The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-03-21
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ELRTON, MARCH II, 1874.
OUR LEGISLATURE AND ITS WORK.

Eleven weeks of the session of the Leg
islature has nearly TRANSFERRED, and but
two remain to close up this Democratic
farce at legislating. Governor White has
shifted from the capital of the "ancient
Severn " to the more important capital on
the banks of the Potomac, to display his
talents at pulling wires in the Senate of
the United States; Delegate Groome has
burst the chrysalis and expanded into a
Governor; Jesse X. Hines has been trans
ferred from the dusty precincts of the
clerks office in Chestertown to the " old
arm chair " in the hall of the House of
Delegates; and Speaker Carroll forsaking
for time the humble walks of life in
Howard county, has scrambled into the
Presidents chair of the Senate of Mary
land, and plies the gavel in the old chamber,
sacred with revolutionary memories. This
is doubtless pleasant to those four, but
wherein does this profit the people? and
yet this is absolutely all the Legislature
has done in eleven weeks. That it will
add to these honors in two weeks which
yet remain to the session, is not probable,
except to open new avenues to the treas
ury, and give the sanction of law to de-
pleting that figuratively strong box, which
Is not allowed to accumulate much much in
it.
No single act of general Importance has
been passed. \ multitude of private bills
have found their way through the Legisla-
ture. Overrun by ten thousand low grog-
geries, made possible by a most ticentious
license law, the people almost en- nsasse
appealed to their Legislature for relief.
They asked for law that would place
power in the hands of the Courts to re-
strain the indiscriminate issue of license to
set up groggeres by all sorts of people.
This august assembly after pottering with
local option bill for weeks, postponed its
consideration till the 9th of April the
last day of the session, and every whisky
rancho and low gambling shop in the State
sent up a shout of triumph at this vote.
A corrupt ballot box stuffing registry
law disgraces the statute books OF the
State, which the Legislature has been
asked to either abolish or amend, the pro-
visions of which are VIGOROUSLY made use
of to defraud the honest citizen of his
vote, and that Democratic body pays no
regard to the just demand. The road
laws are little else than farce, but the
Legislature tritles away its time with ad,
tournaments, which consume third of the
session. Our usury laws and laws for col
Letting debts, turn capital away from the
State and drive honest business out in dis,
gust, but no effort is made to reform them.
Our Circuit Courts are kept weeks on
weeks in session, with all the elaborate
machinery of Ijuries, bailitfs, sheriffs, etc,
ETC., at tremendous expense, trying petty
offences, which the magistrates should
have power to settle. And we might pro
coed in the enumeration of abuses which
call for remedies required by the advance
and progress of the times, which are neg
lected wholly, while much of the little
time devoted to business is taken up by
old fogies discussing plans to regenerate
the State by emigration commissions, by
acts to perpetuate the memory of the re-
belion, reward the men who were leaders
in it, and erect monuments to commemor-
ate confederate dead" And thus the
session passes, the time is wasted, by this
convention of tricky politicians at cost to
the State of $3.50 How long, oh how
long will the good people of this land, who
are noted for their good sense and intelIi,
gence in every other branch of business,
continue to play the fool on election day
by selecting such a class of partisans,
whose party slavery degrades them into
the tools of political jugglers at the State
capital?