Before closing I must here express to you, as Commander-in-Chief,
my full appreciation of the wonderful work done by the War and Navy
Departments and by the officers of the Army and Navy in raising,
encamping, training and equipping our great Army and Navy and putting
them into the fighting field so quickly and so potently, with the
result of immediately turning the tide of warfare against the brutal
enemy, for which majestic result these Departments, and the officers of
the Army and Navy, most fully deserve, as they undoubtedly have, the
unstinted thanks and congratulations of our whole citizenry, civil and
military, man and woman.
No army or navy in field, camp or ship has ever been taken better
care of in a general sanitary, hygienic and medical sense than our
Army and Navy in this gruelling war. The able and liberal way in
which the physical, moral, mental, religious and recreational needs
of the men have been covered by various bodies, military, medical,
civic, and religious, has been the wonder of all our citizens who
have visited our camps. And to this was undoubtedly due the cheerful
and high spirits, the wonderful morale and fighting power which
made themselves instantly felt on the battle-fields of Europe and
so quickly brought the barbarous enemy to his knees in the glorious
climax of Victory and Peace which we are now enjoying, and which we
all firmly hope and believe will soon be followed by a Permanent and
International Peace coextensive with the civilized world, for which
great end, Mr. President, you have been working so ably, energetically
and devotedly. And I feel sure that your master efforts with our own
people and with our victorious Allies will soon bring about that League
of Nations for the government of the world based on the eternal
principles of reciprocal right and justice and the basic principles of
American Institutions--Equality, Consent of the Governed, and Rational
Liberty--for all persons in their inherent natural rights.
I, therefore, regret that I have had any criticism to make on this
glorious record of our Army and Navy, but this criticism really
concerns only a part of the medical profession in the Army and Navy,
and one of its medical dogmas, and does not reflect on the rank and
file of the military and naval forces of our country, a majority of
which does not, I believe, approve this dangerous medical practice, or
malpractice, of compulsory vaccination which has been forced by medical
dogmatism on the Army and Navy, and which, I believe, clearly violates
fundamental American principles and also stultifies our proud claim
that this is a government of “Liberty and Justice for all.”