cannot be intimidated or coerced. It cannot be compromised. To place the
maintenance of the public security in the hands of a body of men who
have attempted to destroy it would be to flout the sovereignty of the
laws the people have made. It is my duty to resist any such proposal.
Those who would counsel it join hands with those whose acts have
threatened to destroy the Government. There is no middle ground. Every
attempt to prevent the formation of a new police force is a blow at the
Government. That way treason lies. No man has a right to place his own
ease or convenience or the opportunity of making money above his duty to
the State. This is the cause of all the people. I call on every citizen
to stand by me in executing the oath of my office by supporting the
authority of the Government and resisting all assaults upon it.

Given at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this twenty-fourth day
of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and
nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the one hundred and forty-fourth.

CALVIN COOLIDGE

By His Excellency the Governor,

HERBERT H. BOYNTON

_Deputy, Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth_

God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.