AMERICA'S NAVY.

Bush Advocate, Volume XX, Issue 1004, 16 April 1908, Page 8

AMERICA'S NAVY.

Press Asan — By telegraph — Copyright. NEW YORK, yesterday. In a message to CongresSj President Roosevelt urges Congress to provide four battleships of the largest : type immediately. The President remarks that China is an example of the "peace at any price" policy, while Britain's naval policy ought to be emulated by the Hague conference. Should the nations not agree to limit their naval armaments arbitration would be an ineffective remedy, though it ought to be utilised to iho fullest extent. In disclaiming any intention 'to engage in a war of conquest, President Roosevelt states that America can ill afford to relapse into a position where insult must be borne in silence. If they built only two battleships a year, America .would go backward in naval rank and in relative power among the great nations, which was unwise if she fronted merely one ocean, but was doubly unwise when she fronted two oceans. Neither arbitratipn nor any other device could prevent, the gravest and most terrible wrong being done to a people who had lost the capacity of self-defence. If America desired to avoid insult, she must be able to repel it. If she desired peace she must at all times be ready for war.