The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1917-10-19
SAY CITY IS UNFAIR
COUNTY MEN INSIST REFER
ENDUM SHOULD BE GIVEN.
Claim People Of State do Not Al 0s-
derstand That Baltimore ocNNSy
is Mot Fighting Annexation n
Presented In q Just BIN.

derstand That Baltimore ocsNSy
is Mot Fighting Annexation n
Presented In a Just BIN.
prepared by the Baltimore County Men
Partisan Citizens Protective CommtttsA)
The Baltimore county people claim
that the people Of the other counties
would be with them sohdly. without
regard to party. Il they fully under
stood the attitude of Baltimore county
in the annexation fight. They are not
opposing a fair bflq, II it submits the
question to a vote of the people pro
posed to be taken into the city.
The point Of disagreement ts Upon
the bill prepared by City Solicitor
Field. given the approval Of com.
mittee named by the city and now
called the Greater Baltimore Nx<sn-
sion League bill. No representative
Of the section affected by the bd1 was
given any chance to make any changes
IN this bill, which omtts the command
of the Constitution of Maryland that
no part of any county may be taken
away without the consent, by vote.
of the people living In the territory
proposed to be taken away.
This bill, prepared entirely BY rep
resentatives Of the CITY, contains
many other provisions which tho Bal
timore county people term Oppressive
and unfair, but the city men who are
pushing it insist chat It must Be
passed just as It is. They demanded
that both political parties. at their
recent State conventions. should do
clare in favor of 1t. The Democratic
Convention declined to do THU, but
declared its approval OF a fair hG
which would submit the matter to
the people, as provided by the Const-
tuition. The Republican Convention
declared In favor OF the bin as It IN,
without a referendum.
This action Of the Republican party.
It is urged by the Baltimore county
men, has placed some OF the o6Sos-
holders and candidates Of that party
in a queer position There are ssw-
eral hold-over Republican State Sen
ators who were elected on the Re
publican platform Of 1915. which. updn
the advice Of Republicans Of undoubt-
ed legal ability, declared nany IN
favor of the referendum. These Sen
ators claim that. in ali honor. thsy
are bound by the promise made b
the voters on their behalf when @U
were elected. Notable among these
is Senator Newton D. R. Alien, Of
Baltimore county, who Yves elected An
the face Of normal Democratic ma
jority of about 1000. UnQuestaon-
ably, as the political writer's OF that
time asserted, much OF this great
change was due to the fact that thu
Democratic platform Of 1915 wns
ambiguous and straddling upon the
question Of annexation.
Other Republicans. who were e1eet-
ed to the House OF Delegates two
years ago, are candidates for reeasc-
ton. Since their denomination their
party has made for them a promise
directly the reverse OF that Of 1915.
Still others, new men, are supposed
to be bound by the platform Of this
year, which declares fatty against
the referendum. Thus, It Is asserted
If the Republicans win a majority in
the Legislature they will be repre-.
scented by members pledged on both
sides of the same question and some
who will not know where they ere
at"
The advocates Of the o4tys bin
have adopted as their campaign cry.
"a referendum means no annexation"
This, Of course, means that they as
sumo that the people OF the suburbs
will reject the proposed bin II It Ia
submitted to them. It is oontended
by their opponents that this is not o
fair assumption, because when, In
1888, a fair annexation bill was pro-
posed 1t was passed by the Leg1sla-
ture with but little opposition and
the voters in the Northern and west
ern suburbs approved It and their
territory was taken into the city. The
opponents of the present plan Of an
nexation claim that the refusal Of its
sponsors to submit It to the people
is an admission that 1t Is unfair. and
that the omission Of the referendum
makes It more SO.
Mayor Preston, Il Ia asserted, has
endeavored to make It appear that
the residents Of the territory which
he proposes to take in are persons
who have left the city to escape tax
alton and therefore, as he claims, not
entitled to any sympathy. This, the
county people insist, Is not at all cor
rect Some of the residents, they say.
have always lived where they do now.
while many others have moved to
that section from other parts Of Bal
timore county, from other counties
and from other states, These are
mostly people who have always Aved
in the country and prefer the suburbs
to the more cramped quarters they
would have to OCCUPY in the byttt-ac
portions of the city.