SEMPER PARATUS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 91, 16 April 1908, Page 5

SEMPER PARATUS.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADVICE TO. AMERICA. " BE READY FOR~WAR IN PEACE TIME." [I>RES9 ASSOCIATION.] i (Received April 15, 9.37 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 15. In a Message urging Congress to provide four battleships of the largest type immediately, President Roosevelt remarks that China is an example of peace at any price, while Britain's naval policy ought to be emulated. The Hague Conference showed that the nations would not agree to limit their naval armaments, and arbitration is an ineffective remedy, thoiigh it ought to be utilised to the fullest extent. While disclaiming any intention to engage in a war of conquest, President Roosevelt states that America can ill afford to relapse into a position where an insult must be borne in silence. If she built only two battleships a year, America would gohackward in naval rank and relative power among the great nations, which would be unwise if she'fronted merely one ocean, and doubly unwise when she fronted two.

"Neither arbitration nor any other device can prevent the gravest and most terrible wrongs to peoples wlio Tiave lost the capacity for self-de-fence. If America desires .to avoid insult she must be able to repel it; if she desire's peace she must at all times be ready for war.". *