the entire country. The gains you have received as State employees under
the system are numerous, of course, but in the long run it is the people
of the State who have benefitted most from the establishment and
development of a competent and reliable civil service.

In our various positions—and whether we are in the classified service
or not—all of us are custodians and agents of the people's business of
Maryland. We are their servants in the execution of the laws enacted by
their legislative representatives. We are their agents in manning the
institutions and providing the services which they have set up for the
government of their State. In our work, therefore, we must be ever
mindful of this relationship. We must not forget the loyalty that is
demanded of agent to principal.

The people, in turn, must remember that they have their own obliga-
tions under such a relationship. They must not forget, for example, the
age-old maxim that the "laborer is worthy of his hire"—that all who
perform services are entitled to certain and adequate rewards for such
services. In the more than four decades of the operation of the merit
system, great strides have been made in the relationship of employer and
employee in the State government. There have been consistent upward
adjustments in the pay of employees.

It may be said, in passing, that the appropriations for State salaries
have increased by more than $9, 000, 000 during the two and one-half
years I have held the office of Governor. Our standard salary plan
operates under the theory of "equal pay for equal work. " Under it,
there is a continuing restudy and re-evaluation of jobs to keep them in
line with the current labor market. The Standard Salary Board conducts
this restudy and re-evaluation in acknowledgement that a satisfactory
civil service cannot be maintained unless those engaged in it receive
salaries commensurate with the type of work they perform. In this
connection, let me say that I have asked the Standard Salary Board to
conduct a study of the salaries of the some 2, 300 State employees who
are engaged in the work of hospital attendants.

We have worked out, over a period of years, a State employees retire-
ment system which is second to none in the country. As State employees,
you have a good pension system, a fair work week, complete coverage
under Social Security, adequate vacations and many other benefits. All
of which, I hasten to say, you are justly entitled to because of the
loyalty and devotion you have shown to your jobs.

I should like to offer here a word of praise for the Maryland Classified
Employees Association, which this year celebrated its twenty-fifth anni-

296