NEWS CONFERENCE 579

Q. Governor, there has been some complaining about conditions at
the University of Maryland dining hall. Do you have any comment,
and do you agree with Dr. Elkins that this news has been distorted?

A. I wouldn't say that the news has been distorted, but I would say
that in any accusation of this type where a case of food poisoning
arises in an institution where they feed that many people it is easy
to overemphasize the total problem. If one or two people get very ill
after eating, it causes quite a crisis. Dr. Elkins has indicated a very
grave concern over this and has taken steps to clear it up as quickly
as he can. I don't feel that there is a general cause for unremitting
alarm connected with these cases. I think they can be straightened out.
I also would say that so far as students in colleges are concerned, it
has been my experience that there is always a substantial percentage
who don't like what they get to eat. This doesn't mean that they
should have to put up with food that makes them ill. But it does
mean that it's a fertile ground for complaints.

Q. Do you think that the University of Maryland dining hall should
be subject to the same health inspections as other State institutions?

A. Indeed I do. I think that there shouldn't be two standards for
health inspections where food is being served anywhere in the State.

Q. Getting back to the tax problem again — when the Board of
Estimates met, you and Comptroller Goldstein heard exactly the same
things and yet came out with different opinions. Do you have any
explanation for this?

A. I don't know what the Comptroller's opinion was, other than
what I read because I didn't actually hear him when he was giving
his statement to the television cameras. The one thing I did hear him
say was that the credit of the State is still triple A, and I've got to
agree that that is true, yet I don't see how it applies to the existing
bleak revenue picture.

Q. But his principal point, Governor, was that the State revenue
picture in terms of flow through the Treasurer's office acting as tax
collector is bright, but the tax program has now been worked out in
a way that so much of this money is sent to the 23 counties and Balti-
more City. In other words this is a bright picture but it is bleak insofar
as the amount of money you have to finance your budget?

A. No, I can't agree that it is a bright picture, right now. How can
you say a picture is bright when a projected sales tax growth of 10
percent is tailed off to 6 or 6y2 percent. How can you say it's bright