times. And as I have indicated, I pray that when the record is written
my services will be judged and not found wanting. This is my most
fervent prayer. This is my highest hope.

Again, let me express my profoundest appreciation for the generous
tribute I have received here this evening. Certainly for the rest of
my days I will strive to prove myself worthy of your trust.

ADDRESS, ANNUAL BAR ASSOCIATION BANQUET

HONORING JUDGE STEDMAN PRESCOTT,

THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY CLUB

GAITHERSBURG

January 28, 1965

I am always a little awe-struck when I appear before a group of
learned lawyers such as are gathered here this evening at this banquet.
It is the feeling of inadequacy, of insufficiency, that one has when
confronted by others so knowledgeable in a field about which he knows
little or nothing.

Many times during my long career in politics and public service
have I wished that I had followed an early inclination I had to study
law and become a lawyer. For it is no exaggeration to say that during
all those years I have been utterly dependent upon lawyers — upon
their advice and upon their guidance. It was so on that first day that
I took the office of clerk of court in Somerset County back in 1930.
It is so today, now that I am the chief executive of this State.

As the head of one of the co-equal, co-ordinate branches of our
State government, my association with the judiciary for the past six
years of necessity has been close. I hasten to add that the association
has been most pleasant for me. Regarding the co-equality of our
respective branches of government, let me say there are times when
one is tempted to believe that one of them, like the animals in George
Orwell's Animal Farm, is more equal than the other.

But that is beside the point. The checks and balances which our
forefathers wrote into our basic laws have made it possible for me to
do many things to my liking. For example, it made it possible for
me to elevate to the highest judicial post in the State so estimable a
person as the man we are honoring here this evening — Chief Judge
Stedman Prescott, of the Maryland Court of Appeals.

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