374 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

struments, it requires sharpening to function effectively, continuous
care to operate efficiently and redesign to serve progressively.

The responsibility of leadership for sharpening its sensitivity to
need and change is no different in the State House than in the County
Court House. A good administrator in the county seat can be expected
to be a good administrator in the capital. The ability to translate op-
portunity into progress has no real geographic or political boundary.

The problems of states, cities and counties are different in degree
but alike in nature and essence, for they concern lives, welfare and
happiness of people. In the hand of the professional administrator
the treatment will differ but the talent and experience put to it re-
main the important and indisputable constant.

To administer professionally, to finance courageously, to plan and
execute with imagination — these are requirements of county leader-
ship too often accepted in principle but denied in deed. We have
seen limited perspective impede progress with more pulverizing effect
than any restrictions imposed upon county government by state and
nation.

We have seen an acceptance of the status quo preempt initiative.
We have seen defensive and protective precepts obscure honest evalua-
tion, retard realistic change and strangle necessary development. The
positive state of mind comes first. The adoption of principles and
standards comes second. Out of this, the revitalized county and the
new professionalism are born.

The new professionalism depends upon several factors. It depends
upon the recruitment and retention of the best people. It depends
upon better pay and more tangible and realistic benefits for these
people. It depends upon a climate of opportunity in which creativity
is encouraged, ability rewarded and security assured for those unafraid
to think or do their best.

It depends upon acknowledgment that computerization and other
recent technological advances can be as useful to government as they
are successful for industry. It depends on an acceptance of modern
management techniques and an enthusiasm for them. Finally, new
professionalism depends on a discipline that demands that every plan,
every procedure and every program be subject to continuous review.

In Maryland, I have established a Task Force on Modern Manage-
ment to conduct an intensive and comprehensive evaluation of the
present State administration. This unit's immediate objectives are