of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 301

Health, the Baltimore City Health Department, the Insurance Commissioner
and the Board of Fire Commissioners of Baltimore City has been secured in
aiding in the inspection of these homes to determine their eligibility for such
purposes. The Department of Public Welfare also licenses homes for boarding
children to determine that institutions offering such services meet reasonable
and adequate standards.

The effect of this program of integration of related services with the ad-
ministration of public assistance has been constructive in a number of ways.
It gives to each county a local public welfare department diverse enough in its
activities to prevent duplication. It makes possible a combination of ways and
means for avoiding unnecessary dependency, with the granting of assistance.
It assures that care and support at public expense will be made available to
those unable to pay for it from their own resources. And lastly, by means of
the licensing authority locally centered, it makes possible the maximum serv-
ice from all local agencies, and an assurance of minimum standards of care for
children and aged persons provided for away from their own homes.

Another special service rendered by the department during the last two
years relates to the work of the CCC camps. For the past two years, Mary-
land has enrolled 5, 500 young men in these camps. They were selected and
enrolled by the County Welfare Boards and the Department of Public Welfare
in Baltimore City. The essential purpose of the CCC camp is to provide
employment in much needed conservation, work and training opportunities for
the youth of this Country between the ages of 17 and 23. While boys from
families receiving public assistance are given priority in selection for camp
enrollment, any boy in need of a job is eligible.

Another activity relates to the distribution of surplus food commodities
sent into the State by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The Department
of Public Welfare maintains a warehouse in Baltimore City at which place car-
load lots of the commodities are received. These commodities are repacked
into smaller containers and distributed to assistance families, to schools for
free lunch programs, and, to a limited extent, to public institutions.

THE TRIAL MAGISTRATE SYSTEM; AND THE TRAFFIC
AND PEOPLE'S COURTS

It is the plain truth to state that in no two-year period has such improve-
ment been made in the minor court system than as the result of the legislation
passed in 1939 and the administration of the various new measures. Prior to
your last general session, our State had suffered from an antiquated and ob-
solete justice of the peace system. The out-of-date fee system and grave
abuses combined to bring these courts into disrepute and, indirectly, to reflect
upon the entire judicial branch.

One of the outstanding pledges of the present administration was to cor-
rect this situation. A State-wide Committee, of which former Judge Hammond
Urner was Chairman and Charles T. LeViness, III, Secretary, submitted a plan
which replaced the old system with a modern trial magistrate law. Following
the passage of this legislation the number of magistrates was reduced by ap-
proximately two hundred and a much improved type of administration has re
suited. Modern methods have been inaugurated, better-qualified officials have
been attracted to these positions and, in general, these courts have been brought