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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SECRETARIES OF. STATE,
HOTEL EMERSON, Radio Station WFBR
July 16, 1942
Baltimore '

Maryland is happy to have within its borders, for this National meeting
of Secretaries of State, representatives of many of our sister commonwealths.
Just as each year thousands of tradition-minded Americans journey to
Annapolis from all parts of the Country, to visit the one State House of pre-
Revolutionary days which still serves as a seat of State Government, so it is
fitting that the Secretaries of State come for their National gathering, in this
year of critical emergency, to the State that rightly may claim to have given
birth to outstanding principles of Democracy.

A century and a half before the great American Constitution was pro-
claimed to the world, Maryland's gallant founders had set the stage for it by
establishing a sanctuary for the oppressed of all the world, a sanctuary where
the individual might live his life unhampered, no matter what his private beliefs.

Because these early Maryland principles, which are the basic tenets of
Democracy, are being attacked today by the forces of slavery, they stand out
in bold relief against the Axis theories. Because they are menaced today as
never before, every one of the 48 states, every one of our 130, 000, 000 American
citizens, faces the necessity of fullest concerted effort if, as a Nation, and as a
free people, we are to weather the storm successfully.

Having but lately returned from the annual Governor's Conference, the
dominating theme of which was National Defense and the war effort, and hav-
ing noted with great interest the thoughtful discussions in which your member-
ship has participated during your meeting, it is possible to -secure a clearer
picture and understanding of the working of the States as integral, but dis-
tinct, parts of our Nation, than is had by our people generally.

In times of stress and change such as those through which we are passing,
it is only natural to find some elements within our Nation who would tell us that
the basic partitions upon which our Country was founded are no longer suited
to the needs of present-day Government. They would tell us that the States,
of themselves, are no longer important except as they fit into the National
picture. They seek more and more to break down State limits and to promote
the centralization of Federal power.

Through the discussions of the Governor's Conference, it was made clear,
beyond question, that, even in times of crisis like this—indeed it might be said,
because of these times of crisis—the importance of the States as individual
units, self-sufficient unto themselves, has been, re-emphasized in unmistakable
terms.

One of the reasons why our Axis foes felt that America wouldn't and