The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-08-20
LOOKS LIKE TRTCKERY

system *
least necessary, or IS even undesirable.
LOOKS LIKE TRICKERY.
According to the house journal the amend.
neht, IN ITS mutilated form, was reported to
the house by the committee on amendments
to the constitution on March 60 The change
as above stated, seems entirely to have escaped
hotiee At ne TIME, and seems ,!explanabe only
by the supposition OF trckery."
Such is the law which is heraidcd bv
Republican organizations as one OF
their proud achievements, and such is
the question upon which tn people of
Maryland must go through the farce
OF voting next November
Instances Of hypocrisy might easily
be multiplied did but space permit, but
treatment of this subject would be inn
perfect without a passing observation
on the recent removal Of Marshal Jacob
Frey and two subordinate officers from
the police force OF Baltimore by par,i-
san board OF police commissioners. 1t
is a universal principle in the laws OF
the Anglo Saxon race, more ancient
than Magma Charta, that no person
shall be condemned without trial and an
opportunity for defense, and yet in the
case of Marshal Frey no charges were
preferred and no defense was permitted,
but that officer was summarily dismis
sed, ostensibly for not enforcing the
laws against policy gambling, but really
for partisan and political reasons alone.
In regard to the charges against the
two subordinate officers, Bernard Car
ter, one of the most distinguished law
vers OF the country, as counsel to the
board. in written opinion formed after
diligcnt study of the testimony, said:
81 have no hesitation in saying, with the
fullest sense OF my professional responsibility,
that the charge above mentioned IS, as re-
spects each Of the officers named SO at9gethe1
destitute OF foundation that in my judgment
no tribunal competent TO deal with the sub
Ject, and governed by determination to dea
with it fairly and honestly, could find that
either OF the officers named have been wanting
in any respect in the discharge OF their respec
tive duties in reference to enforcing the Law
against lottery policy in the city of Baltimore
In the face of this opinion OF Their
learned counsel the two Republican
commissioners did not hesitate to carry
out the predetermined plans to dismiss
the officers. The widespread and out
spoken indignation of the people OF Bal
timore is still fresh in the public mind
and is sufficient commentary upon this
act OF fragrant injustice In discussing
the removals the Baltimore Sun makes
this observation:
n,. ..,a on- n;s;o, % 81. no.;on,, s.,l
we viii Behold The same spectacle Of earnest
professions Of devotion to civil service reform
before election a9 h 81 da m @e9g@nIce nereo
tie subject is written in the last platform Of
the national Republican party adopted at ST
N3" fbe u, civil service law was placed on the
statute books by the Republican party, which
has always sustained IT. and we W, rene s,. our re-
pPnd honesty enforced and extended wherever
practicable
h NJ p3nE 0i me pa eto %aS
tie following en- emphatic language:
The pledge Of the, Republican national con
TenGn a and ogr Sn and I oe oor
ed and extended wherever practicable is in
keeping with the position Of +, the PARTY for the
Our o9ponents a decry these reforms Thev sp
pear willing to abandon all the advantage
gained after so many years agitation and ct
favoritisn1,y which both parties have often dc,
nounced, that experience has condemned and
Tbe yipe n nartv r edrncs @
reactiorary and entirely uniusti6able poiicy. It
WI take no backward step upon this ques'
''0"'