Now this is a declaration of principles. How are we in practical
fashion to secure the making of these principles part of the very
fiber of our national life? First and foremost let us all resolve
that in this country hereafter we shall place far less emphasis upon
the question of right and much greater emphasis upon the matter of
duty. A republic can’t succeed and won’t succeed in the tremendous
international stress of the modern world unless its citizens possess
that form of high-minded patriotism which consists in putting devotion
to duty before the question of individual rights. This must be done in
our family relations or the family will go to pieces; and no better
tract for family life in this country can be imagined than the little
story called “Mother,” written by an American woman, Kathleen Norris,
who happens to be a member of your own church.
What is true of the family, the foundation stone of our national
life, is not less true of the entire superstructure. I am, as you
know, a most ardent believer in national preparedness against war as
a means of securing that honorable and self-respecting peace which
is the only peace desired by all high-spirited people. But it is an
absolute impossibility to secure such preparedness in full and proper
form if it is an isolated feature of our policy. The lamentable fate
of Belgium has shown that no justice in legislation or success in
business will be of the slightest avail if the nation has not prepared
in advance the strength to protect its rights. But it is equally true
that there cannot be this preparation in advance for military strength
unless there is a social basis of civil and social life behind it.
There must be social, economic and military preparedness all alike,
all harmoniously developed; and above all there must be spiritual and
mental preparedness.