For the past few years, the heads of State agencies have been taking
an increasingly active part in this vital national defense program.
I feel that in this State we are taking a lead in such participation,
and that is the way that I want it to be. I believe that all our State
units should be doing real thinking and working on this activity.
They have a most important role, and I am certain that you as
county directors can expect that they will do their part.

Before I go further, I would like to commend you officially and
personally for the work that you have done during the past year.
About three weeks ago, I was in Pikesville to take part in the dedica-
tion ceremonies for the Pikesville Fire Hall, where you held your
dinner last evening. At that time, I had the privilege of praising the
volunteer firemen for their service to the community. This is actually
what Civil Defense directors and their assistants are doing. I know
full well that some of you are serving as volunteers, some are re-
ceiving token payments, and some are fully paid. No matter what
the remuneration, the service that you render is similar and cannot
be measured in dollars and cents.

The Civil Defense program on the federal, state and local levels
has been growing by leaps and bounds in the past two years. Your
job is becoming increasingly difficult and time consuming. But, it is
easy to see that the results are also growing by the same leaps and
bounds. General Van Brunt and his staff are in constant contact with
me and with my staff. All of us in Annapolis are well aware of civil
defense developments. We are cognizant of the multitude of problems
and also of the progress made.

I should like to discuss for a few moments some of the highlights
of the progress we have made since we were together at our last
annual meeting. Especially impressive to me was the Governor's
Seminar for Industry in Civil Defense conducted last spring. This is
the first time that leaders of industry, business, and banking had the
opportunity to get together and discuss frankly their mutual prob-
lems of protection and training under civil defense. They had the
opportunity of hearing fine presentations from experts on the federal
level. That these people of private enterprise turned out in large
numbers for this meeting was proof that they were vitally interested
in making a valuable contribution to national defense. I might add
as an aside that they were meeting in competition with the opening
of the baseball season — a real test of patriotism, if I ever saw one.

Next I think it is appropriate to turn our attention for a few
moments to the national shelter program and its implications in

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