REMARKS, DINNER FOR TRI-COUNTY COUNCIL FOR
SOUTHERN MARYLAND

ST. MARY'S CITY

July 7, 1965

Chairman Chapman, Senator Hall, Senator Parran, Senator Raley,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It seems that I begin almost every speech like this by saying that
I am glad to be here. I suspect that sometimes my audience doesn't
quite believe me; and sometimes their doubts are well founded, I
must admit. Tonight, however, I am not going to say that I am glad
to be here, for the fact of the matter is, I am surprised to be here. I
am surprised to be here because I honestly never thought I would
see the day when a meeting like this could be held in Southern Mary-
land. If anyone had told me when I became Governor over six years
ago that by 1965 I would be meeting with a cooperative development
organization sponsored by and participated in by the leaders of Calvert,
Charles and St. Mary's Counties, I would have told him that he
didn't know much about Maryland, and he certainly didn't know
anything about Southern Maryland.

But here I am tonight, and here at this meeting are represented
almost all of the effective leadership in Southern Maryland — the
State Senators, the House of Delegates, die County Commissioners,
the economic development groups and the planning groups. And they
are here to officially launch a program and an organization on which
they have been working for many months — since December, 1964,
I think, when the three senators and Mr. Chapman first came to see
me about this organization. They told me at that time that they and
several other leaders from Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties
had met with representatives of the Department of Economic De-
velopment and, as a result of that meeting, had decided that the only
realistic and effective way to work toward a solution of their common
economic and social problem was to formulate and carry out a co-
operative development program participated in jointly by all three
counties. They also outlined some legislative measures, calling for
additional and accelerated park and recreational development, stepped-
up road programs, and increases in some other state activities which
they thought essential to the success of any developmental effort. They
asked me if they could count on my assistance and support for their
program, and I assured them that they could. One of the reasons I
am here tonight is to publicly repeat and confirm that assurance.

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