This administration and the people of Maryland will be called
upon to make many difficult choices during the next four years. There
is no magic formula to give us the things we want without cost or
obligation. When difficult decisions are being made, it becomes im-
perative that the Government keep the public fully and frankly in-
formed.

I believe that the ultimate success of my administration will depend
to a great extent upon the degee to which it takes the public into its
confidence. For this reason, it is my purpose and my aim during the
next four years to heighten the public awareness of all the functions
of State Government, and by so doing, to create an atmosphere in
which the Government assumes the role of a partner and co-worker
with its citizens. The greater the interest and understanding of the
people in the administration of their Government, the better that
administration will be.

A third principle upon which my administration will stand I like
to call the principle of "Open-Mindedness". The era we are ap-
proaching will be one of rapid change. We see signs of this every-
where. Seventy per cent of our citizens now live in urban com-
munities, and this ratio will increase. New metropolitan areas will
be created and existing ones will expand. New systems of mass trans-
portation are being devised. Traditional approaches to such things
as education, public welfare, prison management and many other
State activities are being re-examined. Moreover, many State func-
tions—because of our growing population—have outgrown old meth-
ods and techniques of organization and administration. New forms
and new formulae must be devised.

It it my belief that in the interest of efficiency and economy—in
the interest of good Government in general—the State has a duty
to make a continuous reappraisal of its traditional administrative
processes and to remain constantly on the alert for new, better and
faster ways of getting the job done. The quality of being alert to
these new approaches and developments is what I mean by the term
"Open-Mindedness". An administration which is open-minded will
not hesitate to change or to do things differently from the way they
were done last year or the year before. As Governor, I will encour-
age—indeed I will require—a re-examination by department heads of
all activities. I am going to count heavily upon this spirit of open-
mindedness to provide the formula for the solution of many of the
problems ahead.

The final principle upon which I shall base this administration is