西奧多·羅斯福1899年演講：奮鬥不息
【“中國夢”與“美國夢”的區別，是集體夢與個人夢的區別嗎？在12月9日復旦大學“中國模式與中國未來”研討會上，中國發展模式研究中心研究員李世默指出，習近平總書記“中國夢”讓人聯想起一百多年前“美國夢”。“美國夢”是個人夢還是集體夢？美國前總統羅斯福的演講《奮鬥不息》（The Strenuous Life）是對“美國夢”的極佳詮釋。羅斯福時任紐約州州長。因為這次演講，“The Strenuous Life”也成為羅斯福總統歷史形象的一部分。吃透美國夢，才能更好地講出真正的中國夢。觀察者網全文翻譯，供讀者參考。】
諸位，你們是西方最偉大城市之子，是誕生了林肯和格蘭特的國家之子，是美國性格中最具美國特色的傑出象徵，我想談的不是苟且偷安的人生哲學，而是艱苦生活的道理——艱苦奮鬥，力爭上游，不甘居人下；我想談那種最崇高的成就，即貪圖安逸之輩與之無緣，而不畏艱險、不避勞苦、奪取輝煌勝利之士才能取得的那種成就。
苟且偷安的人生，源於缺乏追尋崇高的慾望或能力；大到國家，小到個人，苟且偷安都是不名一文的作為。每一位自尊自愛的美國人對自己、對兒子都會有所期許，我向諸位提出的要求，就是把這種期許提升到整個美利堅民族。在座的諸位，有誰會教導兒子把苟且偷安當作人生目標？你們芝加哥人鑄就了這座偉大城市，你們伊利諾伊州人竭盡所能，付出百分之兩百的努力，為美國做出巨大貢獻，因為你們的言傳身教都不是那種苟且偷安。你們不僅自己努力，還養育下一代再接再厲。如果你是富人，掙得血汗錢，你會教育自己的兒子們，雖然他們有了安逸的生活條件，但不應該蹉跎青春；因為真正睿智的“安逸”，僅僅只那些有閒暇的人，擺脱了謀生的羈絆，全身心投入某種不計回報的事業，科學、文學、藝術、探險、歷史等我們國家急需的工作，這些事業反映了祖國的榮耀。
我們絲毫不羨慕謹小慎微的人。我們崇敬那些能夠攻克一個個難關的人：從不責備隊友，隨時拉朋友一把。但是，他也會有缺點，在真刀真槍的現實生活中奪取勝利所必需的缺點。這樣的人生，不揮灑汗水，你將一無所得。現在你可以不努力，僅僅是因為過去有人幫你努力過了。一個人如果擁有不工作的自由，之所以還能好好活着，完全仰賴他的父輩、祖父輩為了崇高事業而付出的心血。如果這種自由使用得當，無論是去當作家還是將軍，無論從政或探險，他都可以證明自己的人生價值。但如果他把衣食無憂的生活條件當作純粹的享樂，而非奮鬥基礎，那麼，他就是地球的累贅，在社會上沒有立足之地。純然安逸的生活，終究不等於悠然自得的人生，一旦習慣了這樣的生活，以後很難再去腳踏實地工作。
**個人如此，一個國家亦是如此。説什麼“一個沒有歷史的國家是快樂的”，這是歹毒的謊言。一個擁有輝煌歷史的國家會倍加幸福。一個敢於攀登高峯、奪取勝利、不畏艱險的國家，遠遠勝過那些不痛不癢的靈魂，後者被困在灰暗的幕帷之下，渾然不知何謂勝敗。**假設1861年北部的聯邦軍隊以苟且偷安為榮、驍勇善戰為恥，那我們本可以拯救數十萬生命，節約數億美元。免於揮灑熱血、拋棄個人財富，不會弄得妻離子散，我們本可以迴避那親眼目睹軍隊屢敗屢戰的心酸歲月。要是我們在衝突面前畏縮不前，我們可以避免這些痛苦；要是我們迴避了這些痛苦，我們就成了不配屹立於世界偉大民族之林的懦夫。感謝主給了我們先輩鋼鐵般的意志，他們支持了林肯總統的英明抉擇，拿起刀槍加入格蘭特將軍的隊伍。我們是不愧於偉大時代的英雄們的兒女，是把偉大內戰進行到底直至取得最後勝利的英雄們的後代，讓我們讚美主，我們的先輩拒絕了可恥的媾和意見，讓我們的先輩毫不畏縮地去面對痛苦、失敗、悲傷、失望的磨鍊，歷經數年內戰；讓我們讚美主，最後奴隸們獲得瞭解放，聯邦得到了保存，強大的美利堅合眾國再一次像巨人般地屹立於世界民族之林。
**我們這一代人不必完成先輩所面臨的那種任務，但是，我們也有自己的任務，要是我們沒能完成我們的任務，我們就要遭到不幸。我們決不能扮演中國的角色，要是我們重蹈中國的覆轍，自滿自足，貪圖自己疆域內的安寧享樂，漸漸地腐敗墮落，對國外的事情毫無興趣，沉溺於紙醉金迷之中，忘掉了奮發向上、苦幹冒險的高尚生活，整天忙於滿足我們肉體暫時的慾望，那麼，毫無疑問，總有一天我們會突然發現中國今天已經發生的這一事實：畏懼戰爭、閉關鎖國、貪圖安寧享樂的民族在其它好戰、愛冒險的民族的進攻面前是肯定要衰敗的。**如果我們要成為真正偉大的民族，我們必須竭盡全力在國際事務中起巨大的作用。我們無法迴避大問題，我們能決定的僅是處理問題的效果良寙。去年我們被捲入與西班牙的戰爭，那也是不可避免的。我們所能考慮的僅是我們該像懦夫那樣退縮呢？還是該勇敢、鬥志昂揚地開赴戰場，以及一旦進入了戰場，我們是否能打勝。現在的情況也是如此，我們無法迴避在夏威夷、古巴、波多黎各和菲律賓所面臨的責任。我們所能考慮的僅是，我們能否妥善處理這些問題，增強我國的威望，以及我們對這些新問題的處理不當，會不會成為我們歷史上黑暗恥辱的一頁。拒絕處理這些問題與處理得一敗塗地沒什麼兩樣。問題就在眼前，無法迴避；要是我們着手去解決，必然存在着處理不當的危險，但是拒不處理就等於承認我們根本無法處理。
西奧多·羅斯福
