Must this nation, as well as others, so impoverish itself by war and preparation for war that nothing is left to pay for protecting itself against Nature's destroying forces, flood and fire and waste of the country's basic resources?
The intelligent and patriotic men and women of the United States would answer every one of these questions, with all the fervor of their being, in the way they must be answered to save civilization, if the questions could be put to them, face to face, by anyone who was ready to show them what to do to make good that answer and transform the desire into actual accomplishment.
We must therefore arm the multitude with the facts and burn into their minds the clear-cut definite vision of the plan that must be carried out to make certain that accomplishment.
That plan must provide that we shall first do the things which the people of this country can do by themselves alone without saying "by your leave" or "with your help" to any other nation.
The influence of the adoption of a right national policy by the United States will draw the world into the current as soon as its practicability and benefits to humanity have been proved, but we must not begin with a plan that will fail unless adopted by all the great powers of the world.
We cannot allow the success of our own basic plan for peace, and for safeguarding this nation against war, to depend on the coöperation of any other nation.
That has been the difficulty with nearly every plan heretofore proposed for the permanent establishment of peace throughout the world. The agreement of all the nations could not be had, and without such agreement the plan was futile.
Disarmament or the limitation of armaments is impracticable without the consent of all the great powers.
Nationalization of the manufacture of armaments, if it is to be a world-wide influence, must have world-wide adoption.
No plan for a peace tribunal can be successfully made effective without all nations agreeing to abide by its decrees.