highways with squalor and unsightliness not only offends the esthetic
senses of the people, but it jeopardizes their welfare by deflating
property values and even menaces their safety as they travel. Polluted
air and polluted water are not only an offense to our sensibilities, but
they are a threat to our good health. The lack of urban and suburban
planning and zoning, with the consequent ugliness that comes in-
evitably with unplanned growth and development, is one of the most
destructive elements of our modern society. And so beauty, although
beauty is an end in itself, also affects our lives in other ways. It be-
hooves us to work to achieve beauty in every way possible — to
create it where it does not exist, to protect it and conserve it where
it does exist. This then is the broad objective of this Commission, and
the people of Maryland are deeply indebted to all of you who are
here for the fine public interest you are showing in a matter of so
great importance to our State and its people.

With our majestic mountains, the charming tidewater area, the
lovely hills and plains in between, Maryland has been abundantly
blessed by our Creator with the beauties of nature. Captain John
Smith in his journal called our area a "delightsome land, " and it is
that indeed. I am sorry to say we have not always done all that we
could or should to preserve this "delightsomeness". Certainly with
the gifts from Heaven that we enjoy we should do everything within
the realm of the possible to preserve all that is beautiful in our State.

With regard to water pollution, President Johnson had this to say
as he signed last year the Water Quality Act: "The clear, fresh
waters that were our national heritage have become dumping grounds
for garbage and filth. They poison our fish, they breed disease, they
despoil our landscapes.... " adding that "This sort of carelessness
and selfishness simply ought to be stopped; and more, it just must
be reversed. And we are going to reverse it. "

Certainly we in Maryland know something about the pollution of
our streams. Rivers and estuaries that only a few years ago were im-
maculately clean and abounded in fish and other marine resources
today have become barren of marine life and unfit for many types
of recreational use. For years the waters of our State have cried for
our protection, and unless we face the fact that they are not to be
used for sewers they will be despoiled for generations to come. And
so, we must resolve, with President Johnson, that this kind of care-
lessness and this kind of selfishness must be stopped.

With regard to air pollution, I saw a statement the other day to
the effect that we spend in this country ten times as much for per-

126