effort, provided the civil defense activity is materially increased and
certain other requirements are met. The budget of the Civil Defense
Agency, with a net increase in appropriations of $107, 376, is tailored
to meet these federal requirements.

All Marylanders deplore the continuing decline in oyster produc-
tion, the yield for 1959-1960 having dropped by 127, 909 bushels from
the previous year. With the hope of reversing this unfortunate trend
toward depletion of the State's valuable marine resources, I am re-
commending a net increase of $156, 559 in the budget of the Depart-
ment of Tidewater Fisheries. Funds for oyster propagation have been
increased from $600, 000 to $808, 050 to provide a 50 per cent increase
in the Department's present shell-dredging operation. Included in
the Department's budget is $50, 000 as Maryland's share of the cost
of implementing the Potomac River Compact. This sum will be
matched by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The healthy condition of our region, the economic and cultural
growth of Maryland, is nowhere more evident than in the need we
see daily for a transportation system which will adequately provide
for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods within our
borders. In this decade and in decades to come, the great bulk of
our foods, raw materials, manufactured products and all the things
which serve to create a better life for us all will move over a publicly
financed highway system. Because of the demand for speed of delivery
in the 1960's and the insistence on portal-to-portal transportation in
this era of individual freedom, the largest share of the responsibility
in the field of movement of people and goods falls upon that function
of State government charged with providing us with a modern,
up-to-date network of expressways and primary highways.

In the face of this responsibility, the State Roads Commission of
Maryland has embarked on a bold new program to give our State
a continuous system of modern major highways within the next few
year, to bring the greatest good to the greatest number in as short
a period of time as possible. To accomplish this, without a request
for tax increase, I am recommending allowances to the State Roads
Commission totalling $118, 542, 295 for the 1962 fiscal year. Of that
total, $49, 652, 164 will be earmarked for construction of the State
highway system. This sum, under the budget presented to you, would
come from the motor vehicle titling tax, a 59-per-cent share of the
gasoline tax fund, the motor vehicle revenue fund, federal aid and
miscellaneous sources.

Also of importance to the overall betterment of Maryland's trans-

47