I mean, in proportion to the total necessary outlays of the Government.  It would be thoroughly worth effecting, as every saving would, great or small.  Our duty is not altered by the scale of the saving.  But my point is that the people of the United States do not wish to curtail the activities of this Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every enlargement, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, there must come, of course, the inevitable increase of expense.  The sort of economy we ought to practice may be effected, and ought to be effected, by a careful study and assessment of the tasks to be performed; and the money spent ought to be made to yield the best possible returns in efficiency and achievement.  And, like good stewards, we should so account for every dollar of our appropriations as to make it perfectly evident what it was spent for and in what way it was spent.

It is not expenditure but extravagance that we should fear being criticized for; not paying for the legitimate enterprise and undertakings of a great Government whose people command what it should do, but adding what will benefit only a few or pouring money out for what need not have been undertaken at all or might have been postponed or better and more economically conceived and carried out.  The Nation is not niggardly; it is very generous.  It will chide us only if we forget for whom we pay money out and whose money it is we pay.  These are large and general standards, but they are not very difficult of application to particular cases.

The other topic I shall take leave to mention goes deeper into the principles of our national life and policy.  It is the subject of national defense.

It can not be discussed without first answering some very searching questions.  It is said in some quarters that we are not prepared for war.  What is meant by being prepared?  Is it meant that we are not ready upon brief notice to put a nation in the field, a nation of men trained to arms?  Of course we are not ready to do that; and we shall never be in time of peace so long as we retain our present political principles and institutions.  And what is it that it is suggested we should be prepared to do?  To defend ourselves against attack?  We have always found means to do that, and shall find them whenever it is necessary without calling our people away from their necessary tasks to render compulsory military service in times of peace.

Allow me to speak with great plainness and directness upon this great matter and to avow my convictions with deep earnestness.  I have tried to know what America is, what her people think, what they are, what they most cherish and hold dear.  I hope that some of their finer passions are in my own heart,—­some of the great conceptions and desires which gave birth to this Government and which have made the voice of this people a voice of peace and hope and liberty among the peoples of the world, and that, speaking my own thoughts, I shall, at least in part, speak theirs also, however faintly and inadequately, upon this vital matter.