Freedom of the press is the staff of life, for any vital democracy.

But we cannot just take this historical fact for granted. We must make it live.

If the British Fleet were lost or captured, the Atlantic might be dominated by Germany, a power hostile to our way of life, controlling in that event most of the ships and shipbuilding facilities of Europe.

It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.

There exists in the world today a gigantic reservoir of good will toward us, the American people.

In no direction that we turn do we find ease or comfort. If we are honest and if we have the will to win we find only danger, hard work and iron resolution.

But if we had to trade with a Europe dominated by the present German trade policies, we might have to change our methods to some totalitarian form. This is a prospect that any lover of democracy must view with consternation.