122 Presidential Addresses 



means that there must be a constant replacement of 

 the ineffective by the effective. The work of building 

 up and keeping up our navy is therefore one which 

 needs our constant and unflagging vigilance. Our 

 navy is now efficient; but we must be content with 

 no ordinary degree of efficiency. Every effort must 

 be made to bring it ever nearer to perfection. In 

 making such effort the prime factor is to have at 

 the head of the navy such an official as your fellow- 

 townsman, Mr. Moody; and the next is to bring 

 home to our people as a whole the need of thorough 

 and ample preparation in advance; this preparation 

 to take the form not only of continually building 

 ships, but of keeping these ships in commission under 

 conditions which will develop the highest degree of 

 efficiency in the officers and enlisted men aboard 

 them. 



AT PORTLAND, MAINE, AUGUST 26, 1902 



Mr. Mayor, and you, my fellow-citizens, men and 



women of Maine: 



I wish to say a word to you in recognition of 

 great service rendered not only to all our country 

 but to the entire principle of democratic government 

 throughout the world, by one of your citizens. The 

 best institutions are of no good if they won't work. 

 I do not care how beautiful a theory is, if it won't 

 fit in with the facts it is of no good. If you built 

 the handsomest engine that ever had been built and 

 it did not go, its usefulness would be limited. Well, 



