of President Monroe.

Our fortifications are yet in a state of only partial completeness, and
the number of men to man them is insufficient. In a few years however,
the usual annual appropriations for our coast defenses, both on the
mainland and in the dependencies, will make them sufficient to resist
all direct attack, and by that time we may hope that the men to man
them will be provided as a necessary adjunct. The distance of our
shores from Europe and Asia of course reduces the necessity for
maintaining under arms a great army, but it does not take away the
requirement of mere prudence - that we should have an army sufficiently
large and so constituted as to form a nucleus out of which a suitable
force can quickly grow.

What has been said of the army may be affirmed in even a more emphatic
way of the navy. A modern navy can not be improvised. It must be built
and in existence when the emergency arises which calls for its use and
operation. My distinguished predecessor has in many speeches and
messages set out with great force and striking language the necessity
for maintaining a strong navy commensurate with the coast line, the
governmental resources, and the foreign trade of our Nation; and I wish
to reiterate all the reasons which he has presented in favor of the
policy of maintaining a strong navy as the best conservator of our
peace with other nations, and the best means of securing respect for
the assertion of our rights, the defense of our interests, and the
exercise of our influence in international matters.

Our international policy is always to promote peace. We shall enter
into any war with a full consciousness of the awful consequences that
it always entails, whether successful or not, and we, of course, shall