Our fortifications are yet in a state of only partial
completeness, and the number of men to man them is insufficient.
In a few years however, the usual annual appropriations for our
coast defenses, both on the mainland and in the dependencies, will
make them sufficient to resist all direct attack, and by that time
we may hope that the men to man them will be provided as a
necessary adjunct. The distance of our shores from Europe and Asia
of course reduces the necessity for maintaining under arms a great
army, but it does not take away the requirement of mere prudence--
that we should have an army sufficiently large and so constituted
as to form a nucleus out of which a suitable force can quickly
grow.
What has been said of the army may be affirmed in even a more
emphatic way of the navy. A modern navy can not be improvised. It
must be built and in existence when the emergency arises which
calls for its use and operation. My distinguished predecessor has
in many speeches and messages set out with great force and
striking language the necessity for maintaining a strong navy
commensurate with the coast line, the governmental resources, and
the foreign trade of our Nation; and I wish to reiterate all the
reasons which he has presented in favor of the policy of
maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our peace
with other nations, and the best means of securing respect for the
assertion of our rights, the defense of our interests, and the
exercise of our influence in international matters.
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