Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-11-22
Communicated
A New County.

Whilst survey, as suggested IN a
previous article, would doubtless prove
the extent of the the counties-Alle-
gany and Garrett-to be quite 1900
square miles, and therefore sufficient
for third county between them, it
is not SO clear that sufficient popula-
ton would be left Garrett to satisfy
the constitutional requirement, if We
take from h ,r what territory we need.
A survey is necessary, however, with
the view of ascertaining the extent
of the section it is proposed to include
in the new county and to mark the
outline thereof An area of two hun
dred and fifty square miles will suf-
flee if more can be taken without
reducing either Allegany or Garrett
below the constitutional standard, in
either territory or population, SO
much the better.
But just here the question naturally
arises, how is the constitutional pro-
vision to be gotten over, which re-
quires new county to have Four
hundred square miles? And this is
the question we propose to argue:
The Constitution of the United
States says
"All persons born or naturalized in the
United States and subject to the jurisdc-
tion thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law
.,,I, 81, oh tl,n
munities of citizens of the United States" :;
xiv. Amendment to
Constitution of United States-adopted
1868.
The Constitution of Maryland, adopt
ed 1867, says
No new county shall contain
less than four hundred square miles, nor
less than ten thousand WHITE Inhabitants :"
= *-Constitution, Art. xiii,
Sec. 1.
Here then we find the two in di-
rect conflict, and the former being the
supreme law of the land the latter
must of course go down. Lest, how
ever, it should not seem clearly so, to
the reader, we will demonstrate it by
an illustration. Suppose that, instead
of question of territory with us, it
was one of population, and further,
that of our fourteen thousand inhab-
itants or more, five thousand were ne
.groes Under the Constitution of our
State then we would not be eligible
to admission as a new county, the
negroes forming no part of the count
But would not this be 'abridging the
privileges and immunities of citizens
of the United States that is of the
5000 negroes? And would they in
this case be standing equal before the
law? And would not such discrim-
ination against them involve depri-
walton of rights to the 5000 white
inhabitants? Taking it for granted
then, that this conflict of the two is
a fact not to be disproved, is it to be
presumed that the Republican mem
bers of the next General Assembly,
will fail to offer an amendment to
harmonic the two in the interest of
SO large a proportion Of their constitu-
ency? And to offer it is to pass it,
for the oath of Office requires every
member to respect and support the
laws of the land and the Constitution
of the United States as the supreme
law. Nor will the Democratic mem
bers oppose it tor the most prudent
reasons Of party policy.
Just here then is our opportunity.
When the door is opened for the
aforesaid amendment, We shall insist
Gy big petition, for another, which is
this, that material acealh, as we'll as
square miles of surface GOTTEN not
worth five dollars an acre. be taken
into the account, when application
is made by any section for admis-
sion as u county. We would have
the clause, instead of reading as it
now does, namely, "and no new
county shall contain less than four
hundred square miles and 10000
WHITE inhabitants, to read thus ::
"and no new county shall contain
less than four hundred square miles
and 10000 inhabitants, or two hun
bred and fifty square miles and
material qDea}M to the amount of thir-
ty millions of dollars $3.50, 00O,0OO)
and 10000 inhabitants The amount
of material wealth could of course be
either increased or diminished so far
as we are concerned, as our material
wealth can be shown to amount to
quite $l5O,OO0,000. We put it at
$3O,OO0,0O0 because that sum is near
the value of the real and personal
estate of Frederick, the richest coun-
ty in the state.
But would the measure carry ?
Ne think so, and our reason, for it
are these Eight counties-St Mary S,
Anne Arundel, Kent, Calvert, Tai
bot, Cecil, Caroline and Howard
fall, in their extent, below the con
stitutional requirement of 400 square
miles-Kent. and Howard having
indeed, but 24O square miles. And
in respect of population, Caroline
Charles, Queen Anne's, st Mary S, Tai
bot and Calvert, each, falls short o
having 10000 white inhabitants, the
last named one, indeed, having but
1865, all told, and but 1882 white
With respect to material aoea|h OF
rather yearly product, the section o
$50 SQUARE miles that would be in