"
A prime need for our nation, as of course for every other nation, is
to make up its mind definitely what it wishes, and not to try to pursue
paths of conduct incompatible one with the other. If this nation is
content to be the China of the New World, then and then only can it
afford to do away with the navy and the army. If it is content to
abandon Hawaii and the Panama Canal, to cease to talk of the Monroe
Doctrine, and to admit the right of any European or Asiatic power to
dictate what immigrants shall be sent to and received in America,
and whether or not they shall be allowed to become citizens and hold
land--why, of course, if America is content to have nothing to say
on any of these matters and to keep silent in the presence of armed
outsiders, then it can abandon its navy and agree to arbitrate all
questions of all kinds with every foreign power. In such event it can
afford to pass its spare time in one continuous round of universal
peace celebrations, and of smug self-satisfaction in having earned the
derision of all the virile peoples of mankind. Those who advocate such
a policy do not occupy a lofty position. But at least their position is
understandable.
It is entirely inexcusable, however, to try to combine the unready hand
with the unbridled tongue.
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