Maryland was one of the few states which did not have an economic
development agency. I felt this lack very keenly. On the one hand,
I was aware of the increasing activity by our neighboring states to
attract industry. On the other hand, I found that we, in Maryland,
were getting inquiries from businesses interested in establishing them-
selves in the State. And yet we had no organized clearing house of
information which could provide our prospects with the accurate in-
formation and the advisory services needed to guide them to the ad-
vantages of doing business in Maryland. In fact, I shudder when I
think that because even one letter may have gone astray or because
another may have been too slow in answering, could conceivably have
resulted in Maryland's failure to attract a new payroll running into
millions of dollars....

The Economic Development Department has been in existence only
a few short months. During this period it not only recruited a com-
petent and effective staff, but it also put together an impressive list of
accomplishments. Just the other day, as a matter of fact, a member of
the staff of the Ohio State Development Department came to An-
napolis to see what we were doing. Even though Ohio has had a
development department longer than we have, this man said he had
come to Maryland because our Department was nationally recognized
as outstanding, in spite of the short time we had been in business.

In that connection, I would like to list some of our accomplish-
ments for you, because I take what I believe is a pardonable pride in
the manner in which this extremely new agency has taken hold, and
the number of ways in which it has already made a vital contribution
to the welfare of our State. First, let me state the accomplishments of
the Economic Development Department in dollars-and-cents-terms.
Since it set itself up as the clearing house and reference center for
inquiries about industrial possibilities coming into the State, the De-
partment has played a vital role in the establishment of at least two
new industries. These alone will provide the State with a great many
new jobs and new payrolls amounting to millions of dollars annually.
Moreover, the Department has handled about 50 really significant
industrial inquiries in its short existence, and many of these represent
very great potential investments for the future. Fundamentally, how-
ever, the primary function of the Economic Development Commission
is to act as a catalyst between the inquiring concern and the locality
where it wishes eventually to settle. In many cases a business will go
directly to a town in which it is interested. In such a case the Economic
Development Department's facilities are available to that community

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