the actions were mine exclusively — for they certainly were not — I
am proud that your State spearheaded a movement which in the
years ahead surely will enhance the lives of all who are privileged to
live in the mountains of the eastern part of our great country.

Let me quote from the final paragraphs of the leaflet, having to
do with the Appalachian Regional Act. "It is not a pie-in-the-sky
measure, " it states. "It is not the product of dreamers, but the product
of men and women who have looked carefully at the difficulties this
region has faced for more than a century. It contains hard practical
solutions to these difficulties. "

As pleased as we are with the federal help we have received, and
will receive in the future, these bounties are not to be used as an
excuse for relaxing our own efforts. On the contrary, the keen interest
which the federal government is showing for the well-being of the
people of this area, and other areas in the Appalachian region, offers
us the incentive to work harder to make Appalachia a better place
in which to live. As we said in Annapolis five year ago, the task is
too heavy for the communities or the individual states to bear alone.
With the regional approach to the problem, and with the invaluable
assistance we are receiving from the federal government, we will be
able, I believe, to accomplish more in five years than we otherwise
would have been able to accomplish over many decades.

As for your State government, I can assure you that this Administra-
tion intends to intensify its efforts in behalf of Appalachian pros-
perity — in the building of roads, in the expansion and development
of forests and parks, in promoting tourism, in industrial development.
Your State, of course, has its own obligation, financial and otherwise,
in the highway construction program that is a part of the Appalachian
regional development. Think of what the construction of four and
six-Jane limited-access superhighways over these mountains will mean
to your county and the other counties here in Western Maryland.
Think of what it will mean in terms not only of convenience to
yourselves but in terms also of the development of these surroundings
as an economically viable community and as a playland and recrea-
tion area for the countless others who will want to come here and
share with you the pleasures of being in such a wonderful land.

I have been told of some of the difficulties your own economic
development officials and our State Department of Economic Develop-
ment have encountered in the efforts they have made to spur on
industrial development in this country. The relative inaccessibility, I
am told, has been a major deterrent to these efforts. This difficulty will

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