by the two recently completed high speed beltways that entirely en-
circle our two major metropolitan areas — Baltimore and the District
of Columbia.

That time changes everything is something Maryland accepts, for
unlike those areas which fearfully cling to history for stature and
respect, Maryland has always used the years as touchstones. We are
proud of being one of the oldest states — the Maryland colony was
founded in 1634 — and we cherish our unique heritage of spiritual
freedom and genteel living, but we are equally proud of having con-
structively met and risen above the challenges of history. This does
not mean, however, that our character is irresolute, nor that our
institutions are weak, but it does mean that our way is and has been
to recognize and assimilate that change which truly promotes the
general welfare.

A government defines itself by viewing those changes which con-
front it as problems or challenges. We have had challenges, and in
overcoming them, have kept pace with the present and — what is
more important — have prepared ourselves for the even more stringent
demands of the future. Of particular importance in getting in step
with the future was the establishment of the Department of Economic
Development in 1959. In retrospect, I can't imagine how we ever
did without it. Until its inception, there was no agency in the State
that business and industry could look to for accurate and objective
information and where it could rely on the maintaining of confidences
often absolutely necessary in the business world. Today the business-
man investigating Maryland gets finger-tip responses to all his infor-
mational needs in one trip to the Department of Economic Develop-
ment. The Department, headed by Bernard Manekin, the Chairman
of the Economic Development Commission, and by Director George
W. Hubley, Jr., can feel immeasurable satisfaction in its achievements.
I know that I have been than satisfied. The forces which led to the
institution of the Department of Economic Development were the
ones felt by many sections of the country, but their impact was com-
pounded in Maryland.

Our population had grown tremendously — between 1950 and
1960 Maryland's population increased by more than 30 per cent,
the highest of any economically mature area east of the Mississippi.
The coming of age of the post war babies was not the only cause of
this new challenge, for Maryland, exerting almost no organized effort
to attract outsiders, was suddenly caught in the middle of a new
economic — and consequently social — revolution. We had become a

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