498 State Papers and Addresses

France were just as secure in their minds as are the people of America today.
If they could speak to us today from their hearts, I know that they would cry
to the people of America in a loud voice, to prepare, to unite, to be ready at any
and every cost, to repel the ravaging hordes that today are overrunning Europe
as did the bandit hordes of centuries ago.

There is no message more important to the people of America today than
the message of their danger from the totalitarian dictators, who have progressed
so tremendously towards their goal of world domination. The appalling thing
is that after all that has happened in the past few years, after the butchery
of Poland and of Czechoslovakia, after the utter destruction of the freedom of
every man, woman, and child in the fifteen countries that Hitler has seen fit
to attack and subjugate, there are today throughout the length and breadth of
our Country, and even in high places in Washington, people who still refuse to
see or at least to acknowledge publicly, any threat from Hitler. ,

Despite the incontestable evidences given by the conquest-mad leader,
Hitler, of his intention to enslave the whole world under the heel of his Nordic
super-race, these dissenters still tell us that we have no interest in Europe's
affairs, and that even though Hitler may crush all of Continental Europe and
ultimately make good his threat against freedom, there still can be no danger
in such a situation for us.

It is impossible ever to dismiss from one's mind anxiety over events that
are happening everywhere today to affect the interests and possibly the security
of the people of our Country. It is possible, however, on an occasion like this
to feel some reassurance, and I can assure you that it is a deep pleasure to
come before the members of such an organization as yours, whose well-defined
aims and objectives are directly contrary to the objectives of hate and destruc-
tion proclaimed by the dictators.

The accomplishments and ideals of your order give heartening assurance
that brute force and might are not the only factors in the life of mankind today.
It would be a happy thing, indeed, for the world if the truth of the principles
which your Order exemplifies, could be impressed once more upon all of the
people of the world.

As Governor of Maryland, it is a privilege for me to be here today on this
Fifteenth Annual Pilgrimage in order that I might convey to you from the
people of our State their deep and heartfelt appreciation for what you have
done, not alone for the advancement of our citizenship, but more particularly
for your worthy achievements in the humanitarian field.

I have said before, but it certainly bears repetition, that this Country is
fortunate to the extreme to have in existence your organization of patriotic,
public-spirited, charity-minded citizens. The fact that you are a member of
such an organization, dedicated to the advancement of American ideals, is proof,
indeed, of your devotion to those principles which have made America truly
a land of free men and women, a land where oppression can never gain a
foothold.

It is a known fact that you could not continue as active members in such
an organization if you were not living up to the practice of loyal sons of the
Nation to whose preservation your organization is committed.