62 State Papers and Addresses

surrendered some little bit of our sovereign rights, and have established a
precedent for turning to Washington that is the harder to break—the more we
yield to it.

I believe that the farmers of the Constitution under which this Country
has functioned well for a century and a half, would be both amazed and ap-
prehensive, could they be here today and not the many original State func-
tions that have been taken over in whole or in part by the national government.

Speaking for Maryland, I believe I voice the sentiments of the great
majority of our citizenry when I say that our State has always resisted the
encroachments of Federal government, from the days of the Continental
Congress down to the present day, and we feel that we are definitely the better
State for having done so.

There are certain things, however, that arise from time to time that must
be taken care of by someone, and, if the States concerned are not ready to
assume the obligations involved in the accomplishment of these projects, they
can have no just cause for complaint if the Federal authorities step in and
do the job for them. Right now we, in Maryland, are working towards mutual
cooperation agreements with our neighbors towards the solution of specific
problems, and it shall be the policy of the present administration to foster and
encourage such cooperation with neighboring States whenever and wherever
there arises a problem or a question that necessitates joint action for its solution.

I make mention, for instance, of the act passed by the recent Maryland
Legislature creating a commission to act jointly with commissions appointed
for like purpose by the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the
State of West Virginia and the District of Columbia, to constitute the Inter-
state Commission on the Potomac River Basin, with power to cooperate in the
abatement of the existing pollution and in the control of future pollution of
the waters of the drainage basin of the Potomac Basin; and to join with the
other States in the formation of a Potomac Basin; and to join with the other
States in the formation of a Potomac Valley Conservancy District.

Under a resolution of the Maryland Senate, too, we are empowered to ap-
point a Commission on Uniform Laws, to work with a similar Commission of
the State of Virginia, on behalf of the Fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay, a
problem that has vexed both States for years. It is within the province of
this Commission to suggest the abrogation of the antiquated compact of 1785,
under which Maryland-Virginia Fishery problems are still being handled; and
to draw up in its place an interstate agreement compatible with modern times.
So far-reaching in its influence is this fisheries question that if a satisfactory
solution is worked out now, as 1 have every reason to believe it will be, the
accomplishment will be comparable to the Maryland-Virginia Boundary settle-
ment of sixty-five years ago, and will mark an epoch in our relations with our
Sister State of Virginia.

I gladly take this opportunity to assure citizens from our adjoining States
that Maryland welcomes any opportunity to work with them to settle joint
problems, or to improve conditions affecting ourselves and our neighbors. Not
only do we feel perfectly capable of handling our own affairs, but we are con-
vinced that in the long run, such handling of our own affairs will be far less
costly than it would be to be constantly accepting Federal help in this respect.

Furthermore, we will approach such joint conferences with due considera-