The session upon which you are now entering will be the closing session
of the Sixty-third Congress, a Congress, I venture to say, which will
long be remembered for the great body of thoughtful and constructive
work which it has done, in loyal response to the thought and needs of
the country. I should like in this address to review the notable record
and try to make adequate assessment of it; but no doubt we stand too
near the work that has been done and are ourselves too much part of it
to play the part of historians toward it.
Our program of legislation with regard to the regulation of business is
now virtually complete. It has been put forth, as we intended, as a
whole, and leaves no conjecture as to what is to follow. The road at
last lies clear and firm before business. It is a road which it can
travel without fear or embarrassment. It is the road to ungrudged,
unclouded success. In it every honest man, every man who believes that
the public interest is part of his own interest, may walk with perfect
confidence.
Moreover, our thoughts are now more of the future than of the past.
While we have worked at our tasks of peace the circumstances of the
whole age have been altered by war. What we have done for our own land
and our own people we did with the best that was in us, whether of
character or of intelligence, with sober enthusiasm and a confidence in
the principles upon which we were acting which sustained us at every
step of the difficult undertaking; but it is done. It has passed from
our hands. It is now an established part of the legislation of the
country. Its usefulness, its effects will disclose themselves in
experience. What chiefly strikes us now, as we look about us during
these closing days of a year which will be forever memorable in the
history of the world, is that we face new tasks, have been facing them
these six months, must face them in the months to come,--face them
without partisan feeling, like men who have forgotten everything but a
common duty and the fact that we are representatives of a great people
whose thought is not of us but of what America owes to herself and to
all mankind in such circumstances as these upon which we look amazed and
anxious.
War has interrupted the means of trade not only but also the processes
of production. In Europe it is destroying men and resources wholesale
and upon a scale unprecedented and appalling. There is reason to fear
that the time is near, if it be not already at hand, when several of the
countries of Europe will find it difficult to do for their people what
they have hitherto been always easily able to do,--many essential and
fundamental things. At any rate, they will need our help and our
manifold services as they have never needed them before; and we should
be ready, more fit and ready than we have ever been.
It is of equal consequence that the nations whom Europe has usually
supplied with innumerable articles of manufacture and commerce of which
they are in constant need and without which their economic development
halts and stands still can now get only a small part of what they
formerly imported and eagerly look to us to supply their all but empty
markets. This is particularly true of our own neighbors, the States,
great and small, of Central and South America. Their lines of trade have
hitherto run chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to the
ports of Great Britain and of the older continent of Europe. I do not
stop to inquire why, or to make any comment on probable causes. What
interests us just now is not the explanation but the fact, and our duty
and opportunity in the presence of it. Here are markets which we must
supply, and we must find the means of action. The United States, this
great people for whom we speak and act, should be ready, as never
before, to serve itself and to serve mankind; ready with its resources,
its energies, its forces of production, and its means of distribution.
It is a very practical matter, a matter of ways and means. We have the
resources, but are we fully ready to use them? And, if we can make ready
what we have, have we the means at hand to distribute it? We are not
fully ready; neither have we the means of distribution. We are willing,
but we are not fully able. We have the wish to serve and to serve
greatly, generously; but we are not prepared as we should be. We are not
ready to mobilize our resources at once. We are not prepared to use them
immediately and at their best, without delay and without waste.
To speak plainly, we have grossly erred in the way in which we have
stunted and hindered the development of our merchant marine. And now,
when we need ships, we have not got them. We have year after year
debated, without end or conclusion, the best policy to pursue with
regard to the use of the ores and forests and water powers of our
national domain in the rich States of the West, when we should have
acted; and they are still locked up. The key is still turned upon them,
the door shut fast at which thousands of vigorous men, full of
initiative, knock clamorously for admittance. The water power of our
navigable streams outside the national domain also, even in the eastern
States, where we have worked and planned for generations, is still not
used as it might be, because we will and we won't; because the laws we
have made do not intelligently balance encouragement against restraint.
We withhold by regulation.
I have come to ask you to remedy and correct these mistakes and
omissions, even at this short session of a Congress which would
certainly seem to have done all the work that could reasonably be
expected of it. The time and the circumstances are extraordinary, and so
must our efforts be also.