懦夫，懶漢，對政府持懷疑態度的人，喪失了鬥爭精神和支配能力的、文質彬彬的人，愚昧無知的人，還有那些無法感受到堅定不移的人們所受到的巨大鼓舞的麻木不仁的人──所有這些人當然害怕看到他們的國家承擔了新的職責，害怕看到我們建立能滿足我國需要的海軍和陸軍，害怕看到我們承擔國際義務，害怕看到我們勇敢的士兵和水手們把西班牙的軍隊趕出去，讓偉大美麗的熱帶島嶼從大亂中達到大治。這些人害怕艱苦奮鬥，害怕過這種唯一值得過的民族生活。他們相信隱居，吮吸民族的吃苦耐力精神，就像他們吮吸個人一樣；或者，他們接受了貪婪索取的靈魂，以為商業主義就是民族生活的宗旨；但實際上，商業主義只是民族偉業的必要組成部分之一。國家的長久繁榮，必然是要靠靈巧的頭腦、經商頭腦、辛勤奮鬥；但沒有哪個國家是純粹靠物質繁榮而真正強大的。榮譽屬於物質繁榮發展背後的建築師，興辦工廠、建造鐵路的產業領袖，用頭腦和雙手不斷耕耘的鐵人們；所謂一個國家的偉大，就是這個國家對這些人欠下的債。但我們虧欠更多的是以林肯總統為代表的國父們，以及格蘭特將軍等戰士們。他們用生命證明了何謂工作、何謂奮鬥；他們為了自己、為了信賴他們的人而力爭勝利；但他們知道，自己還有另一個、更加高貴的使命——為了國家、為了民族的使命。
我們不能自我滿足、鼠目寸光。這會自食其果，因為國家利益會逐漸擴大，各國交往將愈加緊密，如果我們要保持目前的海軍和商業優勢，必須建造無疆界的力量。我們必須建造巴拿馬海峽，必須在決定東西方大洋命運的時候，擁有自己的話語權。
商業方面暫且不談。從國際形象的角度來看，上述立場更為有力。響徹馬尼拉和聖地亞哥的炮火賦予了我們極大榮譽，但同時賦予了我們責任。如果我們趕走中世紀暴君，卻換來野蠻的無政府狀態，那一切都徒勞無功。如果説我們沒有什麼責任，可以隨時從島上撤退，那就更荒唐了。這是為人所不齒的行為。很快，島上就會發出自己的混亂聲音。某些馬尼拉勢力會進行干預，然後我們就出醜了，讓世人看到我們無法履行偉大國家的職責。
必須完成任務，我們責無旁貸；如果我們還有點兒志氣，那就應該為此感到欣喜，感謝有這麼一個證明現代文明大國的機會。但千萬不要低估此次任務的重要性。不要自吹自擂，誤以為能夠輕而易舉地解決問題。我們要對自己有清醒認識，用嚴肅、冷靜、堅定的態度理解責任。我們必須派出最正直、最能幹的人才。我們必須問責那些踐踏國家利益、無法履行職責、浪費精力財力的人。
當然，我們必須記住，不要以一時一事的成敗來評判我們的公務員，尤其應該注意不要把抨擊的矛頭對準我們的同志，他們即便未取得善果，也不是災禍的始作俑者。讓我用陸海雙軍的例子來闡明這一點。如果二十年前我們加入了戰爭，我們的海軍將和陸軍一樣毫無準備。如果當年我們的軍艦遭遇西班牙艦隊，我軍既缺乏訓練又仍在使用黑火藥武器的戰士們即使再勇敢，也不可能敵得過訓練有素的、以現代化連發步槍武裝起來的西班牙人。但在1880年代早期，我國開始轉而關注海上利益。國會無比明智地撥出一系列款項，建立新海軍。歷任海軍部長既有才能又富有愛國熱情，在他們的領導下，在兩黨共同的推動下，海軍逐步建立起來，硬件水平終於配得上我們傑出的人才，多年的努力所取得的結果是，去年夏天我們的海軍贏得了它應有的地位——全世界最輝煌、最強大的海上戰鬥力量。我們理應向海軍的負責人們致敬，他們獲得了偉大的勝利；榮譽屬於海軍部長約翰•戴維斯•隆和海軍特級上將喬治•杜威；屬於操縱戰艦的艦長；屬於在小船中冒死執行任務的上尉們；也屬於華盛頓各部的負責人們，從指揮作戰，到戰艦裝備，到工程作業，是他們在後方有力的監督執行確保了前線取得最好的戰果。我們不應忘記，所有那些在過去十五年裏為我國海軍事業奉獻心力的人，沒有他們，便不會有今天的勝利。讓我們銘記過去歷任海軍部長；銘記那些投票支持向海軍事業撥款的兩院議員們，有了他們的投票我們才能興建船隻、武裝戰艦、鑄造大炮、訓練海軍；讓我們銘記那些為興建船隻、武裝戰艦、鑄造大炮付出辛勤勞動的工人們；讓我們銘記那些曾駕馭戰列艦、巡洋艦、魚雷艇，在遠海執行任務的海軍官兵，多虧他們長年累月磨練航海、射擊技術，積累戰術配合經驗，他們的繼承者們才能在馬尼拉和聖地亞哥城外大顯神通。
