Expanded development of the economy of our State was a cam-
paign pledge of mine, and in 1959, this General Assembly acted
with commendable speed in establishing a Department of Economic
Development. In its short time of existence, the Department has suc-
ceded in bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars of new payrolls
to the State, and already has established a national reputation for the
manner in which it handles requests for information which come to
it daily from interested industrial concerns. Through various media,
it has focused national attention upon the many advantages our State
has to offer in business and industry and to the traveler.

The State Coordinating Commission on Problems of the Aging,
which you created also in 1959, is off to a good start in its noble
mission of improving the lot of our elderly citizens. It has produced
a master plan to give aged persons the self-sufficiency and indepen-
dence they deserve by providing them with health services, suitable
housing, employment when desired, adequate income and educational
and recreational facilities. It has an ambitious program for the com-
ing year, including the establishment of commissions for the aging in
all counties.

The extensive State financial support of public education and the
recent studies concerning higher education reflect our continuing
concern for the education of our young people. The State's budget
for the fiscal year 1962, which I will submit to you in a few weeks,
illustrates, in detail, the extent of the State's commitment. And, an
examination of the current 1961 budget discloses that in this fiscal
year we have appropriated $145, 018, 566 for education.

I am sure that all of you share my concern for higher education.
I think it is no exaggeration to say that the future of our nation and
of the entire free world may well depend on the quality of education
we make available to our youth. I am determined that Maryland shall
have a system of education second to none.

I know of no problem confronting us in Maryland today that
offers a clearer challenge to our resourcefulness and ingenuity than
that of the conservation and rehabilitation of the marine resources of
our tidal waters. Through the years I have watched with dismay the
gradual decline of our oyster production, until last year it sank to a
new low mark of approximately 2 million bushels. Considered in its
relationship with the peak year of production of 15 million bushels
about 75 years ago, it can be calculated that at current values Mary-
land watermen lost $40, 000, 000 last year by the failure to halt the
decline in yield.

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