REMARKS, MARYLAND CHAPTERS, PUBLIC PERSONNEL

ASSOCIATION AND AMERICAN SOCIETY

FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

BALTIMORE

March 25, 1964

Mr. Ransom, Dr. Fleming, members of the Maryland chapters of
the Public Personnel Association and of the American Society for
Public Administration, ladies and gentlemen:

I am grateful for this opportunity to join with you here this morn-
ing as you open this joint conference to discuss among yourselves
some of the problems we face in government in rendering a better
service to the people. I am told that this the first joint meeting of
your two organizations, and that you have hopes of continuing the
joint conferences on an annual basis in the years ahead. I commend
you for your undertaking and share with you the hope that this meet-
ing here today marks the outset of a great movement to attain the
highest possible effectiveness in public service.

I see many of you here in this room with whom I have worked
closely over a period of many years in the service of the people. As
the Chief Executive of the State, it is gratifying to me to see so many
of you in the State service present. Your interest in performing a
better service for the people is heartening indeed. I am also pleased
to see such good representation from the local governments and the
public institutions, because sound public administration is as im-
portant, of course, to government at the local level as it is to govern-
ment at the higher levels.

I have been in public life, as most of you know, for some 35 years,
and I know, from personal observation and experience, of the im-
portance of sound personnel administration in the operation of gov-
ernmental agencies and constitutions. As Governor, as State Comp-
troller and in the other offices I have held, I have come to realize
the dependence those of us who have been chosen to lead have upon
those who work with us. Without efficient, loyal and dedicated men
and women in the public service, it would not be possible for us to
discharge our responsibilities effectively. I, for one, readily acknowl-
edge, with gratification, that I am indebted to the employees of the
State in a very large measure for whatever success I may have had,
in the office of Governor and in the Comptroller's office.

In looking back over my years as a public official, I have observed

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