our attitude in claiming to be a great nation respectable. I would be sorry to see us content to assume the position of a nation unwilling and unable to play a great part in the world, unable to hold its own in the shock of arms, should it be ever necessary, which I most earnestly hope that in the lifetime of no man here present it will be necessary. Should it ever be necessary, and I hope it will not be, to appeal to arms, I should be sorry to see us take the position of avowed weakness, take the position that we did not intend to rank ourselves among the great powers of the earth. I should be sorry to see that; but I would a great deal rather see that than see us insist upon taking such a position and refuse to provide the means which would make such a position other than a sham. If this country believes in the Monroe Doctrine; if this country intends to hold the Philippines; if it intends, besides building, to police the Isthmian Canal; if it intends to do its duty on the side of civilization, on the side of law and order, and that duty can be done only by the just man armed; if this country intends to do that, then it must see to it that it is able to make good, if the necessity arises to make good. It is idle to talk of our faith in the Monroe Doctrine if we are not able to make that faith evident. It is foolish to remain permanently in the Philippines unless we provide a base of military action for our fleets and army should it be necessary to defend the Philippines in time of war. It is foolish to assert our position as entitled to the respect of other great nations unless we are willing to build the ships, to build the guns, and to train the men who are to man the ships and handle the guns if the need arises. I should be ashamed to see this Nation play the part of a weakling. But I would rather see it play that part frankly than see it boast what it was and then so handle itself that if any one questioned the boast we should have to retreat from the position we assumed because we lacked the power to make our words good.

I earnestly hope that our foreign policy shall be continued absolutely without regard to change of Administration, to change of party, along the lines of treating every foreign nation with all possible respect, of avoiding all provocation for war, for trouble of any kind, of taking every step possible to minimize the chance of trouble occurring; and at the same time of taking every step possible to see to it that if by any chance trouble does occur we do not come out second best.

Just at this moment, to illustrate what I mean, we have negotiated certain arbitration treaties with the great foreign Powers. I most earnestly hope that those arbitration treaties will become part of the supreme law of the land. Every friend of peace will join heartily in seeing that those arbitration treaties do become part of the supreme law of the land. By adopting them we will have taken a step, not a very long step, but undoubtedly a step in the direction of minimizing the chance for any trouble that might result in war; we will have in measurable degree provided for a method of substituting international disputes other than that of war as regards certain subjects, and as regards the particular nations with whom those treaties are negotiated. We can test the sincerity of those people devoted to peace largely by seeing whether this people does in effective fashion desire to have those treaties ratified, to have those treaties adopted. I have proceeded upon the assumption that this Nation was sincere when it said that it desired peace, that all proper steps to provide against the likelihood of war ought to be taken; and these arbitration treaties represent precisely those steps. But the adoption of those treaties by themselves would not bring peace. We are a good many years short of the millennium yet; and for the present and the immediate future we can rest assured that the word of the man who is suspected of desiring peace because he is afraid of war will count for but little. What we desire is to have it evident that this Nation seeks peace, not because it is afraid, but because it believes in the eternal and immutable laws of justice and of right living. Therefore, hand in hand with the negotiation of treaties of that character, hand in hand with the effort to put our foreign relations with every nation on a better footing, must go the steady upbuilding of the Army and the Navy; above all the Navy, so that our national honor may be sure of an adequate safeguard should our national honor ever be actively menaced.

I want to say a word to you boys here in particular. I am about to have the good fortune to present a sword to the best gunner and certain medals also for gunnery. The sword is given by the class of ’71, given annually, so as to put a premium upon markmanship; and, Captain Brownson, I would like through you to thank the members of that class for the patriotic service they have done in making such a gift.

