of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 383

moral enemy of tyranny. We are the moral opponents of any nation or any
government which sets itself up as master of mankind.

For it is our national faith that men shall be free, and not be slaves; that
they shall be equal before one another as they are equal in the sight of God,
and not be subservient to false godheads of military might or political over-
bearance. We are the spiritual antagonists of racial hatreds and religious in-
tolerance; of promise-breakers, of all who would trample and annihilate the
dignity of man the wide world over.

Nor are these moral issues by any means one-sided. Our dislike for dic-
tators is as nothing compared with their blood-hungry loathing of us. For "as
long as America stands she is a beacon in the sky, a promise in the heavens to
all the down-trodden peoples of the earth. As long as the torch of liberty
burns in our land, there is light upon the earth, there is hope, and there is
incentive to rise against the oppressor.

No, there is no denying these moral enmities. There is no dodging the
responsibilities. Even if we wished it, America could not help being the symbol
of world-wide hope. We have been just that for three hundred years. It was
to the New World that the victims of old oppressions began to look—back in
the Seventeenth Century. It was to the North American colonies that the ex-
perimenters in workable democracy first came and set up constitutional, re-
sponsive governments.

It was on this continent that the first great and enduring union of free
peoples was instituted. And it was to this Country_ that the fugitives from
aggressors migrated in search of what they could not obtain at home. Small
wonder, indeed, if the eyes of Europe still turn west—some with longing; some
with jealousy. And well may it be said of America—that she is loved for the
enemies she has made.

But there are physical reasons, too, for our nearness to war. • It has be-
come trite, but remains important, to stress the shrinkage of space in modern
times. Whereas the width of oceans once guaranteed us against surprise at-
tack, these waters are almost as obsolete a defense as a moat around a medieval
castle. Our watch towers can no longer be 'set up along the* shores. They must
be mobile and they must be far-flung to spot an oncoming armada.

• The old ramparts of Fort McHenry can no longer turn back an invader
who now takes to the skies. The old command, "Don't fire 'til you see the
whites, of their eyes, " would be a suicide order on a modern Bunker Hill.

And just as space has dwindled, so our line of outpost has been extended.
It is not enough to make sure that no enemy approaches the coast-line from
Maine to Florida. Experience has shown that a peace-loving nation cannot idly
await his coming and expect to resist his approach when he appease on the
borders of the country. .

The United States cannot submit to backdoor penetration, and you know,
and every well-informed person knows, that we have an Achilles' heel in Panama
that must be protected from the east as well as from the west.

For even if the American democracy were not a moral menace to dictator-
ship, the American continents would be a temptation.