Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland—with the
electric energy they need now, and will need in years to come, to
maintain their homes and operate their businesses. To those of us in
government and elsewhere who are engaged in the important task of
planning the orderly and healthy growth of Maryland, this Dickerson
generating station of PEPCO has a special meaning. A healthy and
orderly growth of our State demands careful, precise planning for its
economic development, and, as we all know here, economic expansion
in this age would be impossible without the production of adequate
electric energy. Maryland has been generously endowed by nature
with characteristics which have made it a place of pleasant and
abundant living. The hills, valleys, woodlands and fields that spread
out before us here afford man all the delights of nature he needs to
live prosperously and happily. But the full life demands that man
not only be provided with the necessities of food, clothing and shelter,
but that resources surrounding him are sufficient to permit him to
exercise to the fullest degree his instincts to build and to create. These
resources the Maryland man possesses in great quantity.

The growth and development of our State over the past three centur-
ies has been determined to a great degree by the wealth of its natural
resources. Its early economy, primarily agricultural, was founded on
the sound base of a fertile and productive soil. Commerce, and later
industry, supplanted agriculture as the keystone of its economy, al-
though agriculture, even today, is a vital part of it. The thriving city
of Baltimore grew up around one of the finest natural harbors in the
country, a seaport that permitted the thrifty and enterprising merchants
of Maryland to trade with the peoples of all parts of the world. Rail-
roads, canals and highways were built, opening up the West and
creating a natural outlet through our State of the commerce of that
region with the rest of the country and the rest of the world. The
coal of Western Maryland, which we hope PEPCO will use in even
greater quantities as the years go by, promoted a healthy, vital economy
in Western Maryland—in cities like Cumberland and Hagerstown. A
remunerative industry was built around our beautiful and priceless
Chesapeake Bay with its great abundance of fish, oysters and other
kinds of seafood. But an economy does not, and cannot, remain in
a static condition. It either grows or it decays.

Understanding this, the states and regions of this country are com-
peting keenly for industrial and commercial expansion. One state in
the South last year added $153 million to its basic industrial wealth
by inducing new industries to locate there. If Maryland is to retain

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