Mr. President and delegates, it is a great honor to appear here in behalf of Operation Statehood, Many members of Operation Statehood who cannot be here have watched closely every action that you have taken and regret that they cannot be in attendance with us. As this Convention draws to a close, it is perhaps singularly unlike any other Convention wherein the last few days, everyone comments about "the words that have been spoken here will soon be forgotten but we will carry the spirit forward." In this particular instance as you gentlemen are only too well aware, every word that has been spoken here will go into history for study in the future. Perhaps it has seemed difficult for you from time to time, to draw decisions that were free from political impact. Many of you have been aware of the fact that innumerable decisions that perhaps would prejudice people interested in their political future forever have been made at this point, fairly unbiased and unselfishly. I say many of us have been aware of this because thousands of people have watched the actions of this convention, on a day in and day out procedure; those people who could not perhaps attend on a regular basis but have watched closely every action that has been taken. For the fact that we have here delegates who have been unselfish and honest, we can only thank God.

As we landed today, and there were 56 of us coming in, we were greeted by the Fairbanks High School choir which gave a rendition of the Alaska Flag. And I think it was extremely touching that these high school students were singing the Flag in the city where the constitution was being written. These are, after all, students who will live under the laws which you have, in these past days, put into writing. They are the ones who will study the action and words of each of you through many years in the future as to what you have intended to do and what you have meant in the statements you have made. Mr. President, some way it is a touching thing to see those students as they actually stood there singing the Alaska Flag.

Perhaps it is somewhat vain to recognize that in the opening days of your session we presented you with a flag and now in the closing days we have come back to see the completed document which you have written. We intend to stay over until tomorrow for the final signing of it. We recognize that in-between those two acts a tremendous amount has been accomplished, and now you are coming within 24 hours of the completion of your work. But it is this recognition of all the things that have gone between that we want to make today because, after all, following the signing we move on to something else which means that this too is an in-between step. We recognize that it is perhaps another one of those steps that all through history men have fought for, way back in biblical times with the prophets down to modern times with Jeffersons, Hamiltons and the Burkes. You fall into the same category of people who have untiringly given your time and efforts so that you too, might make this a better government under which we might live. For this then is the stepping-stone to our next step. This document must be ratified. It must be ratified by the people.

It is a complex thing. We, as members of Operation Statehood, assure each delegate and you, Mr. President, that we will give untiringly of our time and efforts to be sure that this is ratified and understood and that your actions might not go to no good. For this is our objective as one of the very few pressure groups that have only one single pressure to offer and that is the pressure for better government and for the ultimate end for which we seek statehood. So we cannot thank you enough; we cannot thank you enough for your work and your time and we only reassure you that we have been in spirit with you and we will continue with you up to the time your work is fully culminated and we say only this, and I speak for all our group; thank God we have men and women like you to do this splendid work.