此外，先生們，你們也要記住國內那股逆流。記住正義是雙面的。為了祖國的未來，不光我們海軍締造者們需要得到公正的對待，那些反對建立海軍的人，你們也須牢牢記住。看看國會的記錄，看究竟是哪些議員反對給戰艦撥款；是哪些人明知缺少軍備的戰艦隻是擺設，還反對我們添置軍備；是哪些人反對我們撥款維持海軍部運作；是哪些人千方百計地裁減海軍隊伍。這些人的所作所為，無一例外是在給這個國家帶來災難。我們在馬尼拉和聖地亞哥取得的榮光，他們無權染指！我們海軍官兵的英勇、我們旗幟的榮威，他們無權感到驕傲！他們的動機或善或惡，已難以明辨，但他們的行為可以説罪孽深重。雖有這幫給國家榮譽抹黑的反對派阻撓，我們還是克服困難取得了勝利。
上面的道理適用於全體公務人員。我軍的規模，從來都趕不上這個國家的需要。我國十萬軍人，四分之三要被抽調到遠洋海島、沿海要塞，和印第安保留區。**所謂“軍隊將使這個由七千萬自由人組成的國家失去自由”的幼稚言論，我今天就不在諸位面前細説。一個心智健全、膽氣雄壯的人絕不會把這種囈語當真。如果我們真如其所言，是那樣的弱者，那麼我們便不配在任何情況下享有自由。**我們海陸兩軍指戰員們為國家立下的汗馬功勞，不是美利堅合眾國中任何人可比的。軍隊是這個國家最忠誠的屏障，最令人驕傲的後盾，也是最亟待擴充的力量。
我們的軍隊需要徹底改建，而不僅是擴大建制規模——只有通過立法才能完成改建。我們應當組建正規的參謀部、軍械所、軍需社，詳細的供給需求應該從前線一直軍需官。更重要的是，軍隊必須有機會進行大型演習。在西班牙戰爭中，我們的少將師長們居然從未有過指揮三個連的實戰經驗。這一幕決不能再現。然而，難以置信的是，國會最近似乎好了瘡疤忘了痛。在兩黨中各有一大批人反對宣戰；反對批准和平條約；反對擴充軍力；甚至反對以合理的價格為戰列艦和巡洋艦採購裝甲，從而讓海軍建造新戰艦的進程徹底停滯。如果在未來的歲月裏，我們的軍隊在海上或陸地上折戟沉沙，讓美國蒙受恥辱，請記住那些在國會表決大會上專門唱反調的罪人。屆時我們的戰士和水手們所遭受的所有減損，我們國旗所蒙受的一切玷污，都將由這些人全責承擔。如果你們以及全體國民與這幫反動派不劃清界限，不堅決反對他們的作為，那麼你們也將成為歷史的罪人。承擔歷史罪名的，不會是缺乏鍛鍊的指揮官和經驗不足的部隊；不會是人手、資源都捉襟見肘的公務部門職員；也不會是麾下寥寥幾艘戰艦可供調遣海軍將領；而將是那些缺乏先見之明，姑息奸惡，未能及早糾錯的官員，以及一個支持這樣官員的國家。
所以，此時此刻，那些長期推延和平條約的人，那些愚不可及地故意將一個野蠻民族誘入戰爭圈套的人，必須對發生在菲律賓的流血犧牲——既有美軍弟兄們的血，也包括野蠻無知的敵人的血——負相當大的責任。這場戰爭對敵人來説必定是一場災難，而那些跟隨我們旗幟的勇士們，也不得不為空談家們的愚蠢及其虛偽的人道主義付出了鮮血的代價。
如果我們的國家要在世界民族之林中盡職盡責，如果我們不甘願淪為西半球的中國，就必須把陸軍和海軍像劍與盾一樣攥在手中。從西班牙手中正當地奪取熱帶島嶼，只是我們職責當下的一種形式。當然，我們一定會妥善處理國內事務。我們必須看到，我們全國各州各市的政府機關及公務員隊伍，是誠信、廉潔、清醒的。我們必須努力做到精誠為公；誠信待人，尤其是對待國家和個人的債權人；努力保證個人最大限度的自由；也須在個人自由傷害多數人利益時，努力進行最具智慧的管控。但是，做好國內事務不是我們不參與全球大事的藉口。一個男人的首要責任是撐起自己的家，但他的家事並不能免除他應為國家履行的職責；因為如果他無法為國家盡義務，便將受到失去自由人身份的懲罰。同樣，一個國家的首要責任所在固然在其內部，但它在世界各處的責任卻不會因此而免除；如果它拒絕承擔這些職責，這個國家將退出競爭，喪失塑造人類命運的權利。
在西印度羣島和菲律賓，我們都遭遇到最棘手的問題。不敢迎難而上、解決問題，是懦夫的行為。這些難題必須得到解決，如果我們解決不了，便有更強大、更剛毅的民族來代替我們解決。如果我們太軟弱、太自私、或太愚蠢，解決不了這些問題，更有膽識、有能力的人便必須承擔起解決難題的責任。就個人而言，我對美國的偉大和同胞們的實力堅信不疑，在任何時候我都絕不願承認我們理應甘於卑微的一角。
不同的島嶼帶來了不同的問題。波多黎各太小，不足以獨立自治。為了波多黎各人民的利益，我們必須明智、妥善地統治它。根據我的判斷，古巴最終將享有自治權，它可能作為一個獨立的國家，也可能成為這個強大共和國的一個組成部分。但是，在實現秩序和穩定的自由之前，我們必須留守在古巴。我們的軍事和民間代表，必須在維護穩定、打擊搶劫、保護大眾、論功行賞等方面展現出無限的機智、判斷、節制和勇氣。菲律賓向我們提出的問題更為棘手。他們的人口構成複雜，包括混血兒、土生土長的基督徒、好戰的穆斯林和野蠻的異教徒，許多當地人目前完全不適合自治，未來也不大可能自治；另一部分人雖可能隨着時間的推移變得適於自治，但目前只能在明智、堅定、仁慈的監督之下參與自治政府的工作。