44 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT

deed for the abstract now required to be sent to the Land Office
failed of passage (H. B. 386). It had many advantages, and it
was supported in committee hearings by the Archivist, who was
especially concerned because of the crowded condition now pre-
vailing in our vaults. The continued collecting of county deed
abstracts will soon exhaust the space which the Hall of Records
Commission made available to the Land Office in 1935. Unfortu-
nately, the bill was opposed by the Commissioner of the Land
Office, who was the officer most directly concerned, and was
lost in committee.

At the suggestion of the State Library a bill was introduced
requiring every State agency to deposit one copy of each of its
publications in the State Library and in the Hall of Records
(Chapter 651). At the present time there is no State agency
which has a file of State publications anywhere near complete,
and their lack is a serious handicap to the use and evaluation of
the records of those State offices which are now active. While
the sacrifice of space will be great in the Hall of Records for the
storage of these publications, the more efficient use of the records
should make this sacrifice worthwhile. The bill passed without
amendment and is printed here below:

"AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments,
Section 103 of Article 41 of the Annotated Code of Mary-
land (1939 Edition), title 'Governor—Executive and Ad-
ministrative Departments', sub-title 'Department of Legis-
lative Reference', as said Section was amended by Chapter
7 of the Acts of 1947, relating to the filing of certain publi-
cations with the State Library and the Hall of Records.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland, That Section 103 of Article 41 of the Anno-
tated Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title 'Governor—
Executive and Administrative Departments', sub-title 'De-
partment of Legislative Reference', as said Section was
amended by Chapter 7 of the Acts of 1947, be and it is