dorsed by three-fifths of the members of both houses of the Assembly.
The fact that, as spelled out in the Constitution, the Governor may
only say "no" to a bill does not mean necessarily that he acts only
negatively in the formation of legislation. On the contrary, the veto
can be, and is, frequently used in a positive way. For example, if a
chief executive lets it be known that a measure may receive his veto
if it is passed in a certain form, legislators bear this fact in mind, and
the executive thus may exercise a positive influence on the character
and form of legislation.

One section of our Maryland Constitution provides that "he (the
Governor) shall, from time to time, inform the Legislature of the
conditions of the State and recommend to their consideration such
measures as he may judge necessary and expedient. " This section
has been interpreted as conferring upon the Governor not only the
authority, but the obligation to propose legislation. And not only
that, the people now look to the Governor, just as they do to the
President of the United States, to exert all of his influence and power
to secure favorable action upon the program he has proposed.

It is the responsibility of the Governor each year to submit to the
General Assembly a State budget, which is a detailed plan for financ-
ing all governmental functions and services. He has the ultimate
responsibility, thus, for designing and programming the State gov-
ernment — for determining what services are to be provided for the
people, the amount and extent of such services, how they are to be
operated, how they are to be financed.

In many respects, the preparation of a budget — planning the annual
expenditures and revenues of State government — is the greatest re-
sponsibility and the heaviest problem a Governor of Maryland has
to face. Preparing a budget for a government of three and a half
million people means finding the right answers to a number of plagu-
ing and perplexing questions: What services do the people want?
What services do they need? How much will they cost? How much
can the people afford to pay for them? How much do they want to
pay for them? How is the money to be raised to pay for them? It is
characteristic of human beings, I think, to want as much as they can
get for as little in taxes as possible. But it is perfectly obvious that
government can no more provide goods and services free of cost than
can the individual.

We have in Maryland what is called an "executive budget, " and
under that system it is the Governor primarily who must provide
the answers to those baffling, tormenting questions which I raised a

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