¶Peace can only be kept with certainty where both sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that condition of just and intelligent regard for the rights of others which will in the end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite expression to this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their attainment.
¶Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, and to guarantee the safety of the American people.
¶Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere. The Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the craven and the weakling.[[7]]
A Square Deal
and
The Essence
of
Christian Character
I think that each one of us who has a large experience grows to realize more and more that the essentials of experience are alike for all of us. The things that move us most are the things of the home, of the Church; the intimate relations that knit a man to his family, to his close friends; that make him try to do his duty by his neighbor, by his God, are in their essentials just the same for one man as for another, provided the man is in good faith trying to do his duty.
¶I feel that the progress of our country really depends upon the sum of the efforts of the individuals acting by themselves, but especially upon the sum of the efforts of the individuals acting in associations for the betterment of themselves, for the betterment of the communities in which they dwell. There is never any difficulty about the forces of evil being organized. Every time that we get an organization of the forces that are plainly striving for good, we are doing our part to offset, and a little more than offset the forces of evil.
¶I want to read several different texts which it seems to me have especial bearing upon the work of brotherhoods like this, upon the spirit in which not only all of us who are members of this brotherhood, but all of us who strive to be decent Christians are to apply our Christianity on week days as well as on Sundays. The first verse I want to read can be found in the seventh chapter of Matthew, the first and sixteenth verses.
¶First: “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” sixteenth, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
¶“Judge not that ye be not judged.” That means, treat each of us his brethren with charity. Be not quick to find fault. Above all be not quick to judge another man who according to his light is striving to do his duty as each of us hopes he is striving to do his. Let us ever remember that we have not only divine authority for the statement that by our fruits we shall be known, but also that it is true that mankind will tend to judge us by our fruits.
¶It is an especially lamentable thing to see ill done by any man who from his associations with the Church, who from the fact that he has had the priceless benefits of the teachings of Christian religion, should be expected to take a position of leadership in the work for good.