The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-01-06
AS BOSS WHIP CRACKS So
LEGISLATORS WILL VOTE
General Assembly, Theoretically Dem.
OCratic. Really 0Iigarchic.

/ today, the 128 gentlemen of distinction
/ chosen from among the million and
quarter people of the State to make
laws for them assembled in Annapolis
for that purpose. Their meeting will
cost the State in the neighborhood of
5000, 900, and they will spend several
millions of the States money.
] theoretically, Maryland is a democ-
racy. Actually, it is an oligarchy,
tempered by public opinion. Theoreti-
cally, these 27 Senators and 1O1 dele
gates are men of ability and patriotism
who go to Annapolis to consider and
/ discuss the laws that will best subserye
the interests of the State, and to enact
| those which the consensus of opinion
declares the best Actually they are,
generally speaking, members of a po-
litical machine, or machines, who will
vote, again speaking generally, as their
leaders or bosses tell them.
For instance, it is currently believed
that there are a number of members of
this chief law-making body of the State
who will attach more importance to
what John Walter Smith thinks than
what they themselves think the best in
I terests of the State. Others, it is said,
will hesitate to disobhge Fred Talbot,
or Josh" Miles, or BILLY" Stone.
Some, it IS betraying no confidence to
say, will pay heed, first of all, to what
Sonny Mahon wants. A great many
of them will consider, primarily, the
wishes Of the Governor of the State,
bearing in mind the distribution of pa
tronage which takes place late in the
session and is accompanied by much ex-
element and heart-burnings.
/ Then there are wheels within the
wheels Of these political machines. 1t
is assumed, for instance, that Mr.. Ma
hon himself, at this particular juncture,
with his eye also on the aforementioned
distribution of patronage, and maybe
an undue sense of the appallingness of
gubernatorial veto, will also hesitate
to offend Mr.. Crothers. Even Senator
Smith may be expected TO defer, just
little, to the Governor if the latter
should show signs of obstlnacY or indie
pendence.
Further, there is the question of the
/ part the corporations will play in the
actual working of the Legislature. In
years past they have not been unknown
to take a quite prominent part. This
must always be a matter of faith, and
not of knowledge, with the average cit
izen, for no one ever sees a corporation
go boldly into the House or Senate and
openly vote the vote of a duly accredit-
ed delegate of the sovereign people.
But when the people see bill after bill
favorable to the corporations go rush
ing through the Legislature, and bill
after bill unfavorable to the corpora
tons crushingly defeated, then, natur-
ally, they have suspicious. Such sus-
piciOns were not entirely absent during
the last session of the General Assem-
bly,.
This time, however, it is different
The corporations, apparently, were not
as important factors as usual in the
late election, thanks. maybe, to the
corrupt practices act. Consequently,
there will be fewer debts to be paid to
them. Also, there have been visible
upon the horizon signs that the corpora
tions and political powers are not ut
terly en- rapport at the present moment.
In a word, natural gas.
Absolute fairness demands certain
qualifications of the broad statement re-
garding the oligarchial form of Mary
land government. In one or two cases
the county boss or leader is combined in
one person with the people S representa-
tive. There's Senator Blair Lee, foreX-
ample, whose leadership of his party in
Montgomery has made that the banner
Democratic county of the State. He is in
position where he does not have to
defer to any higher authority. He holds
his office not through the influence of
any other man, but by direct gift of his
constituents. Therefore he is likely to
regard first of all, the wishes of those
constituents Moreover, he is man of
intelligence, enlightenment and indie
pendence. Senator Arthur P. German of
Howard is another man who can afford
to be independent if he cares to. And
there are other Senators and Delegates
who, while owing allegiance 20 the po-
litical machine, are not subservient to
it. If their self-respect demands or the
wishes of their constituents is made
clear they will not hesitate to kick over
the traces.
The trouble about all the men who
want to preserve fair measure of in
dependence, or, rather, the trouble with
the situation, is that if these men wish