of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 509

December 18, 1941
• • Hagerstown,

ON previous occasions I have had the pleasure of visiting Hagerstown in
connection with events significant of the progress of your citizens and of
your government. For instance, there was the laying of the cornerstone of the
City Hall, at which impressive exercises were conducted by the Masonic Order.
Later, -the dedication of this imposing structure was held and, previously, ap-
propriate ceremonies attending the formal opening of the airport. But on no
occasion have I come on such a serious mission as that of today. It would be
difficult to imagine circumstances and conditions, which present a greater chal-
lenge to representative citizens, than those under which we meet today.

War has been forced upon our Country. The treacherous assult of the
Japanese brought us into the. conflict. Possibly, only those living on the West
Coast really expected to see the day when America and* Japan would" be en-
gaged in a death struggle.

Much nearer to home, and much more likely to affect our State and the
other states of the Eastern Seabord, is the war with Germany and Italy, which
has been looming upon the horizon these past two or three years. We're in
war, total war, and we're in right up to our necks. Make no mistake about it,
the complete cooperation of every one of the millions of Americans is going to
be necessary before we bring these wars to a successful conclusion.

. Over a period of months we have been busily engaged in planning for hos-
tilities, in laying the foundation, here in the State, for the type of complete
civilian defense that the experience of England has shown will be necessary in
case of a hostile attack. The activities of the Maryland Council of Defense
along these lines during the past 16 months have been hampered somewhat,
however, because so many of our people refused to believe that war would come.
All their thinking was based on a great big "IF. " There was grave doubt in
their minds that the plans being made would ever actually be neccessary.

Under such conditions it is remarkable that we were able to make as much
progress as we did, that we could arrive at such an advanced state of prepara-
tion throughout the 23 counties as had been achieved when the long-dreaded
onslaught materialized at Hawaii, just eleven days ago.

When you "blacked out" so successfully here last Sunday, undoubtedly many
people were impressed deeply for the first time that something had occurred
that was likely to disturb the routine of their lives. Many were impressed,
•beyond question, with the fact that other "blackouts" in the offing, will not be
merely practice maneuvers but "blackout" in which the exploding bombs and
screaming aircraft shells may afford totally undesired illumination.

We learned with stunned emotions of the sneaking attempt launched so
devastatingly upon Hawaii by these Oriental savages, at the very moment