我們好不容易才把西班牙暴君趕出菲律賓，如果我們現在任由它走向野蠻的無政府狀態，那麼對菲律賓來説，我們所付出的一切便都是禍不是福。對於那些害怕挑起統治菲律賓重擔的庸人；那些公開聲稱不敢接下挑戰的懦夫；那些一遇代價和麻煩便退縮的逃兵，我的耐心是及其有限的。至於那些扯起人道主義大旗掩藏自身膽怯的偽君子，以及偽善地用“自由”、“被統治者的許可”裝門面，骨子裏沒有半點男子漢精神的人，我的耐心幾乎為零。他們教條的理論，如果要付諸實踐，我們便得將阿帕奇部落留在亞利桑那州，讓他們自己救贖自己；也得拒絕對任何一個印第安保護區進行干涉。他們的教條理論是在譴責你我共同的祖先，譴責他們定居在美國的土地上。
統治印度和埃及對英國大有裨益，這訓練了數代英國人，讓他們放眼關注更為高尚的公共生活。印度和埃及則收穫更大好處。最後，同時也是最重要的一點，此番事業促進了文明進程。因此，如果我們能在菲律賓履行正當職責，這將增添民族榮耀，而一個民族的榮耀乃是國民生活最高等、最卓越的部分；同時，這也將惠及菲律賓人民；最重要的是，我們將為提升人性的偉大事業做出自己的一份貢獻。但我們要始終牢記，展現高度自信、誠摯意願和明智決策。叛亂必須平定。首要任務是樹立美國旗幟至高無上的地位。我們必須首先平定武裝叛亂，面對敵人時不妥協、不退縮。至於國內那些長敵人士氣的人，我們大可唾棄他們；但記住，對他們的鄙視不可代替通敵罪的懲罰。
一旦平定武裝叛亂，一旦我們的統治得到承認，更繁重的任務還擺在前頭，我們必須牢記，要用絕對的忠誠和良好的決策來管理這些島嶼。如果我們讓菲律賓事務落在腐敗的政客手中，我們會重蹈西班牙人的覆轍。我們必須派遣賢能之士，摒棄黨派門户之見，這些人不但要公正地治理當地人，全心全意履行公職，還要秉持堅定信念，認清治理對象；要知道，最大的罪惡是軟弱，其次是管理不周和歧視。
**我想告訴諸位，我的同胞，我們國家呼喚的是不是苟且偷安，而是艱苦奮鬥。**20世紀即將來臨，列強命運風雨飄搖。如果我們袖手旁觀，如果好吃懶做、苟且偷安，如果在命運的關鍵時刻臨陣退縮、放棄自己所珍視的事物，那麼，其他更勇猛、更強大的民族就會超越我們，贏得世界的統治權。因此，讓我們直麪人生苦難，堅定而有尊嚴地履行職責；言行舉止不偏不倚；誠懇而勇敢，為了實現更高理想而埋頭苦幹。最重要的一點，不論精神上或肉體上的挫折，讓我們不畏艱辛，縱橫四海，通過艱苦卓絕的奮鬥，最終真正實現民族偉業。
（本文由觀察者網朱新偉、楊晗軼翻譯，部分譯文參考已有節譯版本。）
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The Strenuous Life
Theodore Roosevelt
April 10th, 1899
In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who pre-eminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
A life of ignoble ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what every self-respecting American demands from himself and from his sons shall be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach your boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in their eyes-to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you neither preach nor practice such a doctrine. You work yourselves, and you bring up your sons to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt, you will teach your sons that though they may have leisure, it is not to be spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in historical research-work of the type we most need in this country, the successful carrying out of which reflects most honor upon the nation.
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright, and the man still does actual work, though of a different kind, whether as a writer or a General, whether in the field of politics or in the field of exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune. But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period not of preparation, but of mere enjoyment, he shows that he is simply a cumberer of the earth’s surface, and he surely unfits himself to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.
As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. If in 1861 the men who loved the Union had believed that peace was the end of all things, and war and strife the worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief, we would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, besides saving all the blood and treasure we then lavished, we would have prevented the heartbreak of many women, the dissolution of many homes, and we would have spared the country those months of gloom and shame when it seemed as if our armies marched only to defeat. We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking from strife. And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations of the earth. Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers, the men who upheld the wisdom of Lincoln, and bore sword or rifle in the armies of Grant! Let us, the children of the men who proved themselves equal to the mighty days-let us, the children of the men who carried the great Civil War to a triumphant conclusion, praise the God of our fathers that the ignoble counsels of peace were rejected; that the suffering and loss, the blackness of sorrow and despair, were unflinchingly faced, and the years of strife endured; for in the end the slave was freed, the Union restored, and the mighty American republic placed once more as a helmeted queen among nations.