Fortunately, two great measures, finely conceived, the one to unlock,
with proper safeguards, the resources of the national domain, the other
to encourage the use of the navigable waters outside that domain for the
generation of power, have already passed the House of Representatives
and are ready for immediate consideration and action by the Senate. With
the deepest earnestness I urge their prompt passage. In them both we
turn our backs upon hesitation and makeshift and formulate a genuine
policy of use and conservation, in the best sense of those words. We owe
the one measure not only to the people of that great western country for
whose free and systematic development, as it seems to me, our
legislation has done so little, but also to the people of the Nation as
a whole; and we as clearly owe the other in fulfillment of our repeated
promises that the water power of the country should in fact as well as
in name be put at the disposal of great industries which can make
economical and profitable use of it, the rights of the public being
adequately guarded the while, and monopoly in the use prevented. To have
begun such measures and not completed them would indeed mar the record
of this great Congress very seriously. I hope and confidently believe
that they will be completed.
And there is another great piece of legislation which awaits and should
receive the sanction of the Senate: I mean the bill which gives a larger
measure of self-government to the people of the Philippines. How better,
in this time of anxious questioning and perplexed policy, could we show
our confidence in the principles of liberty, as the source as well as
the expression of life, how better could we demonstrate our own
self-possession and steadfastness in the courses of justice and
disinterestedness than by thus going calmly forward to fulfill our
promises to a dependent people, who will now look more anxiously than
ever to see whether we have indeed the liberality, the unselfishness,
the courage, the faith we have boasted and professed. I cannot believe
that the Senate will let this great measure of constructive justice
await the action of another Congress. Its passage would nobly crown the
record of these two years of memorable labor.
But I think that you will agree with me that this does not complete the
toll of our duty. How are we to carry our goods to the empty markets of
which I have spoken if we have not the ships? How are we to build up a
great trade if we have not the certain and constant means of
transportation upon which all profitable and useful commerce depends?
And how are we to get the ships if we wait for the trade to develop
without them? To correct the many mistakes by which we have discouraged
and all but destroyed the merchant marine of the country, to retrace the
steps by which we have, it seems almost deliberately, withdrawn our flag
from the seas, except where, here and there, a ship of war is bidden
carry it or some wandering yacht displays it, would take a long time and
involve many detailed items of legislation, and the trade which we ought
immediately to handle would disappear or find other channels while we
debated the items.
The case is not unlike that which confronted us when our own continent
was to be opened up to settlement and industry, and we needed long lines
of railway, extended means of transportation prepared beforehand, if
development was not to lag intolerably and wait interminably. We
lavishly subsidized the building of transcontinental railroads. We look
back upon that with regret now, because the subsidies led to many
scandals of which we are ashamed; but we know that the railroads had to
be built, and if we had it to do over again we should of course build
them, but in another way. Therefore I propose another way of providing
the means of transportation, which must precede, not tardily follow, the
development of our trade with our neighbor states of America. It may
seem a reversal of the natural order of things, but it is true, that the
routes of trade must be actually opened--by many ships and regular
sailings and moderate charges--before streams of merchandise will flow
freely and profitably through them.
Hence the pending shipping bill, discussed at the last session but as
yet passed by neither House. In my judgment such legislation is
imperatively needed and cannot wisely be postponed. The Government must
open these gates of trade, and open them wide; open them before it is
altogether profitable to open them, or altogether reasonable to ask
private capital to open them at a venture. It is not a question of the
Government monopolizing the field. It should take action to make it
certain that transportation at reasonable rates will be promptly
provided, even where the carriage is not at first profitable; and then,
when the carriage has become sufficiently profitable to attract and
engage private capital, and engage it in abundance, the Government ought
to withdraw. I very earnestly hope that the Congress will be of this
opinion, and that both Houses will adopt this exceedingly important
bill.
The great subject of rural credits still remains to be dealt with, and
it is a matter of deep regret that the difficulties of the subject have
seemed to render it impossible to complete a bill for passage at this
session. But it cannot be perfected yet, and therefore there are no
other constructive measures the necessity for which I will at this time
call your attention to; but I would be negligent of a very manifest duty
were I not to call the attention of the Senate to the fact that the
proposed convention for safety at sea awaits its confirmation and that
the limit fixed in the convention itself for its acceptance is the last
day of the present month. The conference in which this 15 convention
originated was called by the United States; the representatives of the
United States played a very influential part indeed in framing the
provisions of the proposed convention; and those provisions are in
themselves for the most part admirable. It would hardly be consistent
with the part we have played in the whole matter to let it drop and go
by the board as if forgotten and neglected. It was ratified in May last
by the German Government and in August by the Parliament of Great
Britain. It marks a most hopeful and decided advance in international
civilization. We should show our earnest good faith in a great matter by
adding our own acceptance of it.
There is another matter of which I must make special mention, if I am to
discharge my conscience, lest it should escape your attention. It may
seem a very small thing. It affects only a single item of appropriation.
