of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 209

dent it will find our younger generation prepared in every way to undergo
every other privation rather than to permit the ideals of democracy, that have
been such a boon to all mankind, to go down to oblivion.

DINNER MEETING OF ITALIAN-AMERICAN
BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN

On Occasion of Visit to Baltimore of Hon. Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Assistant
Secretary of State, and Hon. Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City

June 17, 1940
Baltimore

THIS Country of ours, conceived by our gallant forebears, who had felt to
the fullest the heavy hand of oppression, is the grandest conception of
government ever known to man. Through it, oppreseed humanity was restored
to self-respect; under it, man for the first time enjoyed the rights to which
he was by his very nature, entitled. For more than one hundred and fifty years
the American system of free enterprise, under which everyone was encouraged
to work out his individual destiny as he preferred, spurred our forefathers on
to make this what it is today, a nation without parallel in the history of the
universe.

Just to look about us this evening, and to realize what America has given
to all of us here present, is to be confirmed for ever in the realization that
American citizenship, under our present form of government, is the most
valuable civic possession obtainable in the world today. Nowhere else in the
world, I submit to you, would it be possible to gather together a group like
this, of citizens who have been able to achieve outstanding prominence and suc-
cess in their various lines of endeavor, not by reason of class or birth, but
entirely through their own ability and effort.

Anyone familiar with the history of Maryland's progress and development
appreciates the splendid part played by men and women who had the initative
to come here from Italy, and by their descendents, right down to the present
time.

I believe, and every person here believes with me, I am sure, that to permit
American ideals of government to be laid aside would be an everlasting blot
upon the conscience of every American. The American system with its recogni-
tion of the individual as the sole cause of government is the truest realization
of an ideal of government that exists in the world today. It is little wonder
our forefathers found it such an inspiration, it is little wonder that throughout
all the years Americans were ever ready to give their all to defend it. Surely
today with conditions as they are throughout the world we should be poor
Americans indeed, if we did not measure up to the high standards of national
conduct set by those who preceded us. It is a wonderful thing to be so
privileged in a national sense as we are. It must not be forgotten, however,
that every privilege enjoyed entails a corresponding response. We have enjoyed
our privileges to the fullest; now we must not shirk our responsibilities.