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IMPROMPTU NEWS CONFERENCE UPON RECEIVING

OFFICIAL COPY OF PROPOSED CONSTITUTION
FROM PRESIDENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

March 19, 1968

Governor: I'm much appreciative, Mr. President. I've admired the
work of the Constitutional Convention, as you know, and as I have
said on many occasions. And I sincerely hope in spite of the voices
that have tentatively been raised against the adoption of this docu-
ment, that the electorate of Maryland will respond to the overwhelm-
ing opinion, as evidenced by the vote of this Convention in favor of
this document, to put this into effect at the special election in May.
And I want to urge upon every voter that he has a personal respon-
sibility to inform himself of the contents of this document and to go
to the polls and register an opinion. I think those who have read the
document are for the most part in favor of it — strongly in favor of
it — and that the resistance is coming from those who have not been
in it in detail and who are simply reacting to vague fears expressed
by certain vested interests who may be affected by the reforms in this
wonderful document. It's an unusual thing when a Constitution can
be approved by a Convention by a vote of 121 to 3, particularly where
the delegates to this Convention represent such a broad cross section
of State opinion. And I think it is a personal tribute to you, Mr.
Eney, that the work of this Convention progressed in such a business-
like and outstanding manner. And I'm sincerely worried about the
voices that I hear raised against it. I feel that those in favor have
been quiescent, and I hope that they will respond now to the call to
come out and support this magnificent document which is going to
place Maryland among the forefront of the progressive states of the
United States.

Mr. Eney: Thank you very much, Governor. I would like to take a
moment to echo what you have just said, because the work of the
Convention is over. The task is now a task for the people of the State
of Maryland. Unless they think the task before them is important
enough, requires their personal effort enough, for them to come out
to the polls on May 14, then the work of the Convention has gone
for naught. I think our biggest problem is to get this message across
to the people. And I would urge every voter to make it his business
between now and May 14 to compare the present Constitution and
the new one, make a decision and, above all, go to the polls and vote
on May 14.