gram. The new enterprise we are honoring today already employs thirty
people in the new jobs which have been created for Garrett Countians
and ultimately, I am told, this company will hire another hundred....

ADDRESS, MARYLAND CONSUMER
FINANCE ASSOCIATION
BALTIMORE

October 20, 1962

It is a great pleasure to me to be among my friends of the Maryland
Consumer Finance Association at this annual banquet. I deeply appre-
ciate the cordial reception and the warm hospitality I have received here
this evening.

As leaders of a very important segment of the business community of
our State, I know the economic condition of Maryland is a matter of
primary concern to each of you.

Among the many other valuable functions it performs, the Economic
Development Commission which I established early in my term as Gov-
ernor of the State is responsible for reporting to me periodically on the
general economic condition of the State. Within the recent weeks, the
Department has reported to me some very interesting, and I think very
significant, data and figures. With your permission, I should like to
discuss some of them with you. Some months ago, the Federal Reserve
Bank of this district—the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond—pub-
lished a report on Maryland's economy in a booklet entitled "Maryland—
An Economic Profile. " It described Maryland as "an old State but one
whose economy has been showing the boundless energy of a teen-ager. "
On the front cover has a picture of our eighteenth century State House
in Annapolis and underneath it this line: "Maryland—an old State
showing vigorous economic growth. "

All of you are familiar, I know, with current reports from economists
and others indicating a leveling-off, or perhaps a decline, in business
conditions throughout the country as a whole. From all the available
indicators, this, I am pleased to report, is not true of Maryland, and in
fact there is every indication of a continuing upward swing in a booming
economy. Generally recognized as the most accurate measurement, the
most valuable indicator, of economic conditions is what is called Gross
National Product. By definition, this means the total value of all goods
produced and services rendered.

190