or on drawing boards, the program involved an expenditure in excess
of $1 billion during those eight years.

Comparable progress was made in other areas of governmental
activity—in public health, mental hygiene, conservation of natural
resources, economic development, the expansion of the parks system,
etc.

A court reform program, started with the establishment of the
Baltimore Municipal Court and with the enlargement of the Court
of Appeals, culminated with voter approval of a Constitutional
Amendment authorizing the establishment of intermediate appellate
courts to relieve the overburdened Court of Appeals.

Many vexing social problems, some of them highly controversial,
were resolved during these last four years. In the first year of his
second term, the Legislature approved the Governor's plan for a
phasing out of slot machines in three Southern Maryland counties
where they had been legalized. With the passage of a civil rights law
in 1963, Maryland became the first State south of the Mason-Dixon
Line to have a law prohibiting racial discrimination in places of
public accommodation.

During the final four years in office, Governor Tawes continued a
fiscal policy designed to provide maximum governmental services at
the lowest possible cost to taxpayers. Budget appropriations, roughly
speaking, doubled during these eight years (from $448.2 million
in fiscal 1960 to $885.1 million in 1967). The above-normal fiscal
demands were met without any general fund tax increases for the
needs of the State during the entire period.

Two achievements of his last year in office Governor Tawes liked
to call his "legacy" to the people of Maryland. One of these was the
groundwork that was laid for a revision of the State Constitution.
The other was his proposal for the modernization of the executive
branch of the State government.

After many unsuccessful attempts, the Maryland General Assembly
finally reapportioned its membership to comply with the "one man,
one vote" tenet of the courts. For a complete modernization of the
organic structure of State government, Governor Tawes felt the
obsolete and jumbled Constitution should be rewritten. Also, he
believed a complete reorganization of the executive branch was need-
ed to bring about a more efficient operation of the government.
Governor Tawes initiated action to accomplish both those purposes,

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