The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-02-08
THE WEEKS DOINGS At
THE STATE CAPITAL
& Ohio Matters and AttOr-
neY General Bryan Under Fire.
Bryan NOT A MESSENGER BOY
To Obey the Beck and Call OF Every
Member of the August Senate
Local Measures of Interest-Gar-
rett COuntians at the Capital.

Local Measures of Interest-Gar-
rett Countians at the Capital.
STATE HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, Feb. 6,
1906. The developments at the State
Capitol in the course of the last two or
three days Of last week, were among
the most sensational which have occur
red in Maryland for many a long day.
A Democratic Senator on the floor of
the upper house attacked the Governor
for having exceeded his authority, an
entire aggregation of Senators poured
"hot shot" into Attorney General
Bryan, and guns were brought into
action, and more numbered for almost
immediate use upon the Baltimore &.
Ohio railroad. The Baltimore and Ohio
railroad is the excuse for all these de-
velopments and the groundwork on
which the rest of the beautiful and in
tricate fabric rests, but the hostility of
all regular Democrats, but Mr. German
in particular to William Shepard Bryan,
was strong secret spring in the moves
under surface. The leaders will never
forgive Bryan for the part he played in
the amendment fight and loss last fall,
and they now have an excellent oppor-
tunity for getting even with him.
The B. & 0. matter was officially
brought before the Senate again last
week by the report Of the State direc-
tors in that corporation, Messrs. A. P.
German and L. V. Baughman. This
was very long and of a startling charac-
ter. By some species of remarkable
bookkeeping the Washington Branch Of
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, Of
which the State owns Cne-third the
stock, has been heavily assessed for the
new Washington terminal, in which APP
parently it nevertheless owns no inter
est. The Federal government too, is
appropiating 81, 500, 600 to indemnify the
railroads for certain losses, and in this
too, it is understood that the Washing
ton branch will get no share 1t is true
that the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
has explained why these things are thus,
but it is also fact that their explana-
ton fails to explain.
Following this report, on Friday in
the Senate occurred the sensations al
luded to in the opening paragraph of
this letter. The Attorney General was
asked some time ago what he had done
in the matter of the suit instituted in
1900 against the B. & 0. for Withholding
since 1897 the 10per cont. interest to
which the State is entitled on its stock,
and which until that time it had receiv-
ed. The Attorney Generals reply, in
effect, was that he had done nothing,
and in answer even to a second letter of
inquiry from the Senate, his reasons for
having so done were not satisfactory,
in addition to which in his last letter he
Informed the members that if he was
not moving rapidly enough to suit their
convenience they were at liberty to go
to the courts for the information desir-
ed. This was construed as an insult to
the Senate, by State Senator German.
In this letter, too, MIR. Bryan brought
in the name Of Mr.. Frank V. Rhodes a
great many times, which naturally
brought forward the question of who
Mr.. Frank Y. Rhodes was, and his
official connection with the case. Mr..
BreWington explained that Governor
Warfield had authorized him to run
down this case but that in so doing the
Executive had exceeded his authority.
Mr.. German it his attack upon Attor-
ney General Bryan declared that the
Attorney General had neglected his
duty shamefulIy in the prosecution of
this case, and being questioned as to his
exact meaning, went further and said
that he was attempting to block the
States interest in the matter. Mr.. Lee
spoke of him as regarding the States
side as hopeless, and dubbed him a
"Young Man Afraid of His Horses.
In reply to all this Mr. Bryan laughed,
said that he wrote too bad a hand to do
as the Senate wished, declared that no
sane man could possibly have construed
his letter as discourteous, and affirmed
that he was not bound to run messages
for the Senate of this State.
Talk of impeachment proceedings fol-
lowed this but such a course is not prob
able, since to prefer charges in the
House and try the Attorney General in
the Senate, would divert a week or
more of time from the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad to Mr.. Bryan.
In the House Friday morning, matters
,lo oYNn,,oI