We of this generation do not have to face a task such as that our fathers faced, but we have our tasks, and woe to us if we fail to perform them! We cannot, if we would, play the part of China, and be content to rot by inches in ignoble ease within our borders, taking no interest in what goes on beyond them, sunk in a scrambling commercialism; heedless of the higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk, busying ourselves only with the wants of our bodies for the day, until suddenly we should find, beyond a shadow of question, what China has already found, that in this world the nation that has trained itself to a career of unwarlike and isolated ease is bound, in the end, to go down before other nations which have not lost the manly and adventurous qualities. If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill. Last year we could not help being brought face to face with the problem of war with Spain. All we could decide was whether we should shrink like cowards from the contest, or enter into it as beseemed a brave and high-spirited people; and; once in, whether failure or success should crown our banners. So it is now. We cannot avoid the responsibilities that confront us in Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. All we can decide is whether we shall meet them in a way that will redound to the national credit, or whether we shall make of our dealings with these new problems a dark and shameful page in our history. To refuse to deal with them at all merely amounts to dealing with them badly. We have a given problem to solve. If we undertake the solution, there is, of course, always danger that we may not solve it aright; but to refuse to undertake the solution simply renders it certain that we cannot possibly solve it aright.
The timid man, the lazy man, the man who distrusts his country, the over-civilized man, who has lost the great fighting, masterful virtues, the ignorant man, and the man of dull mind, whose soul is incapable of feeling the mighty lift that thrills “stern men with empires in their brains”-all these, of course, shrink from seeing the nation undertake its new duties; shrink from seeing us build a navy and an army adequate to our needs; shrink from seeing us do our share of the world’s work, by bringing order out of chaos in the great, fair tropic islands from which the valor of our soldiers and sailors has driven the Spanish flag. These are the men who fear the strenuous life, who fear the only national life which is really worth leading. They believe in that cloistered life which saps the hardy virtues in a nation, as it saps them in the individual; or else they are wedded to that base spirit of gain and greed which recognizes in commercialism the be-all and end-all of national life, instead of realizing that, though an indispensable element, it is, after all, but one of the many elements that go to make up true national greatness. No country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the material prosperity which comes from thrift, from business energy and enterprise, from hard, unsparing effort in the fields of industrial activity; but neither was any nation ever yet truly great if it relied upon material prosperity alone. All honor must be paid to the architects of our material prosperity, to the great captains of industry who have built our factories and our railroads, to the strong men who toil for wealth with brain or hand; for great is the debt of the nation to these and their kind. But our debt is yet greater to the men whose highest type is to be found in a statesman like Lincoln, a soldier like Grant. They showed by their lives that they recognized the law of work, the law of strife; they toiled to win a competence for themselves and those dependent upon them; but they recognized that there were yet other and even loftier duties – duties to the nation and duties to the race.
We cannot sit huddled within our own borders and avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what happens beyond. Such a policy would defeat even its own end; for as the nations grow to have ever wider and wider interests, and are brought into closer and closer contact, if we are to hold our own in the struggle for naval and commercial supremacy, we must build up our power without our own borders. We must build the isthmian canal, and we must grasp the points of vantage which will enable us to have our say in deciding the destiny of the oceans of the East and the West.
So much for the commercial side. From the standpoint of international honor the argument is even stronger. The guns that thundered off Manila and Santiago, left us echoes of glory, but they also left us a legacy of duty. If we drove out a medieval tyranny only to make room for savage anarchy, we had better not have begun the task at all. It is worse than idle to say that we have no duty to perform, and can leave to their fates the islands we have conquered. Such a course would be the course of infamy. It would be followed at once by utter chaos in the wretched islands themselves. Some stronger, manlier power would have to step in and do the work, and we would have shown ourselves weaklings, unable to carry to successful completion the labors that great and high-spirited nations are eager to undertake.
The work must be done; we cannot escape our responsibility; and if we are worth our salt, we shall be glad of the chance to do the work – glad of the chance to show ourselves equal to one of the great tasks set modern civilization. But let us not deceive ourselves as to the importance of the task. Let us not be misled by vainglory into underestimating the strain it will put on our powers. Above all, let us, as we value our own self-respect, face the responsibilities with proper seriousness, courage, and high resolve. We must demand the highest order of integrity and ability in our public men who are to grapple with these new problems. We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources.
