of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 207

schools of our Country, and are openly, or in various subtle ways being pre-
sented daily to thousands of our college, high school and grade school pupils.

As loyal Americans who appreciate the privileges and the liberties that are
yours, and who by reason of your very education in this splendid college have
benefited from the opportunity this Country affords to everyone, each one of
you, I know, is loyal, whole-heartedly so, to the principles that underlie our
democratic form of government, and whose application has made possible the
wonderful growth and development that made this the greatest land in the
world.

It isn't enough, however, these days to be conscious of this loyalty and to
have it firmly rooted in your heart, when so many in our midst are working
day and night to spread the gospel of discontent. It is the duty of all of us,
and particularly, I say, of you teachers, who will exert so great an influence
upon the coming generation, to think and to work as zealously for the cause
of democracy as the malcontents among us are working for its destruction.

In choosing the profession of teaching you have, indeed, chosen to enter
one of the most important and vital phases of our national and civic life. The
best advice I can give you now, as you prepare to leave your college days
behind, is that you take away with you and cherish the ideals of service and
love of Country that you have absorbed within these walls. Keep alive in your
minds the thought that you, as a group, are one of the greatest assets our
Country has today in its fight against destructive elements and subversive
"isms". Set yourself the noble task of strengthening and perpetuating the
welfare of democracy, and of our Country. If you do this, you will have the
satisfaction of knowing that you truly are doing your share to preserve intact
and pass along to succeeding generations principles of government that are
the noblest ever known to civilization: principles that guarantee to the indi-
vidual the rights that are inalienable and are the counterpart of citizenship as
we comprehend that term. You will do this, I know, as good Americans, and
your reward will be a continuing soul-satisfying conviction that you have ful-
filled nobly the commission herewith entrusted to you.

CLARKSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION

June 14, 1940
Clarksville

WE must recognize that there is great moral unrest in the world, and that
standards of conduct, of morality, and of honor, which former genera-
tions accepted without question, now not only are being questioned on all sides,
but in some countries, and even by a far-to-large minority in our own Country,
these standards are being derided and rejected.

Furthermore, the ideals of democracy, once the very basis of all national
thought, are being attacked from many sides by self-seeking cliques throughout
America, and unhealthy doctrines are being spread even through the schools.
Whether you choose to enter the field of industry or commerce now, or to go on
to college, you will be exposed to these theories, theories that are opposed to
all that you now know to be acceptable. Fellow-workers will attempt to win