4 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT

on April 9, 1958, I attempted again to make a satisfactory arrangement with
the publisher of the first edition of this WPA work. When these efforts failed,
I asked the Attorney General for his advice. You will find elsewhere in this
report the two communications which I received from him. His first reaction
was unfavorable to our position that the publisher had failed to live up to
his contract and that it was therefore void. I then prepared a fuller report
for him, having found additional relevant material in the files of the Board
of Public Works and the Governor. On second consideration, the Attorney
General found our position to be stronger. He felt that we could go forward
with our plans if the original publisher had been advised that the work was
out of print and that the required reprint or new edition had not been forth-
coming. In order to avoid any doubt on this point, I sent formal notice to
the publisher at once. I am not sure whether other legal difficulties will arise
in the future, but lam confident now that we shall be able to meet them
successfully.

At the same meeting of the Hall of Records Commission, April 9, 1958,
it was agreed that a desirable solution to the space problem facing the Hall
of Records might be found in the removal of the Land Office to the new
State Office Building if suitable space and equipment could be provided for
that agency. Space was found and equipment offered by the Board of Public
Works which proved acceptable to the Land Office. Plans for removal of the
Land Office went forward until the time for the physical move to take place,
when a taxpayer's injunction to prevent it was granted in the Circuit Court
for Anne Arundel County. The legal moves which followed are not entirely
clear to me, but as things stand at this writing, the Land Office has moved
to its new quarters; we are enjoined from using the stack area in this building
which they vacated; and while a hearing on the merits of the first injunction
was held in October, there has as yet been no decision. We have every hope
that the Court will hold in our favor. But if not, an appeal will be taken
to the Court of Appeals or perhaps remedy will be sought in legislation. The
principal issue now seems to be whether the Board of Public Works has full
power to assign office space to all agencies of the State or whether this power
is limited to those agencies not specifically provided for by the General
Assembly.

Respectfully submitted,

MORRIS L. RADOFF
Archivist and Records Administrator