Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1901-11-23
CONTENTION OF THE OLD BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.


OUUN OJM MlDD1UnuhDs
From Maryland Republican.
There were rumors about the time Of
the passage OF the bin providing forseven
county commissioners that the old board
of county commissioners would contest
the validity of the Act, and these rumors
were revived when nominations We're
made and about election, time. Few,
however, thought that there was any
thing in these rumors, and most people
considered them only idle talk. 1t now
seems that there was substance in them
and that the people OF Anne Arundel are
face to face with IA reality which prom
Uses to be both troublesome and expen-
sive On last Tuesday the old board of
county commissioners refused TO give up
the Office to the men whom the people
have elected TO be their successors. What
their reasons are, are not known, other
than that two OF them Were elected I'M
der n law passed by the legislature
which law has since been repealed, for
terms which would not have ended, one
for two years and one for four years, had
the law not been repealed. We under
stand that the contention OF the old
board is that when the Constitution of
the State was amended so as to permit
the legislature TO fix terms of county
commissioners for longer period than
two years, and the legislature, acting
under this authority, fixed the terms of
county commissioners for Anne Arundel
county, that it can not change the
terms. In short, the contention is: that
one Legislature having provided six year
terms for the county commissioners OF
Anne Arundel county, no other legisla-
ture can change them and the county
must have six year terms for county
commissioners forever and a day. This
contention is the merest bosh and we
predict that it will be so pronounced il
the ease ever gets into the courts for de
cision. In the meantime this or some
other equally worthless contention may
serve the purpose of keeping in office for
a few months the board of county com
missoners, and this, no doubt, is the
whole purpose Of the contention; for we
do not believe any really first class law
yer can have advised the old board that
il has good case. Laws like the last
Anne Arundel county commissioner law
have been frequently passed by the legis-
lature, and we cannot recall a single
case in which they have been held bad by
the Courts. We will cite only one in
stance. The terms of Office of the school
commissioners in the various counties of
the State have been changed several
times, the last time two years ago, when
the term of office of every school commits
sioners in the State was shortened three
months. The republican party rs a par
~ opposed this change, and fought the
bill i'm both House and Senate. In all the
debate on the bill, no one ever thought
to question the right of the legislature to
enact such law, nor has anyone since
questioned the validity of the law. 1t
would then seem that there is absolutely
nothing in thiscontention of the old board
OF county COMMISSIONERS duu IHaJ the
old board must lose the case as soon as it
can be heard and determined by the Courts
but the people of Anne Arundel county
are interested more and further than this.
The old board in defending its contention
will employ counsel and incur large ex-
penses, which the people of the county
viii have to pay. The recently elected
county commissioners in asserting their
right to the office viii, also. employ
counsel and incur large expenses and, if
they win as we think there is no doubt,
the people win. also, have to pay their
counsel fees and expenses. 1t is a great
pity that there IS not some summary
way in which To dispose of a contention
like the one the old board of county com
missioners is setting up, SO that the peo-
pie of the county could be saved all the
bother and expense. If there Were, and
the matter could be summary disposed
OF next Tuesday, the people of the coun-
ty would have n special cause for giving
thanks on Thursday.