AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN 203

resolution. The leadership of the General Assembly merits special
recognition. House Speaker Marvin Mandel, Senate President William
James, majority leaders Senator Harry Hughes and Delegate Thomas
Hunter Lowe, and the minority leadership including Senator Ed Hall
and Delegate J. Glenn Beall, Jr., worked conscientiously toward the
passage of all critical legislation and deserve a vote of confidence and
a word of thanks from a grateful public. I can assure you they have
mine. In three short months, we have moved Maryland out of the past
into the present and even several paces into the future. And if in the
process some have experienced an ounce of pain, I am here to assure
you that the expected pound of pleasure will soon be forthcoming.
For the pain is more imaginary than real, and the pleasure of doing
what is right by all of the people is an accomplishment to be shared
and valued by governors, legislators and citizens.

When men of honest intention pledge themselves to the public good
what is achieved is legislation that insures progress if not immediate
popularity. I have already alluded to the political pressure brought
to bear against passage of the priorities bill but our lawmakers, to sug-
gest a poor pun, took the enlightened short view and not the unin-
formed Long one, assuring the eventual construction of bridges that
will bring new prosperity to Maryland. And they did something else,
too, which proved that their interest in your future is greater and
deeper than in their own political destiny. They voted for tax reform.

This issue of taxation has seldom been so honestly and openly de-
bated. There have been times in the past when leadership failed to
lead and when public opinion was viewed not as a dynamic force for
progress but as a cover to excuse deliberate abdication of duty. The
fact that the flat three percent tax levy assessed was unfair and in-
tolerable to those on low or fixed incomes was and still is commonly
acknowledged, but the courage to right the wrong was lacking until
now.

We have a new tax law that's going to protect a man on a pension
from being forced to sell his house. It's the law that's going to help
young married couples to avoid diminishing their savings because of
sales taxes. It's the law that asks a lot less of the poor man and some-
what more of the rich man. It's the law that enables your county
government to build new schools, hire better teachers, train more
policemen. It's the law that returns one hundred million dollars di-
rectly to local governments to insure that your children will have
the finest educational opportunities from kindergarten through col-