The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-04-01
MARYLAND LEGISLATURE.
STATE HOUSE,

/ storm center this week, and from morn
ing until late every night, has been filled
with crowds OF representative men from
every section, from Garrett to Worcester
all looking after bills of great and
/ small interest TO the people at large and
! to individuals. Business and politics
have become intermingled, log-rolling
and trading of all sorts are part of the
| game, and trades, which appear effect
| lively made one day, are broken up and
! declared off the next, SO that many of
the statesmen hardly know whether they
are going or coming, or what is going
/ to happen in the next hour. Confusion
| apparently reigns supreme, but through
out all, to one familiar with the last DAYS
of legislative sessions, there is a svs-
| tematic order, which in the end will show
itself out of the seeming chaos, and
wind up the session with the passage of
all measures which ought to be passed
and the rejection of all obnoxious bills,
practically assured. What is chaos and
confusion to the outsider is no more
/ than the agitation of the waves on the
surface of deep river, which at the
bottom floats steadily on to the sea.
The Democrats have taken the Suf-
frage question firmly in hand, and will,
in all probability. take away from the
| negro the right to vote, simply and solely
because he is a negro. How the prob
lem will finally work out, the future alone
can determine.
The outlook now is very favorable for
the passage OF every bill the enactment
OF which was pledged in the Democratic
platform. The Public Utilities Bill, the
new Primary Election Law, and other
general legislation, has been threshed
over and over on the floor of both
/ houses, and in the newspapers, and
when the final action is taken everybody
! will be greatly relieved at the radiance of
the incubus. The belief is general here
that too many pledges were made by
both parties, and that it is unfair to the
general assembly to handicap the men,
bers by all sorts of pledges and promises,
allowing practically no discretion to them
IN dealing with the great public questions.
This session has been tied by a long
program of platform protestations, and
the members, who are quite as wise as
the delegates to the State Conventions
which adopted the platforms have been
bounded and buldozed by hostile press
to such an extent. that in not a few
instances, they have felt compelled to
vote for measures, which careful consid-
Grafton has made them consider Of
doubtful expediency, and of still more
doubtful popularity. The demand for
some OF these things has been almost
entirely newspaper demand, based,
not on popular sentiment but on the
WhlmS OF few writer's, whose knowl-
edge of public affairs has been largely
theoretical, and not at all founded on any
1Hff al al
ness or politics. The prediction is made
that the next session of the General
Assembly will be compelled to devote
a considerable portion of its time to
revising, amending and repeating laws
passed hastily by the present session, in
response, not to any real public demand,
but largely owing to the buldozing
tactics of certain Baltimore newspapers
whose only desire is to iniure the Dem
ocratlc party and force it down to dis
aster and defeat
Up to these last days the session has
been slngularly free from scandals of any
sort The only performance which look.
was the defeat of the General Local
Option Bill. There has been the usual
amount of trading votes and logroline,
latlve bodies, and most OF this has been
done in favor of bills of local. rather
than of a general interest Where local |
interests have come in conflict with the |
general interest, the general interest has !
usually gone to the wall
A large number of Frederick county |
people have been here this week looking |
out for local bills Among the number |
were George r. Dennis, Roger Molter.
J. Stewart Amman, County Commits |
sioners Dinterman, John Routzahn, Mel. |
win Wood, Guy Motter, Vincent Sebold, !
and several others whose names your |
correspondent has forgotten, but who |
are not less we'll known and influential !
on that account.
PAUL WINCHESTER. |
The following local bills were passed: |
Senator Matthias bill amending the |
charter Of the Liberty Turnpike Company. |
Mr.. Ausherman's bill amending charter |
OF Brunswick
Senator Matthias, amending the charter
of Emmitsburg.
Senator Matthias amending the charter
OF the Savings Bank of Brunswick.
Frederick improvement bond issue.
Brunswick's water supply bond issue.
Senator Lees bill increasing member
ship of the State Roads Commission.
Senator Germans Cumberland charter
bill
The revaluation and general reassess.
ment bill is on the third reading file.
Under the suspension of the rules the
general State appropriation bill for IoI1
and 1912 and the appropriation bill for
support of State institutions, schools and
hospitals tor 1911 and 1912 were intro
duced by Senator Price and referred to
the Finance Committee
The State tax for 1911 has been fixed
at % cents and for 1912 at 234 cents.
The increased State tax rate, Chairman
Price. of the Finance Committee, pointed
out that the increase was due to new pro-
VISIONS for the State care of the insane, to
accommodations to be provided
Tor tuberculosis sufferers and to the State
road loans
The new loan for the State sanatorium
adds one-eighth of a cent for the State
care OF insane one cent; for the new high
ways loan--that for a Baltimore Annapolis
boulevard and bridges-one-quarte of a
cent, and for the State road loan Of 1908,
~ cents.
Two years ago, Mr.. Price points out.
he levyior school purposes was only az {
,ents the balance of the money required
)e ing taken from the general treasure