Statement About Signing the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament

THE PRESIDENT said:

"I shall have the gratification of signing the naval treaty this afternoon at 3 o'clock. It is a matter of satisfaction that this great accomplishment in international relations has at all steps been given united support of both our political parties.

"With the ratification by the other governments the treaty will translate an emotion deep in the hearts of millions of men and women into a practical fact of government and international relations. It will renew again the faith of the world in the moral forces of good will and patient negotiation as against the blind forces of suspicion and competitive armament. It will secure the full defense of the United States. It will mark a further long step toward lifting the burden of militarism from the backs of mankind and to speed the march forward of world peace. It will lay the foundations upon which further constructive reduction in world arms may be accomplished in the future. We should, by this act of willingness to join with others in limiting armament, have dismissed from the mind of the world any notion that the United States entertains ideas of aggression, imperial power, or exploitation of foreign nations."