266 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

"In this State, at least, the excuse for cutting the Federal appropria-
tion is not valid. We are ready to proceed and will have to advance
nearly $17 million to cover the deficit in Federal funding as now pro-
jected for 1968. That is why I urge you to reconsider the original $450
million authorized for next year rather than the $200 million you have
requested.

"I know that this is a matter in which you are sincerely interested
and I will be most appreciative of your favorable consideration of this
request. "

ADDRESS AT GRADUATION EXERCISES, UNIVERSITY

OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK

June 3, 1967

Dr. Elkins, Members of the Board of Regents, Honored Guests, Mem-
bers of the Graduating Classes, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Against the backdrop of our times, where passion more often than
pride marks the nation's assemblies, it is good that we can still meet at
commencement, observing a tradition that asks of the audience only
that its inattention be polite, and of the speaker only that his speech
be brief.

When this ceremony is done we will all be the richer for it: every
student who has worked for this day; every teacher who has scored the
last examination for this class; every parent who has lived, labored and
even sacrificed for this moment; and one governor who shall cherish
his honorary doctorate even while he remembers that it is conferred
as much in tribute to the office which he holds as it is to the man upon
whom it has been bestowed.

You will soon learn, if you are not already aware, that a diploma is
priceless currency that will admit you to places and positions denied
the many without it. And in a world that judges much by appearances,
that diploma will be to you a passport to the vital and real world of
competitive commerce. When an official paper certifies that you have
been duly educated, you will not only be presumed intelligent, but
would be sorely pressed to prove that you are not. The hope of course
is that you justify your claim to certification, to the title "educated