164 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

For most of the century following 1864, the Sentinel's history closely
paralleled that of Montgomery County except for the County's spec-
tacular growth of the last few decades. In 1962, when the present
management took control, the Sentinel was still a fairly typical county
weekly with a circulation of 8, 500, but the County was no longer a
pastoral countryside on the outskirts of Washington as it had been for
so many years. The Sentinel's circulation since 1962 has tripled, to
27, 000 this year, revealing how rapidly and effectively the present man-
agement and editorial policies have captured the momentum and im-
agination of Montgomery County and its rapid urban development.

In the two decades before the Kapiloffs and Mr. Farquhar revitalized
the Sentinel, Montgomery County itself underwent a dramatic and
dynamic change. The County's population doubled between 1940 and
1950, and doubled again between 1950 and 1960. Montgomery County,
for years a somnambulent, rural political subdivision whose schools
and streets were financed in part by the overflowing affluence of Balti-
more City, suddenly became not only Maryland's wealthiest County
but one of the wealthiest in the nation.

In two swift decades, the traditional character of a county evolved
over two centuries underwent a dramatic transition to become the
State's most sophisticated, urban-oriented, well-educated and affluent
subdivision. The State found itself in the unique position of having
to catch up with Montgomery County rather than pulling Montgomery
along with the State.

But the pains of birth and growth are no less severe because the
birth or growth is swift. Montgomery County has very real problems
to meet, challenges to confront and adjustments to make because of—
and not just in spite of—its unprecedented development.

You see it all about you. The County Council has, in recent weeks,
taken action to establish a Commission to draft a new Charter replac-
ing one now outdated for a population that has tripled since it was
first drafted. The annual County budget has increased tenfold during
that period and the character of the population has become urbanized.

A member of the County Council has requested that the 1964 Gen-
eral Development Plan adopted by the Maryland-National Capital
Park and Planning Commission be updated. Five years of study were
invested in the plan which was based on the theory that Montgomery
County was, and would essentially be, a bedroom suburb of Washing-
ton. Two years later this premise is no longer valid. Sixty percent of