Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-12-26
COMING LEGISLATURE
lobe L BUSY ONE
Twill lie s1neIteus Session In
History Of State
EXFECl sl.tlUt To Ply
solons NII IL Ergrcss,d d In Work
From The Opening 10 Qos-
ing hseeting

Although the Democratic platform
virtually made no pledge of any kind
and the Republican platform makers
limited their pronia IS TO annexation.
aoine rude for the counties. amalga-
nation o. court cl rkships. popular
election Of the state Treasurer and
general economies, the coming Legis-
lasure faces some OF the most SIR
ring battles ever seen at the State
House Here are some of the .rcable-
some problems on which it viii have
10 pass:
Annexation
Prohibition.
Racetacks.
Women's suffrage.
Home rule for counties.
Police investigation
Elimination OF useless Offices.
Promise OF Busy Time.
Any one of these problems would
be sufficient for an ordinary session
OF the General Assembly. but the
combination promises TO keep the
law makers busy from the time the
gong sounds on the drst Wednesday
n January until the 90-day period
has elapsed
Control of the House Is vested In
the Republicans. The Democratic
have tho Senate by scant maioy
OF one. Seated in the executive o
is a Democratic Governor who can
exercise the veto power on legislation
and over this veto a three-ifths vote
OF both the House and Senate is re-
quired in putting through a measure
Question OF Partisanship.
Those pledges in the Republican
platform may he assumed to bring
the issues they cover into the field
of part1sanship. This Theoretically As
true, OF course But there are many
Democratic Legislators who are dis
7 posed to ignore this in deciding on
I the way they will vote.
Factional dissensions are 10 soma
extent responsible for this. The Re-
publicans have some factional sore
ness. The Democrats are split wide
| open Hence annexation, home rule
/ election of the Seate Treasurer by the
direct vote of the people and the
L amalgamation OF the court clerkships.
which require the submission Of the
| amendments to tho Constitution, i'm
all probability viii command some
Democratic support Annexation will
get many Democratic votes and lose
few among the Republicans.
Bitter Fight On Liquor.
Prohibition viii occasion the bit
/ terest kind OF a fight
Maryland has four racetracks. An
effort viii be made to abolish them.
The House is expected to pass the
Legislation.
The Senate will be battle-ground,
With the chances against rather than
with the racecourses.
/ For several sessions the Senate OF
Maryland has placed the stamp Of
approval on woman's suffrage. The
House has declined to follow suit
The Senate is expected to adhere to
the usual practice Suffrage un-
doubtedly viii be stronger in the
House than ever before. II will re-
quire three-fifths vote-the support
OF 62 OF the 102 members OF the
House. The great majority Of the
women of Maryland seem to be either
Indifferent or hostile to suffrage. I'm
der such conditions a three-ffths vote
is hard to muster
Fur Likely To Fly.
Real factional politics, the kind
| that makes the fur fly" will develop
in the police investigation demand
ed by Mayor Preston. and in the
promised move Of the Republicans to
put out Of Office some Of the old bull
warks of the State machine. The Re-
| publicans viii be inclined, it is
thought. to give the Mayor a helping
hand in Investigating the police, and
| the Mayor may be perfectly willing
to return the compliment in the elm
ination Of some jobs. Over this elm
ination, however, will stand the Gov
ernor with his veto. Hence the net
result probably viii be the manufac-
ture Of some campaign material.