ADDRESS, GLEN BURNIE ROTARY CLUB
GLEN BURNIE

January 16, 1964

January is the month in which men of all kinds and in all con-
ditions pause to take a look at the year that has just passed and try
to peer into the future to determine what the year just ahead will
be like. It is a month in which businessmen and economists, in par-
ticular, review the activities of the expired twelve-month period and
attempt to predict what conditions will be like in the months ahead.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to the business and
professional leaders of this thriving community, and during the time
allotted me here I should like to give you some information I have
on the economic condition of your State in 1963 and offer you some
views I have on what we may expect for the remainder of this year.
I am sure you all have observed the general tone of the optimism
that marked the year-end reports on the economy of the nation as
a whole. In report after report, there were indications that the coun-
try had reached a level of unprecedented prosperity. Corporate profits
in the third quarter of 1963 attained a new record. Industrial pro-
duction, personal income, retail sales, housing starts and other indi-
cators reached historic highs. With these signs, and with gratifying
prospect of a federal tax decrease, the economic prophets began
painting a glowing picture for 1964. There is the forecast that our
Gross National Product — the sum of all the goods and services we
produce—will increase of 5 per cent this year. There is the predic-
tion that new highs will be set in family income and that new levels
will be reached in business investments.

Maryland, of course, has shared in this general upswing of our
economy and may be expected to claim its just portion of the pros-
perity to come. Let us take a look at the economic health of our
state. The total state product and income for 1963 is estimated by
our Department of Economic Development at $11. 2 billion, as com-
pared to $10. 4 billion in 1962. There was a 6. 4 per cent rise in total
personal income for the first nine months of the year. Average weekly
wages in industry during the month of September was $100. 85 as com-
pared with $95. 51 in September of 1962. Employment figures jumped
to new highs during the year, those for September breaking all prev-
ious records with 1, 200, 000 Marylanders gainfully employed.

Unemployment, as we know, is a chronic ailment for our American

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