GOO State Papers and Addresses

and commissions, have been turned into channels undreamed of a few months
ago.

Today ninety per cent of our time and efforts is being devoted to State de-
fense and war problems. In less than two months, the program of the State
Administration has been completely rearranged. Defense is by all odds the first
item and the biggest item in Maryland's affairs. Other ordinary matters must
take second place to the all-out effort in which we, together with the other
states, are engaged.

And certainly, this is as it should be. Every one of us must respond to
the call for service, wherever best fitted, just as the cream of our youth is
responding for active defense in the armed services. Thousands of Maryland
homes already have seen their boys go into uniform. Some already have made
the supreme sacrifice. But many will not get the full significance of the war
effort until, through the Joss of a loved one, it strikes home.

Prom several angles Maryland is a most important cog in the National
Defense machinery. In the first place, we have many essential war industries
in the State, whose one hundred per cent, uninterrupted production is essential
to successful prosecution of the war. Second, we are adjacent to the National
Capitol, in the target area for attack. Beyond this Maryland is on the Atlantic
Seaboard, with a coast line to defend, vulnerable to attack from the water, and
it is therefore of foremost importance that State protection be guaranteed as
far as possible by our own efforts.

Aside from the above, the very war economy which necessarily has been
thrust upon us dictates that our State machinery be geared up to that tempo
and adjusted to operations which the all-out war effort requires. Every busi-
ness has been affected, many habits of living, aside from the mere question of
automobile driving, already have felt the effect of the changed economy.

I have attempted to adjust the State Administration to these changes and
to anticipate them as far as possible, and in the general effort we are neces-
sarily acting in close cooperation with Washington in order to have effective
coordination.

With few exceptions, the State's daily program now has to do with various
questions of State and local defense councils, transportation facilities, water
supply, sanitation, the State Guard, tire and other rationing, medical services,
production in war industrial plants, and all the intricate problems that stem
from them.

Not many weeks ago, on the Sunday just one week after the treacherous
surprise attack upon Hawaii, Dorchester County staged a practice blackout. It
was successful, beyond any expectation, and helped to set up a fund of ex-
perience that later was to be drawn upon by the other counties of the State,
as one by one they staged their own blackouts to accustom their people to the
exigencies that might arise at any time. Let me say here that the true spirit
of cooperation encountered in Dorchester County is deserving of the highest
commendation. Our people have reacted to the call of preparedness in magnifi-
cent manner.