92 State Papers and Addresses

every American fully appreciates that we are, as a Nation in real jeopardy,
that there will be the fullest preparations for defense that are so necessary at

the moment.

If further evidence is needed to convince the people of our State generally

that the situation facing us is a serious one, I might cite the very concrete
contribution Maryland already has been called upon to make in the matter of
personnel for our armed forces. In eleven months since the Selective Training
and Service Act went into effect, more than 13, 000 young men of our State have
been inducted into the Federal service, affecting approximately 40, 000 people.
There is not a section of any county of the State that has not felt the effects of
this great peacetime training program. And this total does not include the
other thousands who are members of other units, either in the armed forces or
who have been called into Federal service of other kinds.

On the industrial front, which, in today's mechanical warfare, is of almost
equal importance with the active fighting forces, the State has been most re-
sponsive to the needs of defense production. In the first years of Maryland's
National Defense Training Program, arranged by the State Department of
Education in cooperation with the educational authorities of Baltimore City
and the various counties, 27, 500 persons have been enrolled for the courses
offered by the Public Schools, and more than 22, 000 of these now are actually
engaged in defense industries.

Some of these persons previously had been working in such industries, but,
through the training supplied in these Defense Training Courses, they were pre-
pared for more responsible positions, calling for higher skill and more exact
workmanship. How important such training is today can be appreciated when
it is considered that one plant making essential war material is now taking on
800 men per week, and every hour saved in their training, by reason of previous
time spent in the Public School Defense Courses, advances the cause of defense
production by so much.

This "stepping up" of training and production must be continued if the
United States is to be able to meet any foe. As a Nation, we are living through
dangerous days. Wherever two or more informed Americans gather together
the thought of that danger is uppermost. Yet many of our people, good
citizens, patriotic Americans, seem to fail utterly in any realization of the
significance of the threat that hangs over us. A world revolution, backed by
the most colossal military machine ever known, from day to day puts to chal-
lenge the future existence of every right and privilege we as free men and
women have heretofore enjoyed.

One man—a madman—but in many ways a genius—has done the impos-
sible. Having seized the control of the German people and their resources,
Hitler has, within a few years, without provocation, attacked—terrorized—and
conquered fifteen proud and ancient nations. With tyrannic fury he has
wrecked the homes, ravaged the commerce, seized the property, and destroyed
the liberties of four-fifths of the people of Europe.

His will alone holds the fate of hundreds of millions—and that without any
restraint of law, morals, or religion, such as for hundreds of years the civilized
world has depended upon for individual and national protection. With the ac-