opinions I have about how we, at the State level, working in part-
nerships with you, at the local level, may achieve the kind of gov-
ernment that will insure the happiness and prosperity of the people
we serve.

But first, let me say that I have observed with much interest the
operation of the State Association of County Commissioners and have
noted with deep gratification the progress it has made in bringing
about a more efficient and more effective government in the coun-
ties of our State.

Since I took office as the Chief Executive of the State, I have sought
to achieve a greater degree of cooperation between the State Gov-
ernment and the government of the counties and municipalities. I
have encouraged State officials and State agencies to assist local gov-
ernments in every way possible. It is never an easy matter to deter-
mine where local government ends and where government at the state
or federal level begins. We know there is an overlapping of author-
ity and responsibility in many of the phases of government. Public
education and public welfare, in which all three participate in vary-
ing degrees, are good examples of this sharing of functions on the
three planes of government....

I think the record of my Administration will show that it has not
shirked its responsibilities, but has, on the contrary, sought to assist
local governments with the mounting burdens they must assume,
financially and otherwise. In education, in public health, in public
welfare, in the construction and maintenance of highways, in plan-
ning and zoning, in economic development, the State has helped, and
will continue to help, local governments with their problems....

All of you are familiar, I know, with the role the federal govern-
ment has assumed, under the new Area Redevelopment Act, in the
economic development of areas suffering from chronic unemploy-
ment or underemployment. Mainly as a result of the alertness and
industry of the Department of Economic Development, Maryland
had two of the first eight projects in the country approved under
this recently established federal program.

You are familiar, too, with the plans announced by the President
to expand and intensify our national effort in military and civil
defense. We have a program in Maryland, which I hope to announce
within a short time, to gear the economy of our State to this federal
effort, with the twofold hope that our industrial plants may render

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