of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor, 787

Internal chaos and strife must be averted in the beaten Axis nations, by
international policing; and the economy of these peoples must be managed until
stability of government is restored, lest starvation and despair there spread
their, cankers of unrest throughout the world. International trade must be
world-managed, in the interest of all nations, for we have learned only too well
that the world cannot go forward in peace and hope while any of its parts are
desperately ill.

If ever there was an undertaking that called for. local handling, by states
and cities; to support and round out international and National efforts, this pro-
gram of post-Victory planning does. Fortunately, Maryland is^ well prepared.
Our house is in order, financially and in other ways. If and when cessation of

war industry production threatens dislocation of Maryland's economy, and the
spectre of unemployment once again hangs over people, there are media at
hand with which this; threat can be met effectively.

Of the utmost importance, too, if there should ever result a drastic curtail-
ment of employment is the trust fund to Maryland's credit of $47, 500, 000 at
the Unemployment Compensation Board. This huge amount, built up over the
years, and reserved by the benefit of Maryland's workers in every field, will go
far, indeed, to alleviate the demands of any period of recession.

I mention these items because I feel that business and professional men in
the times ahead will be called upon to play a much more active part in the
functioning of government than before. Officials can plan and direct but the
controlling power of public opinion will be the final judge of what must Be done.
Also it will be reassuring to the people if their own citizens of business ex-
perience and professional judgment are called into service by the government
to a greater extent than ever before in the period of reconstruction.

Anyone who might ever have entertained doubts as to the prospects of

America and the United Nations in this war has ample reason for restored con-

findence in the thrilling stories of the unconquerable spirit of American fighting

forces at Guadalcanal, Midway, in the Coral Sea, in the Solomons, and on all

the far-flung battle lines. That spirit is simply the spirit of America, that
spirit thai brought the early settlers to Maryland and other States, that urged
them to dare forests and prairies and mountains in their westward search for
better things, that bolstered their arms in every hour of crisis faced by our
Nation from the earliest days.

America won't be beaten in this war because it is simply inconceivable to
the spirit of America that defeat could come. Democracy, with all its freedoms
and privileges that have been the life's blood of our people for three centuries
and more, is so precious that death itself is a small price to pay for its preserv-
ation.