394 Presidential Addresses 



benefit to our mercantile navy, and above all to our 

 military navy in the event O'f war. 



The inevitable march of events gave us the con 

 trol of the Philippine Islands at a time so oppor 

 tune that it may without irreverence be called Provi 

 dential. Unless we show ourselves weak, unless we 

 show ourselves degenerate sons of the sires from 

 whose loins we sprang, we must go on with the 

 work we have undertaken. I most earnestly hope 

 that this work will ever be of a peaceful character. 

 We infinitely desire peace, and the surest way of 

 obtaining it is to show that we are not afraid of war. 

 We should deal in a spirit of justice and fairness 

 with weaker nations, and we should show to the 

 strongest that we are able to maintain our rights. 

 Such showing can not be made by bluster ; for blus 

 ter merely invites contempt. Let us speak courte 

 ously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and 

 ready. If we do these things we can count on the 

 peace that comes to the just man armed, to the just 

 man who neither fears nor inflicts wrong. We 

 must keep on building and maintaining a thoroughly 

 efficient navy, with plenty of the best and most for 

 midable ships, with an ample supply of officers and 

 men, and with those officers and men trained in the 

 most efficient fashion to perform their duties. Only 

 thus can we assure our position in the world at large. 

 It behooves all men of lofty soul fit and proud to 

 belong to a mighty nation to see to it that we keep 

 our position in the world ; for our proper place is with 

 the great expanding peoples, with the peoples that 



