98 State Papers and Addresses

and many of the best of our traditions. How important then, it must be, that
we in this, our "Land of the Free, " fans anew the fires of Liberty, lit and
nurtured into flame by such as those who did the deeds that made this place
a shrine.

And today, alas, there are other lights. The sky is red with them—the
bonfires of war and destruction. If those terrifying flames serve no other
purpose, at least they do bring out in relief the solid structure which we call
American Democracy. The flag—is still there! But let us make sure it con-
tinues to fly as a guarantee of our rights and of our liberties.

Let's remember that all human beings are apt to take for granted the
very things by which they live. Until we are hungry, we never really appreci-
ate the necessity and value of food. Until we are lonely, we seldom give friend-
ship its full value. We are not likely to stop and thank God for the air we
breathe, until we hear that children overseas are wearing gas masks.

Food—friendship—air—the things by which men live, and another of these
things is human liberty.

Let's not take that for granted either—least of all on this particular an-
niversary of the Star Spangled Banner. In this country, we have never known
the want of freedom. For us, and for the many generations before us, it has
been as commonplace as food and friendship and air. We would laugh if some-
one suggested that any American official would undertake to send to a concen-
tration camp anyone who expressed opposition to his theories. We wouldn't
believe it if we heard that every editorial in our daily paper, every broadcast
from our radio, had passed through government censorship. No, we're so used
to being a free people that we seldom stop to count our blessings. The bursting
bombs and glaring rockets in the European sky should should us this, —if
nothing else—that the possession of human liberty is not only precious, it is
also precarious. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Under the threat and danger of infection, both at home and as a result of
wars abroad, it behooves each and every loyal son of his Country to place him-
self, at this time especially, on guard both in mind and act, to the end that
the "Star Spangled Banner" shall continue in triumph to wave and protect
each and all of us throughout this, our beloved Land.

There are no guns pounding away at the Star Spangled Banner today,
thank Heaven! It still flies proudly in the breeze, a symbol of individual
liberty and personal security such as no other country in the whole world, or
in the whole of history, has ever produced. But it is today, perhaps, the one
remaining symbol of its kind in the world that still radiates its assurance of
individual liberty and collective security. As Francis Scott Key gazed upon
it reverently, and voiced the patriotic hope, "O Long May it Wave" so today
it behooves us to dwell upon its meaning, and to see to it that it will continue
to wave, "O'er the Land of the Free. "

I like to believe that Francis Scott Key was speaking to and for the
American people when he appealed for God's blessing in the final stanza:
"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
And this be our motto, 'In God is our trust'"

As Governor of Maryland, I am proud to say that this State has always
contributed her share of great men to the Union. We have given statesmen
and soldiers and jurists and scientists; and we are happy to add to these, the
name of a poet.