But many human lives and many great enterprises hang upon it. It is the
matter of making adequate provision for the survey and charting of our
coasts. It is immediately pressing and exigent in connection with the
immense coast line of Alaska, a coast line greater than that of the
United States themselves, though it is also very important indeed with
regard to the older coasts of the continent. We cannot use our great
Alaskan domain, ships will not ply thither, if those coasts and their
many hidden dangers are not thoroughly surveyed and charted. The work is
incomplete at almost every point. Ships and lives have been lost in
threading what were supposed to be well-known main channels. We have not
provided adequate vessels or adequate machinery for the survey and
charting. We have used old vessels that were not big enough or strong
enough and which were so nearly unseaworthy that our inspectors would
not have allowed private owners to send them to sea. This is a matter
which, as I have said, seems small, but is in reality very great. Its
importance has only to be looked into to be appreciated.
Before I close may I say a few words upon two topics, much discussed out
of doors, upon which it is highly important that our judgments should be
clear, definite, and steadfast?
One of these is economy in government expenditures. The duty of economy
is not debatable. It is manifest and imperative. In the appropriations
we pass we are spending the money of the great people whose servants we
are,--not our own. We are trustees and responsible stewards in the
spending. The only thing debatable and upon which we should be careful
to make our thought and purpose clear is the kind of economy demanded of
us. I assert with the greatest confidence that the people of the United
States are not jealous of the amount their Government costs if they are
sure that they get what they need and desire for the outlay, that the
money is being spent for objects of which they approve, and that it is
being applied with good business sense and management.
Governments grow, piecemeal, both in their tasks and in the means by
which those tasks are to be performed, and very few Governments are
organized, I venture to say, as wise and experienced business men would
organize them if they had a clean sheet of paper to write upon.
Certainly the Government of the United States is not. I think that it is
generally agreed that there should be a systematic reorganization and
reassembling of its parts so as to secure greater efficiency and effect
considerable savings in expense. But the amount of money saved in that
way would, I believe, though no doubt considerable in itself, running,
it may be, into the millions, be relatively small,--small, I mean, in
proportion to the total necessary outlays of the Government. It would be
thoroughly worth effecting, as every saving would, great or small. Our
duty is not altered by the scale of the saving. But my point is that the
people of the United States do not wish to curtail the activities of
this Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every
enlargement, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, there
must come, of course, the inevitable increase of expense. The sort of
economy we ought to practice may be effected, and ought to be effected,
by a careful study and assessment of the tasks to be performed; and the
money spent ought to be made to yield the best possible returns in
efficiency and achievement. And, like good stewards, we should so
account for every dollar of our appropriations as to make it perfectly
evident what it was spent for and in what way it was spent.
It is not expenditure but extravagance that we should fear being
criticized for; not paying for the legitimate enterprises and
undertakings of a great Government whose people command what it should
do, but adding what will benefit only a few or pouring money out for
what need not have been undertaken at all or might have been postponed
or better and more economically conceived and carried out. The Nation is
not niggardly; it is very generous. It will chide us only if we forget
for whom we pay money out and whose money it is we pay. These are large
and general standards, but they are not very difficult of application to
particular cases.
The other topic I shall take leave to mention goes deeper into the
principles of our national life and policy. It is the subject of
national defense.
It cannot be discussed without first answering some very searching
questions. It is said in some quarters that we are not prepared for war.
What is meant by being prepared? Is it meant that we are not ready upon
brief notice to put a nation in the field, a nation of men trained to
arms? Of course we are not ready to do that; and we shall never be in
time of peace so long as we retain our present political principles and
institutions. And what is it that it is suggested we should be prepared
to do? To defend ourselves against attack? We have always found means to
do that, and shall find them whenever it is necessary without calling
our people away from their necessary tasks to render compulsory military
service in times of peace.
Allow me to speak with great plainness and directness upon this great
matter and to avow my convictions with deep earnestness. I have tried to
know what America is, what her people think, what they are, what they
most cherish and hold dear. I hope that some of their finer passions are
in my own heart,--some of the great conceptions and desires which gave
birth to this Government and which have made the voice of this people a
voice of peace and hope and liberty among the peoples of the world, and
that, speaking my own thoughts, I shall, at least in part, speak theirs
also, however faintly and inadequately, upon this vital matter.
