of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 695

are connected with that Battle of the Atlantic. We have been asked to accept
gasoline rationing so as to remove as many tankers as possible from the peril-
ous voyage up the Coast. It has become the duty of every one of us to walk
where we used to ride; to double up in the use of cars where we used to ride in
solitary comfort; yes—and to omit entirely the pleasure jaunts we used to enjoy
so casually.

This, my friends, is a phase of Civilian Defense. You are all, each and
every one, participating to that extent in the Battle of the Atlantic.

And it is well-known that one arm of our offense has already been extended
•to the skies. Over there is forming now what may become known as the Bat-
tle of Germany, American bombers, as Churchill has said, will soon be carry-
ing some of Hitler's bitter medicine back to Hitler and his frightened people.

Do you think that we at home are merely by-standers to the Battle of
Germany? Far from it. Day by day, night by night, those bombers which
are to keep the fires burning in Germany are rolling off the assembly lines right
here in Maryland. Some of the metal which supplies the visiting cards which
our flyers will leave on Hitler's rooftops is to come from your households. It
is your responsibility—your duty—a part of your Civilian Defense work to
get that scrap-metal to the Salvage Commitee.

Moreover, it will be manifestly impossible to step up and to keep up pro-
duction if Civilian Defense did not keep pace. The Army and Navy could not,
and would not, send its forces abroad to engage the enemy unless the people
at home were on the job as Air Wardens, State Guardsmen, Minute Men and
the like.

Whatever you are doing—whatever you can do in addition to what you are
doing now—is a very definite and necessary aid to the boys on the fighting line.
Our work lacks the excitement, the peril and the glory of what the men in
uniform can do. But we cannot allow it to lack the energy. A wasted hour
may mean a wasted life. A duty shirked is an added weight for someone else
to carry. And conversely, the job you do with diligence and vim puts you
squarely behind the man behind the gun.

We can look back over the past few months with some satisfaction.
Heaven only knows, this Country has suffered heart-rending and bitter disaster.
There may be more of them in store, but a realistic viewpoint seems to justify
the opinion that the worst has passed and that from now on we are set to drive
through to Victory. Let us never for a moment forget that the military effort
goes hand in hand with the civilian one. No battle in any part of the world
can take place without involving us. Here at home we must drive onward
toward Victory. Here at home we must take and maintain an unrelenting
offensive. Here at home we must hew the wood and carry the water for the
rebuilding of a triumphant and lasting peace.

Today, Heaven be praised, our Country is united. In every section of this
far-flung land there is agreement on one objective—Victory. Nothing will be
permitted to stand in the way of achieving it. No cost, no sacrifice, is too
great to secure it. As Americans all, we are pledged to throw our last resource,