230 State Papers and Addresses

liberties at home, which is to say, the right of a free people to be unmolested
and, secondly, our honor before the world, that which allows no tyrant to
offer us his bloody hand.

SALISBURY—DEFENSE PARADE AND MEETING

September 23, 1940

Salisbury

FEW there are here tonight, I daresay, who, viewing this splendid demonstra-
tion of the American will-for-preparedness, would consider it a Peace
Demonstration. Certainly, if any of the dictator-ruled countries of Europe
had observers here, they might consider tonight's ceremonies as the clearest
of indications that America was well along the road toward war.

However, any thinking American, who wishes to interpret properly the
spirit behind this and similar demonstrations that are being staged throughout
America—anyone who seeks to probe the mind and hearts of the rank and
file of the American citizens, will find that instead of being in a war-like,
troublesome mood, the people of America are resolved more than ever to keep
out of war, as long as it is humanly and honorably possible to do so. But they
have come at last to realize—before it is too late, thank Heaven, —that the
surest way to peace in these days of upset world conditions is to be so well
prepared that even the most militaristic dictator must realize that it would
not be safe to attack America.

In arranging, therefore, for this splendid demonstration of America's
National Defense efforts, the people of Salisbury and this entire section are
but giving utterance to the principles of love of country and humanity that
have become so apparent everywhere in our Nation these past few months.
This national determination, so impressively shown here this evening, is that
we shall, in united effort, give everything we have, if needed; —that not only
will we contribute our material possessions, but we will willingly sacrifice
the comforts and conveniences of our American mode of life, and in the final
analysis be willing to yield our own lives, rather than to permit to happen in
our own Country the disaster that has overtaken so many of the countries of
Europe.,

About a year ago, early in last October, I was privileged to participate,
along with several thousand other residents of our State, in an impressive
"Peace for America" celebration at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore.
At that gathering, outstanding citizens including some of national prominence,
stressed in no uncertain terms America's determination to remain at peace, a
determination that the great mistake made some twenty years earlier must
not be repeated.

As I pointed out on that occasion, our Nation in 1917 made the under-
standable error of judging foreign affairs by the standard of American ideals.
The mistake was made of imputing to European peoples and rulers the ideals
of humanitarianism and good will that always have been the basis of American
foreign policy. We had found, to our sorrow, however, that It is impossible
to compare the European viewpoint with American understanding of national