The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-01-03
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ELkTON, JANUARY 3, 1874.
MEETING OF THE LEGISLATURE.

y
lature will assemble. There are few gen.
eral laws which are important to the whole
people that should receive the first atten-
ton of that body of assembled wisdom.
But it has become fashionable with modern
Legislatures to devote five-sixths Of the
session to special, personal bills, while laws
to promote the general welfare receive the
minimum of their time. The parties who
lobby for laws which are intended to ad-
vance the interest Of corporations or COM
panies have their arrangements all perfect
ed to push their bills along and keep them
constantly moving, while the public have
no such dligent friends to look after its
interest.
The last Legislature was liberal in their
expenditures, and stayed not its hand when
in order to draw upon the money chests.
The expenses of the session were heavier
than any of it's predecessors, amounting to
considerably more than one hundred and
eighty thousand dollars. But those we're
flush times. The people are hoping that
system Of rigid economy will prevail at
Annapolis this Winter, and that Queen
Mary's Land will have its burthens light
ened rather than increased.
Among the number of laws on the stat
ute books of the State which need, over
hauling and perfecting, none more urgent
ly demands it than the present Registry
law. The law as it is now administered
is an open door for the preparation of the
grossest frauds. In the matter of resi-
dence all kind of ambiguity is allowed, and
by a loose practice of constructive resi-
dence in vogue, the Registers allow hun
dreds of party friends to cast their votes
at our elections who have no more right to
vote in the State, than persons who eside
in Maine or Texas. This practice has
grown into such glaring corruption, that
it is common for men to claim to reside in
the State who cannot show the slightest
evidence Of owning to residence here
A residence emitting voter to cast his
ballot in the State should be an actual
domicile in the county where he claims to
exercise the right, of himself or his family,
and no other test should be allowed. The
system of opening the books of the regis
tration on the eve, as it were, of the day
of election, ostensibly for correction is
another defect in the law which invites
fraud by an INSCRIPTIONS and partisan
Register, and this opportunity is taken adj
vantage of to commit gross frauds in leav-
ing the names of party voters on the list
which should be taken off, and dropping
names that should sometimes be left on.
The practice of appointing one partisan
Register is vicious. There should be one
from each of the prominent political par
ties appointed to revise the lists; and the
practice of amending the old lists instead
of making an entirely new list every year,
is very unreliable and imperfect mode to
obtain correct registry. Some discretion
more than they have, should be allowed
the Judges of Election in rejecting what
they know to be fraudulent vote. Under
the present law all may vote who can man
age to have their names on the Registry
list or who can personate a name that can
be found there. We might proceed to in
numerate and point out the faults of our
Registry law at much greater length but
it is useless to criticise what all admit is
one of the most crude enactments to be
found among the statutes of the State,
than which no law requires more care and
circumspection than a Registry law; and
it is the plain duty of the Legislature to
amend and perfect the law so as to guard
the right of elective franchise with the
most scrupulous care. No right of the
citizen is so subject to invasions, for it is
equal to depriving citizen of his just
right to vote, to allow fraudulent votes to
be polled against him, which has the effect
to neutralize his rights in the choice of his
public servants.
But while the party in power can reap
an advantage by defects in the Registry
law, it seems idle to hope that Legisla-
ture which owes large per cent of its
members to these defects in the legal ma
chinery by which they managed to reach a
GUS to purge the statute of these faults.
Another reproach to the State is permit
ting the aims houses to be emptied by their
party keepers for the purpose of adding to
the poll for their ticket. While this and
many other wholesome reforms are needed
in our laws to keep Maryland abreast of
the times aud up with the advance of the
age, yet we can not expect the things
which most vitality concern the whole peo-
pie, to receive the attention they deserve
for scores and hundreds of "private bills :"
pile the clerks desk, to almost the utter
exclusion of the public business, in all Of
our Legislatures, which is a great and
growing evil in American politics. Moth
ing will stay this evil it is probable, but
the cultivation of strong public senti
ment against it. 1t is the first and i'm
perative duty of members to attend to all
public legislation in preference to private
bills.
The Baltimore american of Wednesday,
in some well-considered comments on the
Registry Law, recommends the repeal Of
the law, and in view of the fact that it is a
sink of Democratic corruption, with no
possibility of its ever being honestly car
ried out by the men who are recommend
ed by party rings, and commissioned as
registers by the Governor, we are disposed
to agree with the american in favoring the
total repeal of the law. That paper says:
We have simple remedy for all of these
difficulties. Repeal the Registry law, and
let every man establish his right to vote
before the Judges of Election. In the
counties there is no need of any registry
of voters whatever other than is afforded
by the tax lists. In the city the law as it
now exists is worse than none, aud is bet
ter calculated to promote fraud than to
prevent it. Ten thousand names are car
ried to the lists from which "repeatcrs -
can make their selections, and vote all day
with impunity. The Register, who is
often an illterate and corrupt person, is
clothed with judicial powers which should
only be exercised by learned and upright
judges. 1t is no justification of the law to