Of course we must remember not to judge any public servant by any one act, and especially should we beware of attacking the men who are merely the occasions and not the causes of disaster. Let me illustrate what I mean by the army and the navy. If twenty years ago we had gone to war, we should have found the navy as absolutely unprepared as the army. At that time our ships could not have encountered with success the fleets of Spain any more than nowadays we can put untrained soldiers, no matter how brave, who are armed with archaic black-powder weapons, against well-drilled regulars armed with the highest type of modern repeating rifle. But in the early eighties the attention of the nation became directed to our naval needs. Congress most wisely made a series of appropriations to build up a new navy, and under a succession of able and patriotic secretaries, of both political parties, the navy was gradually built up, until its material became equal to its splendid personnel, with the result that last summer it leaped to its proper place as one of the most brilliant and formidable fighting navies in the entire world. We rightly pay all honor to the men controlling the navy at the time it won these great deeds, honor to Secretary Long and Admiral Dewey, to the captains who handled the ships in action, to the daring lieutenants who braved death in the smaller craft, and to the heads of bureaus at Washington who saw that the ships were so commanded, so armed, so equipped, so well engined, as to insure the best results. But let us also keep ever in mind that all of this would not have availed if it had not been for the wisdom of the men who during the preceding fifteen years had built up the navy. Keep in mind the secretaries of the navy during those years; keep in mind the senators and congressmen who by their votes gave the money necessary to build and to armor the ships, to construct the great guns, and to train the crews; remember also those who actually did build the ships, the armor, and the guns; and remember the admirals and captains who handled battle-ship, cruiser, and torpedo-boat on the high seas, alone and in squadrons, developing the seamanship, the gunnery, and the power of acting together, which their successors utilized so gloriously at Manila and off Santiago.
And, gentlemen, remember the converse, too. Remember that justice has two sides. Be just to those who built up the navy, and, for the sake of the future of the country, keep in mind those who opposed its building up. Read the Congressional Record. Find out the senators and congressmen who opposed the grants for building the new ships; who opposed the purchase of armor, without which the ships were worthless; who opposed any adequate maintenance for the Navy Department, and strove to cut down the number of men necessary to man our fleets. The men who did these things were one and all working to bring disaster on the country. They have no share in the glory of Manila, in the honor of Santiago. They have no cause to feel proud of the valor of our sea-captains, of the renown of our flag. Their motives may or may not have been good, but their acts were heavily fraught with evil. They did ill for the national honor, and we won in spite of their sinister opposition.
Now, apply all this to our public men of to-day. Our army has never been built up as it should be built up. I shall not discuss with an audience like this the puerile suggestion that a nation of seventy millions of freemen is in danger of losing its liberties from the existence of an army of 100,000 men, three fourths of whom will be employed in certain foreign islands, in certain coast fortresses, and on Indian reservations. No man of good sense and stout heart can take such a proposition seriously. If we are such weaklings as the proposition implies, then we are unworthy of freedom in any event. To no body of men in the United States is the country so much indebted as to the splendid officers and enlisted men of the regular army and navy. There is no body from which the country has less to fear, and none of which it should be prouder, none which it should be more anxious to upbuild.
Our army needs complete reorganization-not merely enlarging-and the reorganization can only come as the result of legislation. A proper general staff should be established, and the positions of ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster officers should be filled by detail from the line. Above all, the army must be given the chance to exercise in large bodies. Never again should we see, as we saw in the Spanish war, major-generals in command of divisions who had never before commanded three companies together in the field. Yet, incredible to relate, the recent Congress has shown a queer inability to learn some of the lessons of the war. There were large bodies, of men in both branches who opposed the declaration of war, who opposed the ratification of peace, who opposed the upbuilding of the army, and who even opposed the purchase of: armor at a reasonable price for the battle-ships and cruisers, thereby putting an absolute stop to the building of any new fighting-ships for the navy. If, during the years to come, any disaster should befall our arms, afloat or ashore, and thereby any shame come to the United States, remember that the blame will lie upon the men whose names appear upon the roll-calls of Congress on the wrong side of these great questions. On them will lie the burden of any loss of our soldiers and sailors, of any dishonor to the flag; and upon you and the people of this country will lie the blame if you do not repudiate, in no unmistakable way, what these men have done. The blame will not rest upon the untrained commander of untried troops, upon the civil officers of a department the organization of which has been left utterly inadequate, or upon the admiral with an insufficient number of ships; but upon the public men who have so lamentably failed in forethought as to refuse to remedy these evils long in advance, and upon the nation that stands behind those public men.
So, at the present hour, no small share of the responsibility for the blood shed in the Philippines, the blood of our brothers, and the blood of their wild and ignorant foes, lies at the thresholds of those who so long delayed the adoption of the treaty of peace, and of those who by their worse than foolish words deliberately invited a savage people to plunge into a war fraught with sure disaster for them – a war, too, in which our own brave men who follow the flag must pay with their blood for the silly, mock humanitarianism of the prattlers who sit at home in peace.
