of Governor Herbert R, O'Conor 783

Of the dangers, and the world-wide implications, of the first phase of this
two-fold struggle, there is general awareness among the people of America. To
the defeat of the Axis powers—theirs is an unshakeable determination.

The news from Guadalcanal this morning reminds us only too well that we
are in a war to the death—a war that we must win to survive. And the losses
recounted among our gallant fighting forces leave no doubt in anyone's mind as
to the sacrifices we must except before Victory is won.

Concerning the second present-day problem, there is not as much general
comprehension, for the understandable reason that the primary objective of our
people is, and must be, to win the war. This second phase is the absolute
necessity of maintaining our dual form of Government, with the States and the
Federal Union as separate sovereign powers, and of preserving unimpaired,
those priceless rights and freedoms which are the very essence of American
citizenship.

An early American statesman once said, "The tree of liberty must be re-
freshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants. " These words might well
be reiterated in times of crisis like this, because the importance of the States as
individual units, self-sufficient unto themselves, has been re-emphasized in un-
mistakable terms.

We are at war to preserve our way of life. But business and professional
men such as compose this Club must be vigilant to see that we maintain un-
change our form of Government which has proven itself worthy over a century
and a half.

We are all aware of how much of our normal freedom of action we have
surrendered—willingly and gladly—to meet the demands of the present situa-
tion. Emergency war powers have been granted to our President to an extent
unprecedented in our history. These emergency powers are and must continue
to be exercised for Victory. But let it be remembered they are emergency
powers only.

If Victory results in drastic or essential change in our Constitutional Gov-
ernment, in the loss of the liberties essential to our way of life, it will be an
empty Victory, indeed, for we shall have lost what we fought to save.

Today we are engaged in combating one of the most devastating assaults
ever made upon the principles which are embodied in our way of life and philos-
sophy of Government. In times such as these we are prone to be impatient
with anything which seems to hinder the prosecution of those war efforts, even
though it be the assertion of rights protected by our Constitution.

But in our eagerness to exert our fullest efforts to the destruction of our
enemies, there is a latent danger that we may at the same time be laying the
foundation for a definite change-about of our own way of life. At first glance
it might be thought that it is contradiction to say that an all-out effort be made
for war purposes and at the same time to preserve separate unities. However,
the attitude and action of this State shows that it can be done.