Being a nation relying not on force, but on fair dealing and good will, to
maintain peace with others, we have provided a moderate military force in a
form adapted solely to defense. It should be continued with a very generous
supply of officers and with the present base of personnel, subject to
fluctuations which may be temporarily desirable.
The five-year program for our air forces is in keeping with this same
policy and commensurate with the notable contributions of America to the
science of aeronautics. The provisions of the law lately enacted are being
executed as fast as the practical difficulties of an orderly and stable
development permit.
While our Army is small, prudence requires that it should be kept in a high
state of efficiency and provided with such supplies as would permit of its
immediate expansion. The garrison ration has lately been increased.
Recommendations for an appropriation of $6,166,000 for new housing made to
the previous Congress failed to pass. While most of the Army is well
housed, some of it which is quartered in wartime training camps is becoming
poorly housed. In the past three years $12,533,000 have been appropriated
for reconstruction and repairs, and an authorization has been approved of
$22,301,000 for new housing, under which $8,070,000 has already been
appropriated. A law has also been passed, complying with the request of the
War Department, allocating funds received from the sale of buildings and
land for housing purposes. The work, however, is not completed, so that
other appropriations are being recommended.
Our Navy is likewise a weapon of defense. We have a foreign commerce and
ocean lines of trade unsurpassed by any other country. We have outlying
territory in the two great oceans and long stretches of seacoast studded
with the richest cities in the world. We are responsible for the protection
of a large population and the greatest treasure ever bestowed upon any
people. We are charged with an international duty of defending the Panama
Canal. To meet these responsibilities we need a very substantial sea
armament. It needs aircraft development, which is being provided under the
five-year program. It needs submarines as soon as the department decides
upon the best type of construction. It needs airplane carriers and a
material addition to its force of cruisers. We can plan for the future and
begin a moderate building program.
This country has put away the Old World policy of competitive armaments. It
can never be relieved of the responsibility of adequate national defense.
We have one treaty secured by an unprecedented attitude of generosity on
our part for a limitation in naval armament. After most careful
preparation, extending over months, we recently made every effort to secure
a three-power treaty to the same end. We were granted much cooperation by
Japan, but we were unable to come to an agreement with Great Britain. While
the results of the conference were of considerable value, they were mostly
of a negative character. We know now that no agreement can be reached which
will be inconsistent with a considerable building program on our part. We
are ready and willing to continue the preparatory investigations on the
general subject of limitation of armaments which have been started under
the auspices of the League of Nations.
We have a considerable cruiser tonnage, but a part of it is obsolete.
Everyone knew that had a three-power agreement been reached it would have
left us with the necessity of continuing our building program. The failure
to agree should not cause us to build either more or less than we otherwise
should. Any future treaty of limitation will call on us for more ships. We
should enter on no competition. We should refrain from no needful program.
It should be made clear to all the world that lacking a definite agreement,
the attitude of any other country is not to be permitted to alter our own
policy. It should especially be demonstrated that propaganda will not cause
us to change our course. Where there is no treaty limitation, the size of
the Navy which America is to have will be solely for America to determine.
No outside influence should enlarge it or diminish it. But it should be
known to all that our military power holds no threat of aggrandizement. It
is a guaranty of peace and security at home, and when it goes abroad it is
an instrument for the protection of the legal rights of our citizens under
international law, a refuge in time of disorder, and always the servant of
world peace. Wherever our flag goes the rights of humanity increase.