and more than adequate facilities for recreation. As some of you
perhaps know, one of the major programs of the present State ad-
ministration is the attraction of more and diversified industry to our
State. This policy led us to establish the Department of Economic
Development in 1959, and, since its creation, more than 870 new or
expanded industrial facilities have been built in Maryland. Our
State economy is expanding at a rate nearly double that of the
nation and science-based and science-oriented industry has become
one of the mainstays in this picture. I should like to take this op-
portunity to assure you that we are exerting and will continue to
exert every effort to make certain that the State continues to provide
the facilities, services and cultural and economic climate that such
industries require.

These facilities here at the Alcolac Chemical Corporation, together
with other science-based industries that have located in Maryland,
will help us greatly in our efforts to maintain Maryland's position
as one of the top three research and development areas in the United
States. As of today, there are more than 500 research oriented firms
operating in the Maryland region which includes the metropolitan
area of Washington, D. C., and the number is growing almost daily.
As a company that must undertake extensive product research and
development, I am sure it must be gratifying for you to know that
appropriate facilities do exist nearby to assist your scientists and
laboratory technicians should such assistance be needed.

I am not, of course, a scientist but I have always observed that
scientists and professional people seem to thrive in a congenial
cultural and intellectual environment. In my opinion, such an envir-
onment is high among the requirements for the successful operation
of a science or research oriented industry. We know we have such a
climate here in Maryland with Washington, the most important of
the world's capitals, only some thirty miles away, and Baltimore, a
vital international trading center, at your doorstep. The Johns Hop-
kins University and the University of Maryland have achieved world
renown for their special strengths in medicine, science, and engineer-
ing. Add to these the universities in the District of Columbia—Ameri-
can, Catholic, Georgetown, George Washington and Howard—and it
becomes apparent that this is, indeed, one of the great cultural and
intellectual centers of the world.

I am sure that those individuals now affiliated with Alcolac and
those who will join you in your expanded operations will enjoy the
benefits of living and working here. Before coming here today, I had

186