The army and the navy are the sword and the shield which this nation must carry if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth – if she is not to stand merely as the China of the western hemisphere. Our proper conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from Spain is merely the form which our duty has taken at the moment. Of course we are bound to handle the affairs of our own household well. We must see that there is civic honesty, civic cleanliness, civic good sense in our home administration of city, State, and nation. We must strive for honesty in office, for honesty toward the creditors of the nation and of the individual; for the widest freedom of individual initiative where possible, and for the wisest control of individual initiative where it is hostile to the welfare of the many. But because we set our own household in order we are not thereby excused from playing our part in the great affairs of the world. A man’s first duty is to his own home, but he is not thereby excused from doing his duty to the State; for if he fails in this second duty it is under the penalty of ceasing to be a free man. In the same way, while a nation’s first duty is within its own borders, it is not thereby absolved from facing its duties in the world as a whole; and if it refuses to do so, it merely forfeits its right to struggle for a place among the peoples that shape the destiny of mankind.
In the West Indies and the Philippines alike we are confronted by most difficult problems. It is cowardly to shrink from solving them in the proper way; for solved they must be, if not by us, then by some stronger and more manful race. If we are too weak, too selfish, or too foolish to solve them, some bolder and abler people must undertake the solution. Personally, I am far too firm a believer in the greatness of my country and the power of my countrymen to admit for one moment that we shall ever be driven to the ignoble alternative.
The problems are different for the different islands. Porto Rico is not large enough to stand alone. We must govern it wisely and well, primarily in the interest of its own people. Cuba is, in my judgment, entitled ultimately to settle for itself whether it shall be an independent state or an integral portion of the mightiest of republics. But until order and stable liberty are secured, we must remain in the island to insure them, and infinite tact, judgment, moderation, and courage must be shown by our military and civil representatives in keeping the island pacified, in relentlessly stamping out brigandage, in protecting all alike, and yet in showing proper recognition to the men who have fought for Cuban liberty. The Philippines offer a yet graver problem. Their population includes half-caste and native Christians, warlike Moslems, and wild pagans. Many of their people are utterly unfit for self-government, and show no signs of becoming fit. Others may in time become fit but at present can only take part in self-government under a wise supervision, at once firm and beneficent. We have driven Spanish tyranny from the islands. If we now let it be replaced by savage anarchy, our work has been for harm and not for good. I have scant patience with those who fear to undertake the task of governing the Philippines, and who openly avow that they do fear to undertake it, or that they shrink from it because of the expense and trouble; but I have even scanter patience with those who make a pretense of humanitarianism to hide and cover their timidity, and who cant about “liberty” and the “consent of the governed,” in order to excuse themselves for their unwillingness to play the part of men. Their doctrines, if carried out, would make it incumbent upon us to leave the Apaches of Arizona to work out their own salvation, and to decline to interfere in a single Indian reservation. Their doctrines condemn your forefathers and mine for ever having settled in these United States.
England’s rule in India and Egypt has been of great benefit to England, for it has trained up generations of men accustomed to look at the larger and loftier side of public life. It has been of even greater benefit to India and Egypt. And finally, and most of all, it has advanced the cause of civilization. So, if we do our duty aright in the Philippines, we will add to that national renown which is the highest and finest part of national life, will greatly benefit the people of the Philippine Islands, and, above all, we will play our part well in the great work of uplifting mankind. But to do this work, keep ever in mind that we must show in a high degree the qualities of courage, of honesty, and of good judgment. Resistance must be stamped out. The first and all-important work to be done is to establish the supremacy of our flag. We must put down armed resistance before we can accomplish anything else, and there should be no parleying, no faltering, in dealing with our foe. As for those in our own country who encourage the foe, we can afford contemptuously to disregard them; but it must be remembered that their utterances are not saved from being treasonable merely by the fact that they are despicable.
When once we have put down armed resistance, when once our rule is acknowledged, then an even more difficult task will begin, for then we must see to it that the islands are administered with absolute honesty and with good judgment. If we let the public service of the islands be turned into the prey of the spoils politician, we shall have begun to tread the path which Spain trod to her own destruction. We must send out there only good and able men, chosen for their fitness, and not because of their partisan service, and these men must not only administer impartial justice to the natives and serve their own government with honesty and fidelity, but must show the utmost tact and firmness, remembering that, with such people as those with whom we are to deal, weakness is the greatest of crimes, and that next to weakness comes lack of consideration for their principles and prejudices.
I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.