The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-04-06
TIE fEGISt4TCRE 1894.

The session of the Maryland Legis-
lature for 1894 came to an end by con-
stitutional limitation last Monday
night at II o clock The closing hours
of the session were in marked contrast
with those of former sessions, when
much excitement prevailed and inn
portant measures were rairoaded
through.
There was absolutely no disorder i'll
the two houses and they proceeded
with the closing of their labors in IL dig
nified manner, which was only broken
when during a recess IL mock session
was held in the House of Delegates,
with Judge TraverS, of Dorchester
county, in the chair Then AL sorts
of ridiculous orders were sent to the
desk, most of them Of II personal na-
ture, and many of them quite funny.
The Judge, however, had Il prompt
reply for all. The fun was cut short
by the appearance of the chairman of
the conference committee with the APP
preparations bills as amended in the
committee. These were quickly pass
ed. A brief speech of farewell follow
ed from the Speaker, his gavel fell
and the session of 1894 passed into
history.
Posterity must judge of its record,
but that judgment will probably be
that it was an eminently conservative
body. Very few important general
laws were passed, the Legislature
deeming it best to make as few chang
es as possible while the business in
terests of the country are in such an
unsettled condition. For this reason
the ruinous assessment bill was defeat
ed. Many members went to Annapo-
lis prepared to vote for the Hayes bill
but when the amended bill was thrust
into their faces they had to shrink
back, fearing the result to the poorer
classes of the State.
An important bill which became a
law was the general Oyster law. This
measure, as its originators think,
will provide abundant revenue for
the Oyster Navy for the next two
years and avoid the necessity of draw
ing on the State funds for its support.
The only other measure which attract
ed general attention was the Pool bill,
which legalizes pool selling at horse
races for thirty days in the year at
any one track, and prohibits it the re-
mainder of the year. Many members
opposed the bill, not because they ap-
proved gambling but because they
were opposed to it in any form and
did not feel that they could counter
ance class legislation. The methods
employed to pass the bill were also
Objectionable to many, for strange to
say the lobby were working for the
bill instead of against it. However,
as the bill appeared to be demanded
by a majority of the people in the city
of Baltimore the members yielded
and passed the bill.
Few changes were made in the Har-
ford Local Code.
The game law, the provisions of
which have already been published in
The 1Egis; the law in regard to tax
collectors, requiring them to sit once
week in each precinct and allowing
a sliding scale of discounts for taxes
paid before the first of January, and
the law restoring Justices of Peace to
the jurisdiction conferred upon them
by the act of 1884, are the only import
ant ones and are believed to be good
measures.
Take it all in all, while the Legisla-
ture of 1894 might have done better,
it might have done infinitely worse.