474 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

be withheld, because there's no other place they could be used other
than the roads picture, and I feel that this is a political maneuver on
the part of the executive branch of the Federal government. Not one
that I disagree with wholly, because sometimes the executive branch
has to use what means it has to get attention to bring about a favor-
able reaction on some of the budgetary requests of the national gov-
ernment.

Q. Are you referring to the President's request for contracts?
A. Among other things, yes.

Q. On the subject of gambling, yesterday the Maryland Crime In-
vestigation Commission suggested the possibility of legalizing all
gambling in the State, particularly the numbers game. Does your
special committee under Clarence Miles offer any opinions on this?

A. No, we have no formal reports. I spoke with Mr. Miles just a
couple of weeks ago to see how his commission was going forward
with its work, and I find that we expect that some subjects will be
brought under public discussion before the end of this year. But I'm
not at this point ready, and neither is the commission ready, to discuss
any of it.

Q. You appointed officials to look into the so-called scandal of the
home improvement business. Does this finish all the newspaper articles
or do you have more information?

A. No, we have other information and as a matter of fact Mr. Ger-
stung, the Small Loans Administrator, had already begun to investigate
some situations that had come to the attention of his office, and he
is presently waiting for a determination from the Attorney General
as to what his statutory powers are in this particular field. He and
Bank Commissioner Graham and Mr. Burch are all involved in look-
ing into this situation at the present time.

Q. Are most of these companies in the Washington, D. C. area or
are they scattered throughout the State?

A. So far most of the ones that I have received notice of have come
out of the Washington area, but we are trying to ascertain just how
many there are in the Baltimore area that may not have attracted the
same amount of attention.

Q. Governor, you say there are 2137 permanent-type jobs available,
most of these in schools. Do you know how many are filled and how
many they expect to fill?