certain restrictions in our highway law which are delaying construction
of vitally needed roads. The proposed revision of the law will permit
an immediate start of construction that will result in the completion
of a continuous network of modern major highways serving every
region of Maryland by the end of 1965. The proposal also envisions
critically needed improvements to secondary roads. It is my sincere
belief that this measure will provide the greatest good for the greatest
number of Marylanders, will make the most intelligent use of the
money remaining in the Twelve-Year-Program fund and will bring
good arterial roads five to ten years closer to reality. I urge, therefore,
that you give this important legislation your approval.

I am pleased to report that the Department of Economic Develop-
ment, established by Legislation you passed last year to encourage
the expansion of new business and industry in the State, is off to an
excellent start. The department has been organized, has a new director
and already is hard at work accumulating and organizing the ma-
terial it will use to persuade business and industry to take advantage
of the many opportunities they will find in our State. I have requested
that the budget of the Department be increased by $100, 000 next year
to provide for a sound development of staff, program and information
for its first full year of operation.

Working closely with this new agency toward certain common
objectives is the reorganized Planning Department, which has been
operating in its new status since last July 1. The most modern con-
cept of planning at the State level is embodied in our revamped
Planning Department. Its broad purpose is to prepare a balanced,
integrated program for the development and effective employment
of the natural and other resources of the State. In pursuit of that
purpose, it has continued its function of reviewing and making
recommendations for the capital budget, has cooperated with many
departments in specialized problems, has set up a special section to
assist and stimulate planning in the local subdivisions and has worked
effectively in the area of regional planning.

Its performance during the past seven months gives us every reason
to believe that the reorganized Planning Department will be effective
in the development of the resources of the State and in aiding the
State government to solve the problems of many areas—problems which
will be intensified in the years ahead by a growth in population and
an accelerated industrial development.

I am pleased, likewise, by both the quality and the scope of the job
that has been done by the Tidewater Fisheries Department which we

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