I trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to…

It would be worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop the power of self-mastery.

I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the people of Porto Rico.

In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and the island will be turned over to them.

Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and order may be secure.

We will gladly help them to this end; but I would solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern themselves from…

The extraordinary leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history.

As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who…

No man should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the Army any more than in any other profession.

The higher places should be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration.

As a matter of fact, all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection.

The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for mental, physical or…

In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops.

There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard when war has come.

Congressional assistance should be given those who are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle.

While teams representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships of the world against all comers in England this year, it is unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and less as time goes on.

To meet this we should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services, by every means in our power.

Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth.

Unprepared, and therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, protect others, or preserve peace.

The first step--in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come--is to teach our men to shoot.

The Navy should be treated as a purely military organization, and everything should be subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency.

Such military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war.

A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced.

It is out of the question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers.

I do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own.