 It's your country, big, strong, rugged, its warm heart beating time for the rest of the world. These are the cities and towns you live in. Close the commerce that makes the cities live and breathe. Here are the gateways through which we reach out to the people living in the free nations of the world. These ports are the nerve centers. Through them, the hostile world could strike at us and crack our shell of protection. If we're not constantly on the alert, every minute of every, in every city of the land, this too is sabotage. The little ones, the planned carelessness of a subversive, an agent of the enemy, transportation systems that serve the industries which are the backbone of our country, could begin at the seaports. This is where bombs and other tools and materials of sabotage could be smuggled into the country, placed in the normal channels of commerce, and sent on their destructive way to any city, factory, or warehouse in the land, hemp to sneak crippling atomic or other sabotage weapons into this country in almost any conceivable form. A bag of tapioca, a crate of melons, a small package, a suitcase, can conceal some small, vital component of a sabotage device. So we must make certain that no person, shipment, or vessel entering our ports has hostile intent. Women are the port advisory council of this port, representatives of industry, government, and labor. And it's your responsibility to alert the dock owners, the longshoremen, the people of your city, to rouse them and pull them into a team, to guard against sabotage. And that's where the United States Coast Guard comes in. We're charged by the government with port security, with putting a shell of protection around our nation. We're the smallest of the services. We have done some big jobs before, and we can do this one. But we need your help. Each one of you must play his part in doing that job. No one service can do the job alone. But with your help, we can look after these breathing points of our country, through which we get important raw materials vital to industry, and through which we send finished products to the rest of the world, helping to keep the peace. Protecting the port areas against sabotage is protecting the peace of the world. It's a big job, a constant one. And there are many things for you to do. Certain jobs the Coast Guard does alone, like harbor entrance patrol. You're a seaman on harbor entrance patrol. It doesn't look like much, and it's pretty routine to identify all ships. Most of them you just look over. Times you stop one and send it to an anchorage, away from the crowded part of the port. A ship that may be carrying sabotage material. Look up a radio telephone, and you call in another pair of Coast Guard eyes. To watch from above. To make certain no equipment or no materials of sabotage are quietly thrown overboard before you find them. On this tug, we'll carry out the search while you go back to your patrol station. Scientific detection devices to help in the search. Can't see or feel. These instruments will see and feel for you. You wonder if the men on the foreign ship watch you, because they know that too. Find something the electronic one missed. This time it's just a kid's comic book, hidden away by a grown-up sailor. Next time, time another ship. Another search. Routine to keep our ports safe and secure. Checking the ships before they get into port. But once they arrive, alongside your docks, you, the rest of the port security team, must take over. One important way in which you ship and peer owners can protect your port is to make sure that the stevedoring companies know what kind of cargo they're handling. If any of it is on the dangerous and hazardous commodity list, the stevedores must instruct their longshoremen as to safe methods for working it. Another way you protect your port is to post required signs. But no matter how well you mark your peers, you must check on them constantly. You must make certain your peers have keen, alert, well-trained guards who patrol them, checking, keeping all unauthorized people away, so the shell of protection can stay intact every minute of every day. The readiness of protective equipment must also be checked, because the life of the men who work on the pier and the existence of the pier itself depend on it. You must also be able to get to the equipment quickly and easily. Air is one of the big hazards on the waterfront, so all markings must be clear and easy to read. An important part of the daily routine is to keep fires from happening. Refuse left by careless people can cause damage, and you can't take chances with a leaky drum of oil. Lacks about enforcing no smoking regulations. Careless and faultless acts can cause damage equal to deliberate sabotage. These signs and all other markings on dangerous cargo are like an alphabet of safety. The guard must learn them, because knowing them tells him immediately the degree of danger that surrounds him. Knowing the signs and constantly checking to see if cargo is stowed properly helps minimize the danger of accident and sabotage. On enclosed piers, the guard must make sure there's at least two feet of clear and open space between cargo piles and the walls of the pier. Cargo should not be tiered higher than 12 feet, and the top of the pile must not be closer than 3 feet from the overhead beams of the pier. A guard must also be on the lookout for any hazardous stacking. A main aisle at least 20 feet wide along the entire length of the pier must be kept clear so that fire trucks can enter if it becomes necessary. There must also be a wide separation between general cargo and inflammable, combustible or corrosive materials. If this is not done, you leave the door open to saboteurs, front facilities or the operators of stevedoring companies or the longshoremen themselves. What's to prevent anybody from arranging the cargo any way he sees fit? To carry out any kind of scheme he may have in mind. Negligence, owners, guards, longshoremen simply not bothering can cause the same kind of damage as sabotage. We can protect these facilities if you do your part. The Coast Guard is doing everything in its power to help you men on the waterfront protect lives, property and the nation. The job of guarding against sabotage is more than protecting the piers against destruction from fire. It is protecting the piers against the wrong kind of people. When a guard works any place long enough, faces get familiar. Certainly he can't look into everybody's mind to see what's kicking around inside. But he can spot check. A port security card is identification. It helps to protect all of us from a trader who might be posing as a longshoreman. Each worker should make certain his fellow worker has proper identification. It just isn't smart to work dangerous cargo with anyone who doesn't hold a port security card. In this way the longshoreman becomes a part of the shell of protection. In this way he not only protects the port, but himself as well. This is particularly true when handling explosives or any cargo destined for our military forces or the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. For these also are targets for espionage agents and saboteurs, longshoremen, thousand extra eyes and ears, assisting in the constant fight to prevent sabotage of our port facilities. The longshoreman on or off duty sees many things because he is on every part of every pier. It is his duty to report anything suspicious that he sees. The menace exists for the public just as it exists for those of us in the Coast Guard or those who work on the piers. City dwellers, office workers, housewives, service personnel must be constantly alert, must report anyone distributing hostile propaganda. Mechanics, machinists, workers in factories should be alert to suspicious acts that may wreck our industrial potential. Fishermen, coastal workers, people on vacation should be on the lookout for any evidence of surreptitious landings. The hunter, people who live in isolated areas, should report any evidence indicating parachute landings, can watch for and report any unauthorized use of radio transmitters. Suspicious chartering of airplanes for flights over nearby restricted areas should also be reported. Early business can give us a few more million eyes with which to strengthen the peace and security of our nation. For people carry the seeds of sabotage and they must be watched and checked just like the cargo on the piers or the fire hazards or the ships in the harbor. And it's not an extra job for the public, it should be part of their daily routine. Only in that way can we keep a strong shell of protection around the nation in which we live. So the inside stays clean and safe and free. Theness of sabotage is constant. Our ports are the nerve centers of the world. Every person loyal to the United States should make it a part of his daily job to guard against sabotage, to work safely, to know the men they work with, to keep their eyes sharp for signs of trouble. So this will never happen. The country, the free world depend on you to keep these gateways open. It's part of your life to guard against sabotage.