584 State Papers and Addresses

What I mean by this, of course, is that a few people neglecting to blackout
in a community may well cause immense loss of life and property damage by
attracting the fire of hostile planes or troops. It will be little consolation if
such a thing were to happen, and if we a e o • •

cooperate was not intended, but was due solely to the fact that the offending
parties didn't know what they were supposed to do.

It isn't a simple problem to assure that information will be spread about,
completely enough and often enough, to impress itself upon everyone. You
know better than I that one or two, or half a dozen, publications sometimes are
not enough. In seeking thus to put squarely before our people what is to be
expected of them, we may have to din it in their ears continually, and we will
certainly have to try to devise ways of doing this so as to appeal one way or
another to every resident of the State.

To digress for a moment, it is most encouraging to know that during the
months of October and November, Maryland was able to bring about a reduc-
tion in the number of deaths from fatal accidents on our streets and highways.
Undoubtedly, one of the things that contributed greatly to this was the whole-
hearted support given by the press of the State, and the continual use by many
of the papers of safety slogans that impressed upon, the minds of our people
in succinct fashion, certain important safety principles.

Merely as a suggestion, the same idea might be worked out as part of our
Public Information Program. It seems to me that if each week some one, or
several salient bits of defense advice of regulations, could be carried in an
especial way, not necessarily large, on the front pages of our weeklies, the
cumulative effect of such repetition would undoubtedly be very great.

Should we ever be unfortunate enough to have a real attack of any kind, the
information and guidance absorbed thereby might well be the means of saving
uncounted lives.

Mr. Gibson, whom I have appointed as Director of Public Information, has
invited a group to consult with him, with the idea of devising ways and means
of getting across to our people the necessary information. This Committee was
limited more or less to those living in and around Baltimore, because it was
felt that regular meetings would thus be possible without putting anyone to
too much inconvenience. However, it was distanctly our hope and I voice it
most profoundly this afternoon, that we will have the editors and other publi-
city officials of the State, to the end that no avenue of publicity will be over-
looked that could possibly be helpful in making our information coverage as
nearly 100 % as possible.