agencies together. The distribution of mail alone was a very expensive
operation under the old system, to say nothing of the delays and incon-
veniences it entailed. The same can be said of telephone communications,
which have been centralized in a single switchboard. Moreover, the
State is benefitting to the extent of approximately a half million dollars
a year in rentals it formerly paid for office space.

The consolidation of our activities here in this center is also a great
convenience to the people, who in the past found it difficult if not
impossible to learn where to go with their problems. We are better able
to help the individual citizen with his problems because of the location
of these buildings at the heart of our largest concentration of population.

Aside from these factors—the more efficient operation of our State
government and the greater convenience to the public—I am pleased
exceedingly that the State of Maryland was able to assist this great city
in its laudable effort to rejuvenate its downtown business area. The city
of Baltimore is, and has been, the cultural and economic heart of Mary-
land. The problems of the State and the city are inextricably interwoven.
The health and prosperity of the one are determined by the health and
prosperity of the other. If Baltimore thrives, the State of Maryland will
prosper. And conversely, if Baltimore is allowed to fall into decline, the
State will suffer. The State is not being altogether altruistic, therefore,
when it perceives, as it has done here, a condition that requires remedy-
ing and acknowledges its own responsibility to help provide the remedy.
The State is contributing to its own welfare when it assists the com-
munities which comprise it to improve themselves. Every person in
Maryland benefits when this city uproots its slums and replaces them
with clean and sturdy housing. A blight upon Baltimore is a blight upon
the State. We can rejoice, therefore, in seeing these buildings burgeoning
in such great beauty in what only a few years ago was blighted soil. As
we look around ourselves here in the section of the city, we see bright
prospects for the future—evidence of rebuilding and restoration that will
make the city a more pleasant place in which to live.

I am pleased, as I know all of you are, that the State of Maryland was
first to purchase land and build in the area of redevelopment. To the
south of us here, and near the center of the old business district, the city
has a bold and visionary program for the reconstruction of its vital inner
core. The leaders of this community have displayed remarkable courage
and unusual foresight in planning for the construction of a new civic
center and for the rehabilitation of the downtown area in the elaborate
Charles Center project. We have confidence in the capacity of these
leaders to bring their rejuvenation plan to fruition. In this great effort

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