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MR. RATCHFORD: Actually, in Maryland, it's

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funny, but many of the small cities, real small, 250

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people, 200, perform a wide range of municipal services

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to their citizens and they are very vital. I am thinking

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of towns on the Eastern Shore, particularly towns like

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Millington with 300 people, Galena with 250 people, who

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operate sewage plants, water plants, plan zoning, because

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they are predominantly in rural counties and they are the

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only ones who can do it.

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On the other hand, the larger towns in Maryland

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such as frequently found in Prince Georges --

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THE CHAIRMAN: College Park, for example.

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MR. RATCHFORD: And College Park, for example,

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provide nothing and these are the ones that could perform

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services, whereas the small towns on the Eastern Shore

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carry on the full brunt of local government because there

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the counties are more oriented to health and education and

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so on. So, primarily, one of our weaknesses with classi-

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fication in Maryland is that it doesn't mean anything,

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because if you classify all cities over 15, 000 as having

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important functions, half of those have no function.