Second, no state in the union has a prouder record than Mary-
land in a stalwart and steadfast defense of the freedom of the press.

And third, it was the first State to proclaim and begin work on the
establishment of a National Hall of Fame.

The soil on which we stand was once the estate of George Alfred
Townsend, a renowned reporter who covered the battles of the Civil
War and wrote under the name of "Gath. " He visited this area in
1884, and wrote in his diary that these were the most beautiful moun-
tains he had seen anywhere in the world and that he wanted to live
here. And so, he bought the land and immediately started building
a collection of houses on this mountain overlooking the six battle-
fields of the Civil War.

During the construction, he conceived the idea of erecting a mem-
orial to the battle of South Mountain, which occurred on this site.
After reflecting on this idea for some time, he changed his mind and
decided that, as a war correspondent, he would honor the newspaper
writers and artists who served with him in covering the great con-
flict of the Civil War. The gigantic arch which we see standing near
us here is the fruit of his contemplations. As he got on with his work,
his ideas branched out, and in the end it became a memorial not
only to the working press of the Civil War, both Union and Con-
federate, but to the entire profession of journalism. And so he in-
scribed on the face of the arch other names of writers, going all the
way back to Joshua.

Where then, I ask, is there to be found in this country a more
suitable site for a memorial to the journalistic profession—for a shrine
of the freedom of the press?

Maryland, as I have said, bows to none in its long tradition and
dedication to the principle of a free press. In the very first session
of the General Assembly after Maryland had declared itself an inde-
pendent State, the lawmakers of Maryland took a bold stand for the
freedom of the press. In a resolution, these revolutionary statesmen
declared that to proceed against a newspaper for publishing inde-
pendent opinion was "a manifest violation of the Constitution, di-
rectly contrary to the Declaration of Rights assented to by the free
men of this State. "

This was in 1777, ten years before the now-famed bulwark of our
freedom, the first article of our Bill of Rights which prohibits the
abridgment of the freedom of speech and of the press, was incorpor-
ated into our federal Constitution.

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