of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 617

to its citizens. That obligation includes protection to our people. It was for
this reason that more than a year ago I asked the Maryland General Assembly
to authorize the creation of the State Guard, the primary purpose of which
was to have a mobile protective force ready to move in any direction to main-
tain the safety and security of our people and their property. It is with
pleasure that I can report to our people that the State Guard is completely
drilling.

The State Guard numbers approximately 2, 700 officers and men. Supple-
menting it is a Special Military Police Force, the members of which are on con-
tinous duty and assigned exclusively to the guarding of our State's bridges,
important water supplies, and other vital points, described by the War Depart-
ment as having important bearing on the war effort. The number of this force
is approximately 300.

To the credit of the members of our present Guard, it can be said that they
have responded to every requirement since our Nation entered the war, de-
spite unexpected difficulties under which they have at times been required to per-
form their duties. The public will understand that up until now the State's
defensive efforts have consisted mainly in protecting those installations and
locations which the War Department consider as vitally important.

Now, however, a greater possible danger must be faced by our people.
Situated as we are and exposed as our State is, we must be prepared f or the
worst. Since the outbreak of hostilities at Pearl Harbor, I have been in touch,
at regular intervals, with United States officials who have imparted information
revealing the danger that besets us. I owe it to the people of the State to re-
port that we are in jeopardy, and that we must be prepared for trouble both
from without and from within our State.

Only today, for instance, have I been advised by the Commanding General
of the First Army, in New York, that the presence and increasing activity of
enemy submarines off the Maryland Coast require additional drastic measures.

With the prospect that the regular Army units will be engaged in more
important operations elsewhere, and with our State Guard and Military Police
assigned to particular functions, it is felt absolutely necessary to have an ad-
ditional protective force—: as a home guard—for the protection of our various
communties. Competent military officers, one of whom, our capable and ex-
perienced Major General Milton A. Reckord, will speak to you in a few minutes,
advise that there is need of this further, wide-spread, alert defense organiza-
tion to cope with and to be available instantly for any sudden attack by para-
chute troops, by forces landed from the sea by enemy sympathizers within our
State.

I propose to meet this need by the organization in every part of the State
of a Reserve Militia. The completed plan has just been approved by General
Reckord, as Commander of the Third Army Corps. It offers the opportunity
for every able-bodied man to assist in protecting his home and his community
against enemy activities. The militia will be organized under our State Law,