Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-14
maryland HOUSE
I KEYED FOR FIGHT
lnsurgent Bomb Expected
Tomorrow Night When As
sembIy Convenes.
By WILLIAM J. WHEATLEY.

STATE HOUSE. ANNAPOLIS, Md,
January 14.-When the General As
sembly OF Maryland convenes at s
o'clock tomorrow night, the House of
Delegates will be prepared for any kind
OF fight which the insurgent Demo-
Gratis, under leadership of Daniel G. Jo-
seph of the Baltimore City delegation,
may see fit to fling onto the floor, After
the sharp rebuffs handed out to them
by the regulars by overwhelming votes
at the two sessions of last week, the in
surgents. most of whom are from Balti-
more City. have had several days to
prepare for the current week.
Regu',cr Democratic leaders admit
that they do not know just what objec-
tive the insurgents will seek tomorrow
night. but they admit that there prob
ably will be a bomb of some kind thrown.
The regulars are mastering their forces
to promptly trample out any sparks
from the insurgent camp seeking to
start a conflagration in the regular
camp or at the Ritchie administration.
None of the numerous bills which
have been introduced during the current
session TO date have gone to the State
printer, it was said, so that committees
cannot bring in favorable reports for
consideration of the measures. These
bills must be printed and on the men,
bers' desks before they can have con-
sideration on the floor. It is very likely
that the committee on rules will report
back favorably the insurgent bill, intro
duced by Joseph, which would require
committee chairmen to explain on the
floor each bill which it is sought to have
the House of Delegates pass.
INQUEST Committee to Form.
The grand inquest committee probably
viii effect it's organization Wednesday.
This is a committee to which the State
constitution gives authority to in
vestigate almost anything within the
State, and the insurgents were expected
to use 1t as q means of conducting an
other investigation of the State Roads
Commission. The commission matter
already has been before the grand
jury. and several employees are serving
terms in the penitentiary. A new COM
mission is being appointed. and regular
Democrats will point to the fact that
Gov. Ritchie has done everything pos
sible to bring order out of chaos, and
took prompt steps to correct the irreg-
ularities as 500 as they were brought
to his attention. However. this is not
expected to stem the insurgents in their
ant1-admlnlStration fight.
They have already made the charge
that the grand inquest committee has
a majority of the regulars and that any
efforts of the insurgents to get in a
real investigation will be overruled by
the mere power of numbers. However,
Speaker E.. Brooke Lee of Silver Spring
has said that the insurgents would be
given every opportunity to air anything
fhnHy NxyaVfAI - nAI A@vt15 49, s,..A -
thoroughly into the State Road Com
Lee said that the administration has
nothing to hide, as it promptly handled
the matter when 1t came to a head.
Coalition Drive Expected.
There is a coalition between the in
surgent Democrats and some of the
Republicans, particularly In the Balti-
more City delegation, and these to-
gether are expected to make a drive on
the administration and the regulars In
he lower house. The first effort, how
ever. was squelched; when efforts were
made to force Speaker Lee to tell all he
knew about an alleged financial lobby
behind the insurgent and coalition ele-
ment. There Is a strong probability
that they will get the details of this
later in the session. but there Is one
thing quite certain in the minds of the
regulars and that is they will not get
it by force. but will get it when the
coalitionists make some direct attack in
the lower body, and they will get 1t as
a broadside in a counter attack.
The House of Delegates Wednesday
will get the proposed law putting a
Statewide anti-liquor law in the State.
This is a bill sponsored, in fact pre-
pared, by the Maryland Anti-Saloon
League. Its success is doubtful, al
though the regular leaders say that
they do not know what they will do
with it. because they have no knowledge
Of its provisions.
AS a matter of fact many counties in
the State have their individual liquor
laws. The bill is designed to make
use OF the State police machinery for
prohibition, a decision of the State at
torney general some years ago having
ruled that the State officers could not
be used for the enforcement of the ma
tional prohibition act.
The proposed additional bond issue
for the Rockville Courthouse ani, Jail Is
to come before the present Legislature
u at this time the proposed measure
has the opposition of Senator Jones of
Kensington. He is the sole opponent OF
the measure and his objections are
based on the fear of an increase in the
tax rate. However, the members of the
lower house are for it. and they predict
that the measure will be passed because
the people are for it, and the new
building should be erected and addi-
tional ground obtained because it is de-