ing of the Department of Employment Security which is under con-
struction and is soon to be finished. In the first place, it has succeeded
in consolidating into one area—and for the most part into one build-
ing—the several departments and agencies of State government which
heretofore have been scattered in wild disorder throughout the city of
Baltimore. This was a situation which had badly needed correction for
many years. Secondly, in the pursuit of our main purpose we were able
to render a valuable service to the city of Baltimore in its program of
urban rehabilitation. These buildings, with their tastefully landscaped
grounds, rise out of what just a few years ago were some of the worst
slums in the downtown area of Baltimore. It is a most commendable
undertaking, and all who had a part in it are deserving of the highest
praise.

I shall not attempt to recite the history of this project, but I do recall
that one of the first matters brought to my attention when I was elected
Comptroller in 1938 was a proposal for a State Office Building in Balti-
more. Through the years as I sat as a member of the Board of Public
Works, a great variety of suggestions and plans were offered to solve the
problem of housing our State governmental agencies. There was talk
at times of buying downtown office buildings, among them the Standard
Oil Building on St. Paul Street and the Mathieson Building. Numerous
commissions had been set up to study the problem and make recom-
mendations to the Governor and the General Assembly. It was the State
Office Building Commission of 1950, headed by Hooper S. Miles, which
recommended that a building be built in Baltimore and suggested
several sites, including this one. Others on that Commission were John
B. Funk, Albert D. Hutzler, Walter N. Kirkman, William J. McWilliams,
S. Page Nelson and James G. Rennie. It was a good Commission, com-
prised of some of our finest citizens and public officials. Eventually, this
site was selected. It was, in my opinion, a wise decision.

The primary purpose of this building project of course is to provide
for the citizens of Maryland a more efficient and more effective State
government. We should never lose sight of that purpose. In no other
way can we justify the cost involved to the taxpayers of the State. In
my mind, it was a good investment—a project that will pay for itself in a
very few years. The accessibility of our State agencies one to another
will make for a much smoother operation of all of them. I sometimes
wonder how we functioned as well as we did when the agencies were so
carelessly strewn about the city. Just to learn the location of the more
important ones was a task most of us found difficult to master. A great
saving in time, energy and money will result from bringing these

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