The one thing that you graduates here, and all of the others in this school, must remember, is that you ought to bend your entire energies to fitting yourselves as you can only be fitted by the most careful training in advance for the possible supreme day when upon your success or your failure will depend not only whether your own lives will be crowned with triumph or blasted with ruin, but whether the Nation will or will not write a page of glory or a page of shame on her history. There is not one of you who is not derelict in his duty to the whole Nation if he fails to prepare himself with all the strength that in him lies to do his duty should the occasion arise; and one of your great duties is to see that shots hit. The result is going to largely depend upon whether you or your adversary hits. I expect you to be brave. I rather take that for granted. It is not that you are to be commended much for bravery. You would be condemned forever if you lacked it. If you lacked it in the highest form, courage physical and moral, the courage that will assume responsibility, no less than the courage that without a thought will face death, that we have a right to expect from every one of you, and I say that you are less to be commended for having it than to be condemned for failure to have it. But, in addition, you have got to prepare yourselves in advance. Every naval action that has taken place within the last twenty years in which our own ships have been engaged or in which any foreign ships have been engaged has shown, as a rule, that the defeated party has suffered not from lack of courage, but because it could not make the best use of its weapons, or had not been given the right weapons. Occasionally, of course, if the victor happened to be matched against people who did not show courage, the courage counted. But I want every one here to proceed upon the assumption that any foe he may meet will have the courage. Of course, you have got to show the highest degree of courage yourself or you will be beaten anyhow, and you will deserve to be; but in addition to that you must prepare yourselves by careful training so that you may make the best possible use of the delicate and formidable mechanism of a modern warship. The reason that you are trained here, the reason that you are put through this academy, the reason that your training goes on in the service is because without that training no man can hope to do the work that is set before you to do. It is equally true that the training can not be given you only from without unless you actively and earnestly seek to get the best possible benefit from it yourselves; that the best teachers, the best superiors can not supply wholly or more than in very small part the lack of that which is within you. No other body of men of your age in our country owes so much to the United States, to the flag that symbolizes this Nation, as you do. No other body of young men has on the average as great a chance as each of you has to lead a life of honor to himself and of benefit to the country at large. Deep will be your shame if you fail to rise level to your opportunities and duties, and great will be the honor that I know you will win, because I know that, judging you by those who have gone before you in the service, you will rise level to your opportunities and keep untarnished the proud fame of the American officer.

ADDRESS AT THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB, PHILADELPHIA, PA., JAN. 30, 1905

_Mr. President; and Gentlemen of the Union League_:

This club was founded to uphold the hands of Abraham Lincoln when he stood as the great leader in the struggle for union and liberty. We have a right, therefore, to appeal to this club for aid in every governmental or social effort made along the lines marked out by Lincoln. The great President taught many lessons which we who come after him should learn. Among the most important of these was the lesson that for weal or woe we are indissolubly bound together, in whatever part of the country we live, whatever our social standing, whatever our wealth or our poverty, whatever form of mental or physical activity our life work may assume. Lincoln, who was, more emphatically than any other President we have ever had, the President of the plain people, was yet as far removed as Washington himself from the slightest taint of demagogy. With his usual farsighted clearness of vision he saw that in a republic such as ours permanent prosperity of any part of our people was conditioned upon the prosperity of all; and that on the other hand any effort to raise the general level of happiness by striking at the well-being of a portion of the people could not be but in the end disastrous to all.

The principles which Lincoln applied to the solution of the problems of his day are those which we must apply if we expect successfully to solve the different problems of our own day—problems which are so largely industrial. Exactly as it is impossible to develop a high morality unless we have as a foundation those qualities which give at least a certain minimum of material prosperity, so it is impossible permanently to keep material prosperity unless there is back of it a basis of right living and right thinking. In the last analysis, of course, the dominant factor in obtaining this good conduct must be the individual character of the average citizen. If there is not this condition of individual character in the average citizenship of the country, all effort to supply its place by the wisest legislation and administration will in the end prove futile. But given this average of individual character, then wise laws and the honest administration of the laws can do much to supplement it. If either the business world or the world of labor loses its head, then it has lost something which can not be made good by any governmental effort. Our faith in the future of the Republic is firm, because we believe that on the whole and in the long run our people think clearly and act rightly.

Unquestionably, however, the great development of industrialism means that there must be an increase in the supervision exercised by the Government over business enterprises. This supervision should not take the form of violent and ill-advised interference; and assuredly there is danger lest it take such form if the business leaders of the business community confine themselves to trying to thwart the effort at regulation instead of guiding it aright. Such men as the members of this club should lead in the effort to secure proper supervision and regulation of corporate activity by the Government, not only because it is for the interest of the community as a whole that there should be this supervision and regulation, but because in the long run it will be in the interest above all of the very people who often betray alarm and anger when the proposition is first made.

Neither this people nor any other free people will permanently tolerate the use of the vast power conferred by vast wealth, and especially by wealth in its corporate form, without lodging somewhere in the Government the still higher power of seeing that this power, in addition to being used in the interest of the individual or individuals possessing it, is also used for and not against the interests of the people as a whole. Our peculiar form of government, a Government in which the Nation is supreme throughout the Union in certain respects, while each of nearly half a hundred States is supreme in its part of the Union in certain other respects, renders the task of dealing with these conditions especially difficult. No finally satisfactory result can be expected from merely State action. The action must come through the Federal Government. The business of the country is now carried on in a way of which the founders of our Constitution could by no possibility have had any idea.

