248 BANQUET. 
and you would have had no shame, if tears filled your eyes with joy when you saw your 
country’s flag. 
Think what it means when the vessels come in and the people in foreign countries look 
in vain for the starry banner. We must endeavor by every device to protect what we have 
of a merchant marine, to make all the necessary endeavors to see that it shall be replaced 
in operation, and to see that the size shall be increased so that there will be a fair showing of 
the American flag everywhere in the world. 
You know it is only the Navy, or practically the Navy, that shows the flag, but there 
are many places in the world which the Navy does not reach. May I speak for a minute 
of the Navy? I just want to say this—you know about the Navy and what it is made for. 
Primarily it is made for peace, and in order that it shall accomplish its great peace mission 
it must be maintained at the fighting edge of efficiency, and it shall be so maintained, but 
it is made for peace and will accomplish peace only if it is kept up to that edge of efficiency. 
And if we are attacked, we shall not have sent out our fleets in vain, for they are efficient, and 
the men are properly trained, and so even now we ask annually of Congress only enough 
to keep up the fleet and maintain it in an efficient condition, but our American people some- 
times forget that wars spring up without warning. I have heard it said, over and over 
again, it takes two to make war—but no, it takes only one to make war, and it takes two 
to make peace. (Applause. ) 
Our people for many years have too frequently acted as did the village council, which 
met every month, and at one of its meetings solemnly resolved that the volunteer fire appa- 
ratus should be put in a state of repair and well furbished twenty-four hours before each 
fire. That is the American idea, apparently. It cannot be allowed to continue, and if we 
are to keep up our defensive armament to its proper strength we must accompany it with 
vessels that carry the cargoes of the United States, that build up its trade, and strengthen 
its arm and make it known, and finally, when need be, can take a part in the defensive arma- 
ment itself. 
If the people of the United States only knew what the Navy means in time of peace! 
They do not dream that it is the best insurance that can be given to any country in the 
world, and they do not think for a moment that, even if the treasury was becoming bank- 
rupt in any ordinary business, the last thing which would be allowed to go would be the in- 
surance on the business; and yet, apparently, the American people have been willing in the 
past to let the insurance go and to permit the country to stand uninsured and subject to the 
hazard of attack at any time. True, they do not know that the Navy of the United States 
is worth infinitely more than it costs our people in time of peace, through its splendid hu- 
manitarian work. 
Not long ago a man came to me who was at Smyrna during the burning of that city. 
He said he had not the language, and that no language contained words, to describe the hor- 
rors of the burning and slaughter, but he said that he wanted to tell me of the splendid 
action and conduct of the United States Navy. (Applause.) He described the little de- 
stroyers, the leopards of the sea, the splendid weapons for the defense of ships, and how they 
saved many lives from the waves of the sea, how they were ‘converted into Angels of Mercy 
and took off as many men and women as they could. It is not only the saving of the 
thousands of men, women and children, but it means forever, for generations to come in 
that part of the world, and in every part of the world where the United States Navy has 
been able to do that sort of thing, that the flag of the country shall be held in reverence 
