of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 25

(6) Several changes have been made in the form of the Commission's budget
to simplify it, and it includes much helpful information which heretofore
has not been readily available to the Legislature.

Conservation

In making the reductions which I felt were necessary, in the interest of
economy, I did not consider that it was advisable to reduce the appropriation
for oyster propagation. Accordingly, I recommend to you for each of the
years 1940 and 1941 an appropriation of $100, 000. 00 which is the sum ap-
propriated for the years 1938 and 1939.

I have also included an adequate amount for the maintenance of the Bio-
logical Laboratory at Solomon's.

Public Welfare and Assistance

Six years ago, in April 1933, Maryland received from the Federal Govern-
ment its first allotment of funds for the relief of wide-spread distress due to
unemployment. In those six years we have witnessed many changes. At first
it was believed that the need for public assistance was temporary and Mary-
land planned only to cope with an "emergency. " Today the citizens of Mary-
land and of the United States have written into law a new social obligation
toward persons and families in need. To the needy aged and the blind; to
children whose homes are threatened by the. death, incapacitation or desertion
of the wage earner; to those who are no longer able to compete with younger
and abler persons in industry, we have given assurance of food, shelter, and
other necessities of life.

Many of our citizens feel a concern for the mounting cost of relief. Let
us therefore examine our experience in the light of comparative costs, now and
in previous years. In May, 1934, the Board of State Aid and Charities, allotted
to the several local units the sum of $1, 676, 806 for the purpose of direct relief
and work relief. Last month (December 1938) these same agencies expended
$816, 615, or a little less than half as much. To be sure, other Federal Agencies,
chief among them the Works Progress Administration, are providing through
work projects for the needs of employable men and their families. But even
when the total expenditures are taken into account: viz., Works Progress Ad-
ministration and the Civilian Conservation Corps added to public assistance,
Maryland in September, 1938, was still about 40% below the all time peak for
all relief, Federal, State and local, which was reached in the State in February,
1934. When we add to this the fact that in the nation, as a whole, current
months are reaching all time highs, exceeding even the peak load of Civil Works
Administration days, and that our State is well below the peak month, we have
before us evidence that expenditures go up and down, depending upon needs,
and not in one continuous upward line. We have before us evidence that ex-
penditures have not skyrocketed merely because money was available, but that
they follow the need.

Care of the Needy Aged

In the total population of Maryland there are about 110, 500 persons who
have passed the age of 65 years. This number is slowly mounting, and each
year there is a higher proportion of aged persons among us. Many of these
aged persons have suffered severely during the depression. They have suffered