All great business concerns are engaged in interstate commerce, and it was beyond question the intention of the founders of our Government that interstate commerce in all its branches and aspects should be under national and not State control. If the courts decide that this intention was not carried out and made effective in the Constitution as it now stands, then in the end the Constitution, if not construed differently, will have to be amended so that the original undoubted intention may be made effective. But, of course, a constitutional amendment is only to be used as a last resort, if every effort of legislation and administration shall have been proved inadequate.

Meanwhile the men in public life and the men who direct the great business interests of the country should work not in antagonism but in harmony toward this given end. In entering a field where the progress must of necessity be so largely experimental it is essential that the effort to make progress should be tentative and cautious. We must grow by evolution, not by revolution. There must be no hurry, but there must also be no halt; and those who are anxious that there should be no sudden and violent changes must remember that precisely these sudden and violent changes will be rendered likely if we refuse to make the needed changes in cautious and moderate manner.

At the present moment the greatest need is for an increase in the power of the National Government to keep the great highways of commerce open alike to all on reasonable and equitable terms. Less than a century ago these highways were still, as they had been since the dawn of history, either waterways, natural or artificial, or else ordinary roads for wheel vehicles drawn by animal power. The railroad, which was utterly unknown when our Government was formed and when the great principles of our jurisprudence were laid down, has now become almost everywhere the most important, and, in many large regions, the only form of highway for commerce. The man who controls its use can not be permitted to control it in his own interest alone.

It is not only just, but it is in the interest of the public, that this man should receive the amplest payment for the masterful business capacity which enables him to benefit himself while benefiting the public; but in return he must himself recognize his duty to the public. He will not and can not do this if our laws are so defective that in the sharp competition of the business world the conscientious man is put at a disadvantage by his less scrupulous fellows. It is in the interest of the conscientious and public-spirited railway man that there should be such governmental supervision of the railway traffic of the country as to require from his less scrupulous competitors, and from unscrupulous big shippers as well, that heed to the public welfare which he himself would willingly give, and which is of vital consequence to the small shipper. Every important railroad is engaged in interstate commerce. Therefore, this control over the railroads must come through the National Government.

The control must be exercised by some governmental tribunal, and it must be real and effective. Doubtless there will be risk that occasionally, if an unfit President is elected, this control will be abused; but this is only another way of saying that any adequate governmental power, from the power of taxation down, can and will be abused if the wrong men get control of it.

The details must rest with the lawmakers of the two Houses of Congress; but about the principle there can be no doubt. Hasty or vindictive action would merely work damage; but in temperate, resolute fashion, there must be lodged in some tribunal the power over rates, and especially over rebates—whether secured by means of private cars, of private tracks, in the form of damages, or commissions, or in any other manner—which will protect alike the railroad and the shipper, and put the big shipper and the little shipper on an equal footing. Doubtless no law would accomplish all that enthusiasts hope; there is always disappointment over results of such a law among the oversanguine; but very real and marked good has come from the legislation and administration of the last few years; and now, as part of a coherent plan, it is entirely possible, and, indeed, necessary to enact an additional law which will mean further progress along the same lines of definite achievement in the direction of securing fair dealing as between man and man.

In some such body as the Interstate Commerce Commission there must be lodged in effective shape the power to see that every shipper who uses the railroads and every man who owns or manages a railroad shall on the one hand be given justice and on the other hand be required to do justice. Justice—so far as it is humanly possible to give and to get justice—is the foundation of our Government. We are not trying to strike down the rich man; on the contrary, we will not tolerate any attack upon his rights. We are not trying to give an improper advantage to the poor man because he is poor, to the man of small means because he has not larger means; but we are striving to see that the man of small means has exactly as good a chance, so far as we can obtain it for him, as the man of larger means; that there shall be equality of opportunity for the one as for the other.

We do not intend that this Republic shall ever fail as those republics of olden times failed, in which there finally came to be a government by classes, which resulted either in the poor plundering the rich or in the rich exploiting and in one form or another enslaving the poor; for either event means the destruction of free institutions and of individual liberty. Ours is not a Government which recognizes classes. It is based on the recognition of the individual. We are not for the poor man as such, nor for the rich man as such. We are for every man, rich or poor, provided he acts justly and fairly by his fellows, and if he so acts the Government must do all it can to see that inasmuch as he does no wrong, so he shall suffer no wrong.