NEWS CONFERENCE 137

Q. You speak of this year and the good intentions of the officials
right now. Do you think this will hold in subsequent years as the
pressures continue for more services?

A. Well, I think unquestionably there will be pressures for more
services. The recent report of the NBA in Baltimore gives evidence
to the fact that the City is not going to be totally reclaimed in one year
by any new tax program. I do feel that if we continue to attempt to
rehabilitate the City, to put its property back in the most productive
light — in other words, if we continue programs like Charles Center
and we get the harbor program started — the base of the City in these
decaying areas where the property tax itself is bringing in very little
revenue will begin to reflect these improvements. Obviously, where you
tear down a slum and put a piece of productive income-producing
property in its stead, the assessments go up, and when the assessments
go up the income of the yield goes up.

Q. Wouldn't you suspect in view of the new services, that old services
may have outlived their use?

A. I think that's an interesting thought, and I think it's entirely
possible, which brings me to another subject, that of the emphasis of
this government, this executive branch, being shifted from spending
to saving. Sometimes we have to provide ourselves with a framework
to effect economies. I think we've done this in our new executive
structure. And the Task Force on Modern Management, which has
been created just this year, is being charged with a very serious respon-
sibility, the responsibility of getting into the State programs and weed-
ing out just what you are talking about, those who may have outlived
their usefulness, of eliminating duplications. Sometimes the agencies
may not duplicate each other, but sub-agencies within the agencies
may have become obsolete or may be performing virtually the same
function. I have asked Mr. Lauber and his group of people to exert
every effort to bring down the duplications and the needless costs
which undoubtedly do exist within the government. And we hope
that by the end of the year we will be able to show some rather out-
standing reductions based on the simple efficiency effort during the
year.

Q. Do you think that local governments, in similar areas, might do
likewise?

A. Well, I think that they should be doing likewise and doing it on
a continuing basis. In this light, the trips that we have begun around