384 State Papers and Addresses

When the war lords have trampled down the harvests and gutted the mine:,
and demolished the factories of Europe and Asia, where else can they turn for
new materials of war and peace ? Our land as well as our liberty must be de-
fended; our food as well as our freedom.

Having gathered into their hands such almost indescribable power, the
enemies of civilization now confront us with defiant confidence, while they pre-
dict the destruction of our liberties and our way of life. It is in the face of
such dire contingencies that our people watch and wait, speeding with all their
energies further preparations for defense, while they wait.

For defense, let us repeat, because our Nation never has been, and is not
now, the aggressor. There is no land or possession of another country of which
we are envious.

There is no prized possession of any world power which would cause the
Commander-in-chief of our Army and Navy to send American boys to risk
their lives to seize. We have desired to remain at peace, which desire can only
be extinguished by unfriendly tactics of hostile nations.

Having roused ourselves to the need, the preparation for defense is now
proceeding on a scale consistent with our position, our genius and our capacity.
In an unusually valuable connection in that defense, you gentlemen will be a
part. Under the shadow of such a world peril, you are being called to one of the
highest services of our defense.

Each of the services necessarily is of vital importance. The circumstances
of today, however, indicate that the sea service will, at this time, be of the
first importance.

It will be the function of that service, of which members of this class will
be a part, to patrol the oceans, as well as to cover with the utmost care all
the water approaches to our soil.

Responding to the urge of self-preservation, our governmental leaders
have sensibly chosen the course of supplying munitions and means of defense to
the heroic people of Britain, who are resisting valiantly in our defense, as
well as in their own, in withstanding the progress of the dictators. And in
giving such help, our President and other national leaders are backed by the
overwhelming majority of American people.

But when we say that, for purposes of self-preservation, if for none other,
Britain must be supplied with the tools, it is obvious that she must be supplied
with them and not merely offered them. To be effective, those tools must be
in hand where the invaders' fury is now centered—that is, in the British Isles.

It will serve no useful purpose, and least of all the outnumbered defenders
of democracy in England, to have American industries produce the implements
of defense only to have them sent to the bottom of the ocean while en route
to the place where their use is essential.

America, as I said, has ever been proud of her navy. During the past
twelve months, however, this feeling of pride has given way to an. even more
satisfying feeling of confidence—supreme confidence on the part of all of us
that the American navy is ready to face, and turn back, any onslaught that
might be directed against our shores by sea or through the air.