The formation of the international tribunal which sits at The Hague is an event of good omen from which great consequences for the welfare of all mankind may flow.

It is far better, where possible, to invoke such a permanent tribunal than to create special arbitrators for a given purpose.

This canal will be one of the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century; a greater engineering feat than has yet been accomplished during the history of mankind.

The work should be carried out as a continuing policy without regard to change of Administration; and it should be begun under circumstances which will make it a matter of pride for all Administrations to continue the policy.

The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all the world.

No independent nation in America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United States.

It behoves each one to maintain order within its own borders and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners.

When this is done, they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing to dread from outside interference.

More and more the increasing interdependence and complexity of international political and economic relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to insist on the proper policing of the world.

We have not gone too far in granting these rights of liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise or just to go.

No policy ever entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more signal manner than the policy of holding the Philippines.

The triumph of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come sooner than we had any right to expect.

After making all allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been the instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little wrongdoing by…

In the circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far more on his own individual responsibility than ever before, and the high individual efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance.

Formerly this unit was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not even the troop or company; it is the individual soldier.

Every effort must be made to develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in both the officer and the enlisted man.

Every effort should be made, by training, by reward of merit, by scrutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same high relative excellence throughout their careers.

In battle the only shots that count are the shots that hit.

Each individual unit of our Navy should be the most efficient of its kind as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in the world.

The veteran seamen of our war ships are of as high a type as can be found in any navy which rides the waters of the world; they are unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in readiness, in thorough knowledge of their profession.

It is no more possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise a war ship.

To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were individually, would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity were encountered.

Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has begun.

The refusal to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would insure disaster.

We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as to enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of ten per cent.