Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04
LEGISLATURE IS AST|R
Maryland Solons Talk Of Pre-
ferring Charges
IN B. AND 0. CONTROVERSY
Against the Attorney General of the
State.
IN B. AND 0. CONTROVERSY
NAY TRY AND IMPEAcH HIM
For Shameful Neglect of Duty" and
Having Insulted Commonwealth
Affairs Shaping for Fight.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

f1OOSE, ANANAtOi4lS. Ndug
February 3.-There is talk here that the
house may present charges against the
attorney general of Maryland and that the
senate may try and impeach him. He has
been openly charged with shameful neg
lect of his duty. with having blocked the
state In the Baltimore and Ohio investiga-
ton and with having fnsulted the senate.
That he has been guilty of neglect Of duty
during the two years he has drawn salary
as the states lawyer in the matter of this
b. and o. investigation there Is not much
doubt and that he Is also In neglect of his
duty when he spends his time in Baltimore
instead Of Annapolis during the session OF
the general assembly, when he should be
on hand BIS the legal adviser Of members
of both houses is generally admitted.
Finally. 1t would be comparatively easy
matter to bring out the necessary votes in
the house to pass the matter up to the
senate, where undoubtedly he would be
tried. with fair prospect Of Impeachment.
that to devote the week or more which
such proceedings would certainly require
to this comparatively side issue is not. in
body, which is desperately in earnest in
wanting to know, and know at once, all
the facts In this B. and o. case, in order
that 1t may take action for q new state of
things before final adjournment.
Neudte III mo JeSCluS mOOQ.
On the other hand. the senate is in alb
solutely no mood to be trifled with, and
yet the attorney general regarded the hap
penings Of yesterday morning. when told
about them, in the light of q joke. He
wrote too bad a hand, he said, to copy
papers for the senate besides which he is
not messenger boy, and no sane man
could think he had treated the senate with
discourtesy. There were twenty seven
NH r1 l,xr
who took precisely that view of his ut
terances, however, and who Will doubtless
not feel highly fiattered at his remarks,
unofficial though they were, In reply
The leader Of erstwhiIe faction which
was expected to champion the attorney
general, Mr.. Blair Lee, Furthermore sound
ed rather an ominous new note during the
debate yesterday. He fayors playing ball."
and not being drawn off side issues, 1t
is true. and yet the intima ton which most
spectators drew from his remarks was that
perhaps there would be an actual saving of
time by installing in Mr.. Bryan's place
man with mere energy, who Will not take
such hopeless view" of the situation
The Montgomery icountian's appeiiation
Young Man Afraid of His Horses fl is
believed. will stick to Mr.. William Shepard
Bryan.
In explanation of the statement that
votes enough to present charges against a
democratic attorney general are to be found
IN the house which is democratic IL should
be remembered that Mr.. Bryan was the
second largest contributory factor to the
sInauhess OF that majority, and that his
position Is the same in the result of the
election which killed the suffrage-restrIc-
ing constitutional amendment favored nv
the rank and file of the democratic party in
this state.
Beginning of New Epoch.
The debate here in the senate Friday
probably marked the beginning OF a new
epoch in Maryland politics a bet
ter time. Under the old order. house or
senate would listen respectfully or care
lessly, as the mood of the members that
morning happened to be be- to the most
convincing argument, to the most logical
statement of facts and to the most brilliant
burst of oratory, but without allowing
these things In any way to influence their
votes. Yesterday morning In the senate
prior to the speech by young German there
mad been two hard factions, which almost
evenly divided the senate; at the conclu-
sion Of his remarks, while the faction may
have been there still, 1t was silent and did
not poll q single vote. The entire hour
and-a-Quarter-long debate was solely on
the question Of the quickest method of
procedure
Mr. Lee, leader of the anti-Gorman fac
ton, far from defending the Attorney Gen.
eral. Joined him In the ISSUE and in a
measure went him step further. 1t is
an interesting coincidence that 1t was the
son of the man most responsible for the
old regime who apparently has ushered in
the new.
Not in years has the state as wIrole (to
judge from the utterances of the county
press and the visitors here from every part
of Maryland) been SO worked up over any
thing. as 1t Is now over the revelations re-
Gently brought to light in the Baltimore
demand by the people for prompt action.
prominent official of the state govern
ment, whose name your correspondent is
not privileged to mention. said yesterday
f1,a III
founded on the most careful investigation
which he was able to make without all OF
the data in hand, that the Baltimore ana
Ohio railroad, for more than twenty years,
has wfthheld-through false statements
tax-dodging by Juggling of facts through
which 1t has secured exemptions. by the
activity of its lobby and by the notorious
act of 1878 whereby the states income |
from the Baltimore and Ohio was cut from |
per cent to one-half of per cent-close |
upon 81, 600, 900 annually from the treas |
ury of Maryland, and which the state |
would Justly be awarded could the subject |
be brought before a fair tribunal for equi- |
table settlements.
Railway Cannot Explain.
Nothing which the railroad management |
can say In explanation explains away these |
facts In 1873 the Baltimore and Ohio |
railroad lobby headed by the then vice |
president of the road, and ably assisted by |
his beautiful oaugh1er, one OF the most dl- 1
traetive women in Maryland at that time. |
played havoc with the peoples interests |
and the Judgment of their representatives.
It is stated by men who took part I'm the |
proceedings of that period that the COM |
pany sent Its representatives down here on |
q special train. special car In which was |
loaded with liquor, champagne and other |
wines They took a house in Annapolis. |
and for more than month were the heart |
of q social season which Maryland has |
probably not since seen paralleled.
At the end OF that time the reduction |
from to one-half of 1 per cent went |
through both houses and the Baltimore and |
Ohio lobby folded its tents and marched |
away Another Interesting coincidence oc- |
ours in that connection. AS In the change |
from the old to the probable new regime il |
is the son OF the man who as state sem |
ator when the reduction was put through, |
and who was IL not a leader a conspicuous |
figure In the manipuiation-it was the son |
Of one of the men responsible for the re- |
duction who will lead the fight for a res |
toration Of the old 2 per cent basis.
A. p. German. jr., announced several days |
ago that he favored q return to that system |
and would endeayor to have legislative ac-
ton taken on the matter.