The greatest attack that has ever been launched against freedom of the individual is nearer the Americas than ever before. To meet that attack we must prepare beforehand — for preparing later may and probably would be too late.
We must prepare in a thousand ways. Men are not enough. They must have arms. They must learn how to use those arms. They must have skilled leaders — who in turn must be trained. New bases must be established to enable our fleet to defend our shores. Men and women must be taught to create the supplies that we need. And we must counter the agents as Governor Hoey has said, of the dictators within our country.
There is, moreover, another enemy at home. That enemy is the mean and petty spirit that mocks at ideals, sneers at sacrifice and pretends the American people can live by bread alone. If the spirit of God is not in us, and if we will not prepare to give all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our own land, we shall go to destruction.
It is good and right that we in all this should conserve these mountain heights of the old frontier for the benefit of the American people. But in this hour we have to safeguard a greater thing: The right of the people of this country to live as free men. Our vital task of conservation is to preserve the freedom which our forefathers won in this land, and the liberties which were proclaimed in our declaration of independents and embodies in the constitution of the United States.
In these centuries of American civilization, greatly blessed by the bounties of nature, we succeeded in attaining liberty in government and liberty of the person. In the process, in the light of past history, we realize now that we committed excesses which we are today seeking to atone for.