And State Papers 577 



of them fall into industrial or political chaos. We 

 do not wish to see any Old World military power 

 grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to be- 

 come a military power ourselves. The peoples of the 

 Americas can prosper best if left to work out their 

 own salvation in their own way. 



The work of upbuilding the navy must be steadily 

 continued. No one point of our policy, foreign or 

 domestic, is more important than this to the honor 

 and material welfare, and above all to the peace, 

 of our Nation in the future. Whether we desire it 

 or not, we must henceforth recognize that we have 

 international duties no less than international rights. 

 Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philip- 

 pines and Porto Rico, even if we decided not to 

 build the Isthmian Canal, we should need a thor- 

 oughly trained navy of adequate size, or else be 

 prepared definitely and for all time to abandon the 

 idea that our Nation is among those whose sons go 

 down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce is 

 always to be carried in foreign bottoms, we must 

 have war craft to protect it. 



Inasmuch, however, as the American people have 

 no thought of abandoning the path upon which they 

 have entered, and especially in view of the fact that 

 the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming 

 one of the matters which the whole people are united 

 in demanding, it is imperative that our navy should 

 be put and kept in the highest state of efficiency, and 

 should be made to answer to our growing needs. So 



