The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-11-04

PARKTON, Nd, OCTOBER zotn, iSOo.
Editors Union The proposed amendment to
the Constitution of this State seems to be the
principal issue in the present campaign. and the
ofIiceseekers holders, professional politi-
clans and .bosses' of both parties, in speeches,
advertisements and private conversation, have
endeavored to unravel the mysteries of the pro-
posed amendment and make plain the path the
voter should take on the 18th of November; and
while many have been convinced as to what is
their duty in regard to this matter, Others have
given it no serious consideration, regarding all
the talk on the subject as they do the usual
campaign clap-trap.
As am not politician at present-never hav-
ing affiliated with the Democratic party-and
am not considered Republican by some of the
present party managers who were in swaddling
clothes when to be a Republican in Baltimore
county meant something more than to be an
offce-holder, offce-seeker or "boss," would
like to mention few things in regard to the
amendment that have not seen in print.
This is serious matter and every voter should
give it his most earnest and careful cOnsidera-
ton before he decides to vote away the liberties
and privileges of himself and his fellow-man at
the dictation of the ''bosses' of any political
party.
If the amendment should be carried no one
can hereafter vote in this grand old common
wealth of Maryland-the source of religious
liberty and 1.-THE land of the sanctuary'-un
he is able to read any section of the Constitu-
ton of the State and give reasonable explana-
ton of its meaning to the register; or If unable
to read he must explain its meaning after it Is
read to him by the register, and the register will
be the sole judge Of the reasonableness of his
explanation, whether the register himself knows
what 1t means or not
The register will select the section for the
applicant to read. or to DO read to him il unable
to read, and right here lies the danger-the snake
in the grass. The register will not select the
same section for every applicant for registra-
ton; at least he need not. for If he does those
who are able to register can easily tell those
who subsequently apply for registration how to
explain it acceptably to the register. and so
different applicants for registration must neces-
sarily be given different sections to read.
| Suppose the register-who is to be the only
Judge in the matter-wants an applicant to be
registered. he will probably select something
like Section SO, Article 8: mo person shall be
imprisoned for debt" or Section 40 of Article s.:
1.-THE property of the wife shall be protected
| from the debts of her husband" which any
school boy can easily explain.
But if, on the other hand, he wishes the appli-
cant to be rejected, he will probably select
long, hard section like Section 20, Article 2,
which defines the powers of the Governor, or
Art. 4, Section As: "Coroners, elisors and nota-
ries public may be appointed for each county"
&C.. and ask the applicant what an ''elisor'' is ;
or Article II of the Bill of Rights. and ask him
| to explain what an "eaposte facto law is.
How many of the present registers can define
.'elisor' and "exposte facto' without looking in
the dictionary? And you must not forget that
the register is judge, jury and witness in this
case. His intelligence and inclination will de-
eide your fate and make you "vassal or peer"
Under the present law there are tCo registers
in each precinct-one Democrat and one Repub-
lican-but there is nothing in the Constitution.
or in the proposed amendment, that says each
party shall have register in each precinct, and
whenever the dominant party desires control of
the election machinery the Legislature can re-
peal the present law and enact one that will re-
quire only one register in each precinct and you
can easily guess that he will belong to the party
in power.
The provision for registering persons who
were entitled to vote on January lst, 1862 and
their lineal descendants, will disfranchise many
illiterate but intelligent men, as many of them
may have considerable difficulty in proving to
the satisfaction of bipartisan register that their
fathers or grandfathers voted, or were entitled
to vote prior to 1869.
The safest thing for the man who cannot read
to do at the coming election-if he desires to
defeat the amendment and is uncertain as to
how he shall mark his BALLOTS to carefully
make his cross mark (X) in the last square in
the last column Of the official ballot and make
no other mark whatever on his ballot.
AN OLD-TIME REPUBLICAN,.