192 State Papers and Addresses

This transformation recalls the lines of Kipling—

"Oh its Tommy this and Tommy that,
And Tommy go away—
But it's, That thin, red line of heroes'
When the bands begin to play. "

During the past few months I have had the occasion to watch the men
of the National Guard exercising one of the highest privileges given to free
men—the right to bear arms. I have talked with them in their armories and
observed the intense seriousness of their training, and I was surprised, though
there was no reason for. the suprise.

In the history of America, Maryland men have played a notable part.
Baltimore's Fifth Infantry has a continuous military history from 1774 to the
present. There was a First Maryland Regiment in the Revolutionary War.

Regiments of the Maryland National Guard have fought gallantly in each
of our Country's major wars, and during the safe, snug years of peace have
carried on, training for any emergency that might emerge from behind the
veil of the future.

Training in the years of peace—there one finds the true measure of
patriotism and sense of responsibility. Drilling on nights while the rest of
us play; devoting summer vacations to long marches, range work, and field
training under the hot suns of July and August, is the way the National Guards-
men prepare themselves for the defense of their Country.

Through all of our history the prophets of Utopia have proclaimed: "Never
again can there be a war. The world's too civilized. " Fortunately for America
there always have been men like those who make up the Maryland National
Guard. Men who said: "Maybe—we hope you're right, but an ounce of preven-
tion is still worth a pound of cure. "

A fact not generally remembered is that, in most instances, it takes two
men to make a National Guardsman. There is the man himself, —the man
willing and eager to learn the business of soldering; and there is the second
man, —his employer, who has the power to encourage this enthusiasm.

The employer can smoothe the way for the National Guardsmen in his
employ to carry out their military duties, or he can put stumbling blocks,
insurmountable stumbling blocks at times, in their path.

In the past the majority of the employers in Maryland have cooperated in
the training programs of the National Guard. They have made it possible for
men to attend drills when otherwise they would have been employed! on night
shifts. They have not penalized the men who each summer went to Camp
Ritchie for two weeks of intensive training.

This summer the Maryland National Guard asks, and has every right to
expect, the 100 per cent cooperation of every employer.

If America is to win its race for peace in a war-torn world, victory will come
as the result of carrying out a program of preparedness that will make our will
to peace unassailable.

For success in this program the men responsible for the safety of the
Nation look, and look rightly, to business and industry for the guns, the air-
planes, the tanks, the armored cars, that are the backbone of the modern,
highly mechanized, stream-lined army.