The General Assembly this year directed the Legislative Council's
Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Matters to conduct a compre-
hensive survey of the financial resources of its political subdivisions.
From the report of this Committee, we hope it will be possible to
make an intelligent decision about the allocation of State funds to
the counties and municipalities, with the aim of helping the sub-
divisions to solve their financial problems without, at the same time,
jeopardizing the State's own financial position.

I would like to assure you, in conclusion, that my Administration
is vitally interested in your local problems and will continue in its
effort to help you resolve them.

ADDRESS, INTERSTATE COMMISSION ON POTOMAC
RIVER BASIN - FREDERICK

October 6, 1960

First of all, let me tell you that we are happy and privileged to
be members of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River
Basin, and we are even more happy to have this opportunity to
join with the Maryland Land Week Committee, the Maryland State
Soil Conservation Committee and the four soil conservation districts
represented here in a discussion of the subject of water conservation.

We are particularly pleased to have with us at this meeting our
neighbors from Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and on behalf of all the people of the State, I
extend to you good people a cordial welcome to Maryland. I need
not remind you that I am no expert on the problems you have come
here to talk about. And, I shall be content to leave the details of
the discussion in the many capable hands I see about me here. As
a citizen and as a public official, however, I am mindful of the in-
creasingly important role water resources have come to play in our
lives.

We are living in an era of staggering social and economic growth,
All about us we are besieged by evidence of this. Less evident, per-
haps, but no less real and no less pressing are the demands which
this growth upon our water resources. What we do now to conserve,
control and distribute our water resources to a very great degree
will determine the results of this expansion of our society and our

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