48C State Papers and Addresses

your regimental barracks and headquarters—who says—"What crisis are you
talking about? There is no danger. This is no emergency. Relax, my friend,
and take it easy. "

Now, these men may be quite sincere. Many misguided people are sincere.
But, nevertheless and notwithstanding, these men are a menace. They are
working against, their own interests—and heaven knows they are working
against our interest—the interest of all Americans. They are a monkey wrench
in the machinery, a cork in the bottleneck.

No, we cannot shut them up by recourse to law. There is no statute on
our books to say that the objector be not allowed to speak. But there is an
old American maxim which will serve as an answer to such men. It runs as
follows: "If you are not for us, you're against us. "

Next, is the type of interference that we might call the prehistoric type.
I "mean by this, the man who is still rattling the old skeleton of peace-time
domestic policies. He is prehistoric because old issues—in fact any issue ex-
cept the one major issue of national security—are as dead as so many doornails.

Yet, incredible as it sounds, there are people at large today who are op-
posing the policies of 1941 on the issues of 1932. Their arguments would be
unobjectionable if there were not so much at stake. Let us be quite frank
about it. Our Ship of State is out at sea and there is a storm going on. There
is, and there can be, only one Commander. This is a time when all things are
magnified by reason of a crisis. A petty jealousy now takes on a dangerous
size. Mere obstruction, quite permissible in times of peace under a democracy,
becomes a tool for the enemy when that same democracy is preparing against
(and I use that word advisedly)—is preparing against war. Yes, whoever will-
fully, by act or word, obstructs the Nation's effort to prepare—that person is
a menace to us all.

And, finally, there are the Sophists in our midst. A sophist is defined in
Webster's dictionary as a "Fallacious reasoner. " He is a man who puts forth
false but trickily-worder arguments. You have heard him talk. He says:
"The President is forcing us into war. " No, he does not even mention Hitler.
He says: "We shall lose our liberties if we fight. " No, he does not mention
Britain, which has kept her liberties simply and solely because she did fight—
and kept on fighting. He says: "We can't beat Germany. Let's make a deal
with her. "

He has conveniently forgotten that there was once a deal made at a town
called Munich, and by men who were called appeasers. He says: "This is not
our war. Let's keep out of it. " The Belgians, the Dutch, the Norwegians—in
fact every nation now under the iron heel—thought it was not their war. But
the sophist is never stopped by plain example and logical argument. He only
stops talking when he is confronted by a deaf ear.

No, it is not enough to have military valor, great leadership, brilliant in-
vention and skilled production. Solidarity at the core! Unity of purpose! There
is our strength—that is our salvation. Any one who works for it, is working
for America. Anyone who hinders and obstructs it, is aiding Hitler and to-
ward the possible downfall of this citadel of human liberty and decency.