of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 273

nature and an enterprising spirit have endowed the Sovereign State of Mary-
land.

In the name of the people of Maryland, I repeat, I consider it a high
privilege as Governor of the State to welcome each and every one of you into
our midst. Please be assured of a friendliness and whole-hearted welcome
that is based fundamentally upon the knowledge that your organization repre-
sents to us and to everyone, all that is sound and desirable. in the American
way of living.

I salute you cordially, and express the wish that you, may carry away
from our State a portion of the friendly and brotherly feeling which the people
of this State have for you at this moment.

FARM BUREAU PAGEANT
War Memorial, December 10, 1940

Baltimore

IT was a happy thought of your very efficient Program Committee to include
in the activities of this National Convention a pageant such as we are
privileged to witness here this afternoon. True Americans ever find it an
inspiration to be reminded of the significance of the flag that waves so glori-
ously above our Country and all its outposts.

Today, because of the threat to our Nation and its flag from alien ideolo-
gies, is it particularly fitting that we keep alive in our own minds, and before
every resident of this great Country of ours, the deep meaning of the Stars
and Stripes, and the American principles for which they stand.

Here in Maryland we have always had a particular reverence for the
National Emblem. Our State, as you know, was the seventh star in the flag
in time sequence, but we like to rank 'it first in true significance. The founders
of our Nation, so history tells us, decided to place the stars in our flag because
they felt that stars would be a symbol to all mankind, signaling to the world
the birth of the first Nation on earth dedicated to personal and spiritual
liberty.

To accept this meaning for the stars in our flags is to approve Mary-
land's right to be the first star of all, for was it not our own State of Maryland
that first gave the world the ideals of personal liberty and complete toleration
161 years before the adoption of our National Emblem?

As we view this patriotic pageant, and as we glance aloft and thrill to
the sight of the Star Spangled Banner flying in the breeze, let us pledge
ourselves anew ever to remember its significance. Merely to contrast life
here in America, under the democratic institutions for which our flag stands,
with the dictator-ruled governmental systems of foreign countries, should
make us so thankful that we are Americans, living under the Stars and Stripes,
that our every thought and action would be directed towards the protection
and preservation of the rights and liberties we now enjoy.

Just as we here in Maryland proudly recall that it was our State that
first gave to the world the principles of true individual freedom, so can every
American take pride in the fact that it was our Country that opened its gates