expect to maintain there so long as I am Governor of the State. But
back to the events of the year. Last winter after we had been able to
bring the State's financial picture into sharper focus, I initiated a series
of meetings between persons concerned with public finances and those
concerned with public education to inquire into the possibility of in-
creasing State appropriations to finance increased salaries of school
teachers, school principals and school officials.

Long and involved discussions were held in these conferences, and
after they had been concluded, I proposed a program to provide salary
increases on a state-wide basis. This program envisioned a progressive
salary increase for each of the four years of my Administration. As is to be
expected in any measure of so much significance, the program I proposed
created some dissension and some controversy. The group representing
the school teachers of Maryland said that my proposal did not go far
enough. Members of the group urged that I abandon what I considered
to be a fair and equitable plan and insisted that a program of their own
be superimposed upon it. Reluctantly and in the spirit of good will and
compromise, I accepted this substitute program, the results of which you
all are now familiar.

Members of the General Assembly, never quite satisfied with it in the
long hours of discussion in the 90-day session, finally rejected the sub-
stitute in the closing hours of the session. A chief contributing factor in
this decision was that it was being made under the economy budget
which I had proposed which provided no substantial financial increases
for other State services and other State employees.

As of this moment, this matter is in the hands of the General Assembly.
An industrious and competent committee of the Legislative Council has
been conducting hearings on the subject throughout the summer. I
expect within the next few weeks to receive a report from that committee,
a report which I hope will give us a sound foundation for the work we do
at the next session of the Legislature toward finding a solution to our
problem.

Before closing these remarks, I should like to return briefly to a topic
alluded to earlier, and that is the continuation of a cordial relationship
between the government at Annapolis, executive and legislative, and the
people responsible for the administration of our public school system.
To discharge my own responsibilities as Governor in this field, I must
rely on the advice and the judgment of those in charge of teaching the
boys and girls of our schools. This means that the lines of communication
between the chief executive and teachers and educators must be kept

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