252 The Monroe Doctrine 



it elevates itself. The useful member of a com- 

 munity is the man who first and foremost attends to 

 his own rights and his own duties, and who there- 

 fore becomes better fitted to do his share in the 

 common duties of all. The useful member of the 

 brotherhood of nations is that nation which is most 

 thoroughly saturated with the national idea, and 

 which realizes most fully its rights as a nation and 

 its duties to its own citizens. This is in no way 

 incompatible with a scrupulous regard for the rights 

 of other nations, or a desire to remedy the wrongs 

 of suffering peoples. 



The United States ought not to permit any great 

 military powers, which have no foothold on this 

 continent, to establish such foothold; nor should 

 they permit any aggrandizement of those who al- 

 ready have possessions on the continent. We do 

 not wish to bring ourselves to a position where we 

 shall have to emulate the European system of enor- 

 mous armies. Every true patriot, every man of 

 statesman-like habit, should look forward to the 

 day when not a single European power will hold a 

 foot of American soil. At present it is not neces- 

 sary to take the position that no European power 

 shall hold American territory; but it certainly will 

 become necessary, if the timid and selfish "peace at 

 any price" men have their way, and if the United 

 States fails to check at the outset European ag- 

 grandizement on this continent. 



Primarily, therefore, it is to the interest of the 

 citizens of the United States to prevent the further 



