690 State Papers and Addresses

enviable record in this respect made in our State in recent months. With all
the vast war contracts upon which our plants) are working, and with the utter
necessity for getting the planes and ships and other vital equipment to our men
promptly, no time can be lost—and no time will be lost!

In years to come, when the menace of our freedom has been destroyed,
and labor again, is free to enjoy to the fullest its justly-won gains, the people
of Maryland, particularly those affiliated with Organized Labor, will be able
to look back with deepest satisfaction upon the loyal, effective contribution
Labor here, and elsewhere, is making in this all-out battle for Democracy.

If written evidence were needed, the newspapers of yesterday and today
alone would bear conclusive testimony to Labor's efficiency and glowing
patriotism in this hour of crisis. Yesterday we were told of the almost un-
believable production records that have been set in plants in every section of
the Country, as shown by a survey by Newspaperman Ben H. Miller, whose
untimely and deeply regretted death was announced this morning. It is
memorable that his last, and one of his most important stories, was a tribute
to the patriotism of American Labor.

This morning Labor made the front pages of the papers, through the action
of more than half a million shipworkers in agreeing to relinquish $75, 000, 000
to $100, 000, 000 in wage increases. Here is practical patriotism, indeed. Here
is the kind of loyality that has made of America the great Nation it is, the kind
of loyality that will preserve its freedoms, and strengthen them for posterity.

As Chief Executive of your State, I am expressing the sentiments of our
people generally when I say, "Well done, Labor! Keep up the good fight,
until once again, through the efforts of our soldiers on the firing line and the
production line, peace may be restored to America and to the world—a just
peace that will be enduring—a peace that will bring to Labor and to all our
people enjoyment of those priceless American) freedoms! that are worth all the
toil and sacrifices we are now called upon to make. "