NEWS CONFERENCE 919

this out: Mr. Lowe said to me he didn't know exactly what the lend-
ing institutions wanted. The only thing he could figure was that
they wanted him to say, "Yes, I meant what I said when I prepared
the law. And it's up to the courts to construe this situation. " I don't
believe there's going to be any need for a special session on it after
it's been through the courts.

(Special Session Prospects)

Q. Governor, on the subject of special sessions. If the Legislative
Council asked you to call a special session for the purpose of drafting
some constitutional amendments, would you call one?

A. It depends on what the amendments are and how vital the
amendments are after they are presented to me, and it depends to
some extent on how many people in the Legislature line up behind
that sort of thing. I can't guess how urgent these are going to be or
what case for urgency's going to be made out. But I do tell you this
much — because I think in complete fairness I should say it — I am
going to resist a special session if at all possible this year because,
frankly, I think that if a special session convenes there will be — it
will be opened up to a diverse subject matter and may drag on for a
considerable length of time.

Q. Do you consider the lengthening of the sessions from 70 to 90
days an emergency that —

A. Not right off hand.

{St. Mary's County Meeting)

Q. Governor, what was the essence of your meeting, I think it was
yesterday, with some people about oil storage tanks in St. Mary's
County?

A. I didn't have any such meeting yesterday, Mr. Homan.

Q. Do you have a meeting scheduled?

A. If I do, I am not aware of when it is scheduled.

(Office Note: A member of the Governor's staff, Richard W. McClel-
land, held a meeting in Baltimore today with representatives from
St. Mary's County to gather information for the Governor on the oil
storage tank issue and has not yet reported to the Governor. This
apparently was the meeting referred to in the above question. )

(Viet Nam)

Q. Governor, a while back in commenting on the Viet Nam war
you said that it drained away a great deal of money that could be