156 State Papers and Addresses

20, 1941, the schedule calls for a total reduction in the outstanding indebted-
ness of the State of $9, 000, 000, or 20% of the entire State indebtedness.

You may be interested to know the "inside story" of the most recent move
made to secure the best possible results in the administrative side of the State
government. I sent out a request several weeks ago to the heads of all State
Departments, Boards and Commissions, asking for a brief narrative of their
accomplishments during 1939, together with an outline of their plans and ob-
jectives for 1940.

While to any business man who has been accustomed to exercise such a
check upon the various departments under him, such a request from the Gov-
ernor of Maryland might have seemed merely a routine of State Administration,
the fact is that it was not routine. To the best of my knowledge, this is the
first time that any such request has ever gone out to all departments from the
Chief Executive of Maryland. I personally believe that it will have a strong
influence upon the future conduct of the business of the State of Maryland.

One of the weak points of public business, it has always seemed to me, has
been the readiness of many elected and appointed officers to consider themselves
merely a "cog" in the machinery of the Government, and to carry on the affairs
of their particular department or division entirely as a matter of routine.
Such is not, however, and never has been my concept of the proper way of
conducting a public office.

I believe that there is just as much incentive and opportunity for initiative,
imagination, and concentrated effort in matters of State Government as there
is in private industry or commerce, and while I am entrusted with the handling
of your affairs, I propose to see that all responsible officials of the State look
upon their duties in this light. I fail to see how any head of an important
department could conscientiously look to the future and hope to do an effective
job, if he did not first reflect upon, not only what has been accomplished in the
recent past by his department, but also, and possibly even more important
upon what of importance had been left undone and why.

On the same basis, I fail to see how any intelligent department head could
face a new year without fairly definite plans for the conduct of his business
during that new year. It is only by setting up aims and objectives, and by
striving to reach them that we will be able to make any progress in the world,
and I do not believe that the administrative departments of Maryland are a
proper place for any official who doesn't feel that there is something of im-
portance that he can achieve while he is in office.

That is the psychology, if you wish to call it such, behind my request to
all the major and minor State officials for information about their accomplish-
ments and plans. We would never have had a balanced budget in Maryland
if we hadn't planned for it. We would never have had such a marked reduc-
tion in the funded indebtedness of the State if we hadn't planned for it. We
would never have had the largest amount of reversions to the State Treasury
in any single year in our history if we hadn't taken some steps to bring it about.

When I pledged last January that the administration would be as efficient
as it could be made, it was not imagined that I could do it all myself. Anybody
could understand that it had to be done in great measure by the heads of the
various divisions of our State. Where I had the appointment of such heads,
the best qualified men have been secured. ' Now that they are in office, I am
taking this further step to insure that they realize at all times that their work