reparedness.

The great outstanding lesson of the war is that we must not trust to
righteousness and fair dealing alone; we must be prepared to play
our part, and while loving justice and dealing fairly with others,
we must be always ready to do our full duty, and to defend our
country with force if need be. If we do not, we shall always be
helpless and at the mercy of our enemies. We can be strong, yet
tolerant, just, yet prepared to defend ourselves against aggression.

Another lesson is that our military establishment on land and sea
should not be dependent upon a system of militia and volunteers.
These will not be found adequate under the conditions of modern
war, and above all we should appreciate the fact that our military
system must be founded upon _equality of service, rich and poor
alike_. We must while extending equality of privilege to all,
including the thousands who are coming to us every day, insist upon
equality of obligation by all. With the privileges of citizenship
must go the obligations and responsibilities not only in peace but
also in war.

We should take heed of the lessons of the past, and remember that
the volunteer system has always failed us in our wars. Such
experience as we have had in war in recent years has in no way
prepared us for a war with a first-class nation prepared for war. We
have never engaged in such a war unaided. This experience is one
which is still before us. We should look upon service for the nation
in the same way as we look upon the payment of taxes, or the
compliance with the thousand and one laws and regulations which
govern our everyday life.

Relatively few people would voluntarily pay taxes even though they
knew the money was to go to the best of purposes. They pay taxes
because the law requires it. The people as a whole cannot be
expected, nor can we with safety trust to their performing their
military duties effectively, unless some general system of equal
service for all who are physically fit, is prescribed, some system
which will insure preparation in advance of war, some system which
will _bear upon all alike_. The volunteer spirit is superb, but the
volunteer system is not a dependable system to which to trust the
life and security of the people, especially in these days when the
highest degree of organization marks all nations with whom we may
possibly have some day differences which will result in the use of
force. The militia, willing as it is, cann