In discussing the Department of Health, I would bring to your
attention the fact that substantial progress has been made in raising
the standards of care in nursing homes. Under the program which
you approved last year, 143 homes, with a capacity of 4, 835 beds,
have met the new requirements set up by the State Board of Health
and Mental Hygiene.

As you all will recall, during the first year of this administration
we set up a new state agency to perform a hitherto neglected service
to the people of Maryland—the Department of Economic Develop-
ment.

I strongly supported the creation of this new service, in the belief
that it would help to guarantee Maryland's continued growth and
prosperity.

The achievements which have been made up to now have con-
firmed my belief to the extent that I now predict that this act will
be regarded in the future as one of the extraordinary accomplishments
of this administration.

From my observation of it—and I have watched it closely—I am
convinced that a sound economic development program—one that
will produce results year after year—is made up of hard and patient
work, with little glamor and less ballyhoo.

It consists, among other things, of fostering and developing local
economic development groups, for in the long run no program can
succeed at the State level without a strong network of local programs.

It consists, furthermore, of hard labor in digging out facts, inter-
preting them and making them accessible—facts about Maryland
people, the State's natural resources, its community assets and char-
acteristics, markets, skills, educational facilities, roads, waterways,
taxes, governmental services and an almost infinite variety of infor-
mation. An importantly, it consists of building a reputation for
accuracy, honesty and reliability—a reputation for information and
assistance that can be depended on.

This is the foundation upon which we are building our economic
development program in Maryland. It is a relatively new agency,
and we can expect our highest rewards from it to appear in years
to come. But even now, in terms of cold financial facts—in terms of
new industrial plants representing multi-million-dollar investments,
new jobs, new payrolls worth millions of dollars annually—the pro-
gram has been a success.

It is clear to me, then, that on all counts our economic development

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