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ee CR CST gee Ores Te Oey wae Pe Ss AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY =~ > ‘neraseitian on account of race. are narte of that political liberty. that freedom: Secu esGss Uae BOCOUIIE Ul SSay Bl pre be ee Let Pee ee ei Seer ae eeewrreee rom oppression which is the very life-blood of democracy. These things, to- ~~. gether with free speech, a free press, the right of assemblage, and those guaran- ~~ tees the sum total of which make up the inestimable blessings of personal _ liberty, are the things for which democracy stands. They are the things ‘for ~ which we stand. And I venture to believe that we will not fail to preserve them: Looking backward and looking forward, proud of our past and confident of our future, we shall find our highest service, not only to our own people, but to mankind and to the peace of the world, in transmitting these principles un- —_”- impaired to succeeding generations. This is our supreme duty. J believe that the foreign policy of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln will best enable us to meet and discharge that duty. I am, therefore, at all times, in periods of turbulence or in periods of calm, and without apology and without com- promise, committed to the support of that foreign policy. ee This, it will be said, is isolation. It is not isolation, it is freedom of action. It is independence of judgment. It is not isolation, it is free government — there can he no such thing as free government if the people thereof are not free . to remain aloof or to take part in foreign wars. People who have bartered away or surrendered their right to remain neutral in war have surrendered their right Ck to govern. In matters of trade and commerce we have never been isolationists "°°" 7°" and never will be. In matters of finance, unfortunately, we have not been , on isolationists, and probably never will be. When earthquake and famine, or , ~ whatever brings human suffering, visit any part of the human race, we have not been isolationists, and never will be. In all those matters and things in which a free and independent and enlightened people may have a part, looking toward amity, toward peace, and the lessening of human suffering, we have never been isolationists, and never will be. But in all matters political, in all commitments of any nature or kind, which encroach in the slightest upon the free and unembarrassed action of our people, or which circumscribe their discretion and judgment, we have been free, we have been independent, we have been isolationists. And this, I trust, we shall ever be. If there be any - wel ablichad wert + eT ? ~ truth established by the experience of nations, it is this: That to accommodate your foreign policies to the demands or in the interest of other nations at the =... == peril of your own security, is to invite contempt, and it seldom fails to earn a ° more substantial punishment. oe In recent years much has been said, especially from abroad, about the provincial American. Those who discuss this and kindred matters modestly ay tribute to their own worth by speaking of world vision and of a wider Foman sympathy. One need hardly linger to discuss the subject. Regardless of what may be said by those whose purposes are apparent, let us hold fast to those political principles and foreign policies which others call provincialism but which we call Americanism. It has served us well. It fits in with our scheme of democracy. It has built a civilization whose capstone is personal liberty. It may have its faults, as what earthly scheme has not? But all the world will have to testify that in great emergencies, in sublime moments, when civiliza- tion hangs in the balance, it is wanting neither in sympathy nor in courage, and whatever faults it may possess are buried in the depth of a great unselfish and heroic purpose. It has no taste, no aptitude, for the hazardous enterprise of pa ee te re a at SE eee er tn re ee te ret