We are at peace with all the world. No one who speaks counsel based on
fact or drawn from a just and candid interpretation of realities can say
that there is reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or
the integrity of our territory is threatened. Dread of the power of any
other nation we are incapable of. We are not jealous of rivalry in the
fields of commerce or of any other peaceful achievement. We mean to live
our own lives as we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, indeed,
a true friend to all the nations of the world, because we threaten none,
covet the possessions of none, desire the overthrow of none. Our
friendship can be accepted and is accepted without reservation, because
it is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever
question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness. We are the champions of
peace and of concord. And we should be very jealous of this distinction
which we have sought to earn. Just now we should be particularly jealous
of it, because it is our dearest present hope that this character and
reputation may presently, in God's providence, bring us an opportunity
such as has seldom been vouchsafed any nation, the opportunity to
counsel and obtain peace in the world and reconciliation and a healing
settlement of many a matter that has cooled and interrupted the
friendship of nations. This is the time above all others when we should
wish and resolve to keep our strength by self-possession, our influence
by preserving our ancient principles of action.
From the first we have had a clear and settled policy with regard to
military establishments. We never have had, and while we retain our
present principles and ideals we never shall have, a large standing
army. If asked, Are you ready to defend yourselves? we reply, Most
assuredly, to the utmost; and yet we shall not turn America into a
military camp. We will not ask our young men to spend the best years of
their lives making soldiers of themselves. There is another sort of
energy in us. It will know how to declare itself and make itself
effective should occasion arise. And especially when half the world is
on fire we shall be careful to make our moral insurance against the
spread of the conflagration very definite and certain and adequate
indeed.
Let us remind ourselves, therefore, of the only thing we can do or will
do. We must depend in every time of national peril, in the future as in
the past, not upon a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve army, but
upon a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms. It will be right
enough, right American policy, based upon our accustomed principles and
practices, to provide a system by which every citizen who will volunteer
for the training may be made familiar with the use of modern arms, the
rudiments or drill and maneuver, and the maintenance and sanitation of
camps. We should encourage such training and make it a means of
discipline which our young men will learn to value. It is right that we
should provide it not only, but that we should make it as attractive as
possible, and so induce our young men to undergo it at such times as
they can command a little freedom and can seek the physical development
they need, for mere health's sake, if for nothing more. Every means by
which such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and such a method
smacks of true American ideas. It is right, too, that the National Guard
of the States should be developed and strengthened by every means which
is not inconsistent with our obligations to our own people or with the
established policy of our Government. And this, also, not because the
time or occasion specially calls for such measures, but because it
should be our constant policy to make these provisions for our national
peace and safety.
More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole history and
character of our polity. More than this, proposed at this time, permit
me to say, would mean merely that we had lost our self-possession, that
we had been thrown off our balance by a war with which we have nothing
to do, whose causes cannot touch us, whose very existence affords us
opportunities of friendship and disinterested service which should make
us ashamed of any thought of hostility or fearful preparation for
trouble. This is assuredly the opportunity for which a people and a
government like ours were raised up, the opportunity not only to speak
but actually to embody and exemplify the counsels of peace and amity and
the lasting concord which is based on justice and fair and generous
dealing.
A powerful navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means
of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought,
never of aggression or of conquest. But who shall tell us now what sort
of a navy to build? We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas, in
the future as in the past; and there will be no thought of offense or of
provocation in that. Our ships are our natural bulwarks. When will the
experts tell us just what kind we should construct--and when will they
be right for ten years together, if the relative efficiency of craft of
different kinds and uses continues to change as we have seen it change
under our very eyes in these last few months?
But I turn away from the subject. It is not new. There is no new need to
discuss it. We shall not alter our attitude toward it because some
amongst us are nervous and excited. We shall easily and sensibly agree
upon a policy of defense. The question has not changed its aspect
because the times are not normal. Our policy will not be for an
occasion. It will be conceived as a permanent and settled thing, which
we will pursue at all seasons, without haste and after a fashion
perfectly consistent with the peace of the world, the abiding friendship
of states, and the unhampered freedom of all with whom we deal. Let
there be no misconception. The country has been misinformed. We have not
been negligent of national defense. We are not unmindful of the great
responsibility resting upon us. We shall learn and profit by the lesson
of every experience and every new circumstance; and what is needed will
be adequately done.
I close, as I began, by reminding you of the great tasks and duties of
peace which challenge our best powers and invite us to build what will
last, the tasks to which we can address ourselves now and at all times
with free-hearted zest and with all the finest gifts of constructive
wisdom we possess. To develop our life and our resources; to supply our
own people, and the people of the world as their need arises, from the
abundant plenty of our fields and our marts of trade; to enrich the
commerce of our own States and of the world with the products of our
mines, our farms, and our factories, with the creations of our thought
and the fruits of our character,--this is what will hold our attention
and our enthusiasm steadily, now and in the years to come, as we strive
to show in our life as a nation what liberty and the inspirations of an
emancipated spirit may do for men and for societies, for individuals,
for states, and for mankind.