Message to the Legislature : Twenty-Eighth Legislative Assembly of the State of North Dakota

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Politics & Government; Pacific; Iceland; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16921coll3/id/1287

Message To the Twenty-eighth Legislative Assembly and Biennial Report to The People of North Dakota: Under the constitution of this state, to which all of us swear allegiance when we take office, the governor is required to report on the financial condition of the state government and to make recommendations for legislation which he deems of benefit to the state. I appear before you today in accordance with that mandate to give to you, as legislators, and to the people of North Dakota, an account of my stewardship and to canvass with you—and with them—the things we can and should do to further the interests of North Dakota and of her people. As we meet here today, a portion of our minds and hearts are necessarily far away; in the green jungles of the South Pacific where several score North Dakota men already have proved their devotion to our country by giving up their lives in its service; to the bleak shores of Alaska, facing as cruel and treacherous an enemy as civilization has ever known; on the equally bleak shores of Iceland, in Africa, in India, on the islands of the Caribbean; wherever the banner of freedom floats in the breeze. The sons of North Dakota are there— your sons and mine—already 38,000 to 40,000 strong. And more are going every day. This fact dominates your thinking and mine, for as these men fight to keep America free it is our duty to make constructive use of the freedom which we treasure. They lay a duty upon us which is as urgent as that of the constitution itself. It is a duty to think wisely, to act intelligently, to cast aside certain of the considerations which might influence us in normal times and to match the patriotism they are display-