from time to time during the session that no matter what other laws
were passed the session would be judged alone by what was done on
the Cooper-Hughes tax plan. As we have seen, this is about what
happened, or at least as far as the judgment of the newspapers is con-
cerned. This is most unfortunate, from my point of view, for as
important as the Cooper-Hughes proposal was, certainly there were a
great many other important matters before the Legislature at this
session, and the 1966 session, by any objective judgment, was a produc-
tive one.

It is regrettable, from my point of view, that we had to settle for
less than we wanted in our effort to reach a solution to the vexing
problem of the financial relationship of the State and the local govern-
ments. But I am confident that a new Governor and a new Legislature,
utilizing the studies that have been made and the experience of the
recent legislative session, next year will be able to revise the State's tax
structure in a manner that will serve the needs of the State govern-
ment, and the governments of Baltimore City and the counties, for
many years of the future. If that happens—and I have every reason to
believe it will—then the labors that were spent on the Cooper-Hughes
Bill during the 1966 session of the General Assembly will not have been
wasted.

There is a great public clamor nowadays for innovation and mod-
ernization of the institutions of society, including the body politic.
Government, it is felt, must refashioned to embody the new concepts,
new manners and new modes of living of a new generation strongly
influenced by the advancements that have been made in science and
technology. I subscribe to this view whole-heartedly, and in these
concluding years as Governor I have tried to lay a solid foundation
upon which my successors may be able to build a new society for a
new era. The General Assembly has been reapportioned to give all
the citizens of our State a substantially equal voice in the delibera-
tions and decisions of the legislative branch of government. The result
may be expected to be a heightening of the influence of the urban and
suburban elements of our population. Let us hope that this innova-
tion, while distributing the seats in the two houses of our Legislature
on a more equitable basis, will at the same time increase the effective-
ness of the legislative branch.

Before any appreciable progress can be made in the modernization
of the government, steps must be taken to replace the present cluttered
and time-worn State Constitution by an up-to-date one. A committee
of outstanding Maryland citizens has undertaken the preliminary

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