of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 549

destroys all doubt in any reasonably informed mind that unless he is crushed,
sooner or later he will undertake to impose his system and control over this
Western Hemisphere. This necessarily means that in order to do so, he will
have to undertake first to subjugate this Country and, of course, that can only
be an act of war....

That is why the American people, accustomed as they are to the ways of
peace, and remembering the tragic losses of that great war that ended 25 years
ago, today are determined that, whatever the cost, no foreign power, no dic-
tator-ruled military nation, will ever invade these shores of ours. None will
deprive us of even one of the valued freedoms handed down to us, and guarded
zealously for us, by eight generations of up-standing loyal Americans.

The people of America, the people of Maryland, definitely do not want war.
To a man, however, and to the last woman, every loyal American will battle to
preserve intact the system of Democratic Government that is ours; with its
priceless guarantees of individual freedom and opportunity. To safeguard
that, they will face even the horrors of a war conceived in madness and, in the
American fashion, will wage that war to a successful conclusion, no matter
what may be the cost. If we are forced ultimately into such a war., it will not •
be a pleasant one, have no doubt about that.. For Hitler, his disorganized
brain envisioning himself as ruler of the world, has shown the way by which
modern war must be fought, and if ultimately our Country must join the issue
with him, it will be necessary for us to beat him at his own game.

War, or even the preparation for defense against war, was not always the
complex problem that it is today. Time was when an army was outfitted with
rifles, and possibly horses, given some artillery, and then moved out to meet
another army similarly equipped. Today, the matter isn't nearly as simple.
In fact, it is difficult for anyone, even those in official positions, to get anything
like an adequate picture of all that is involved when a nation the size of ours
prepares to defend itself against possible acts of aggression.

First, there is the age-old problem of outfitting a military and naval ma-
chine. This is a problem tremendously complicated by developments of modern
warfare, as everyone can easily comprehend from the day-to-day reports of the
present conflicts that appear in the newspapers of the land.

Maryland is doing its part thoroughly in this phase of defense preparation.
Not only are the plane factories of our State contributing vastly to the equip-
ping of our air defense forces for both the Army and Navy, but from various
fronts of the current struggles in Europe, Asia and Africa come increasing
reports of successful activities of Maryland-made planes.

In the production of powder and explosives, as well, Maryland has become a
most important factor, as I had reason to know at first hand last week, when
I participated in the award to the Triumph Explosives Plant at Elkton of a
decoration from the United States Navy for unusual proficiency. On Friday of
this week I will be called upon to participate in another such award at the
Naval Powder Factory, at Indian Head, Maryland, where also the accomplish-
ments to date have far exceeded original plans or expectations.

Second, to our own military and naval demands, but of almost equal im-