When I came into office, Maryland did not have a Department of
Economic Development to furnish prospective new industrial firms with
information that would perhaps persuade them to locate here. Today, we
have such a Department and it has been instrumental in locating hun-
dreds of new business firms in our State. With the assistance of the
Department of Economic Development, the Baltimore—Washington
area is being transformed into one of the most important science based
industrial sections of our country.
Back in 1960, we embarked on a program to build 500 miles of arterial
highways in the State to facilitate the movement of people and goods to
markets and to vacation areas in Maryland. I think the results of this
program are evident when we see the progress being made in dualizing
U. S. 50 and U. S. Route 13 here on the Shore. We now have a beltway
around Baltimore and another one circling Washington, D. C. We built
the Kennedy Memorial Highway and, as of today, about six million cars
have travelled on it in Maryland without one person being killed.
All of these programs that I speak of tonight are essential to the
growth and prosperity of Maryland; they are important to the happiness
of our families and to the development of our young people as strong,
intelligent citizens. But they all have one thing in common—they require
funds to operate and the revenue has to come from the taxpayer. Now
once a year, all these programs are reviewed by the Department of Budg-
et and Procurement and then tied in a neat bundle and presented to me
at Annapolis. For lack of a better word, we call that bundle the State
Budget.
I have to decide what programs the taxpayers of Maryland need and
can afford pretty much the way our wives decide whether or not we eat
steak or fried chicken. Now if I decide to cut back on the oyster shell
planting program, you can be sure I catch the mischief from the water-
men; and if I eliminate an educational program, the Maryland Congress
of Parent-Teachers Association will not react kindly. And, if I eliminate
funds for the development of recreational activities, you can be certain
that various sporting and outdoor groups will voice their displeasure.
Thus, while all of us as taxpayers dislike having to pay an increase in
taxes, all of us are citizens resent seeing a pet project scrapped.
As Governor, the decision to scrap a program or to limit its scope or to
proceed with the program and, perhaps have to raise the revenue through
a tax program is essentially my responsibility. There is no easy solution
to this problem—it's a dilemma that has plagued public officials who
serve in an executive capacity since the inception of our republic and it
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