ture, should be biennial. He had upon better
knowledge and more mature consideration,
changed his opinion, and, he believed, that the
greater part of that majority, if they had had the
same information that he had derived from his
experience in our legislation, would now vote for
annual sessions. The members of this Conven-
tion came freshly from the people of Maryland
They are certainly a fair average of the intelli-
gence of the community, and if they, individually,
prefer annual sessions, they may well feel as-
sured that such is the preference of the people
themselves. He declared that he knew no other
safe or proper rule of action, in his representa-
tive capacity, than to following his own con-
scientious convictions, and to presume that the
people would approve of his judgment. If the
representative sought in regard to these questions
to discover the wishes of his constituents, he
would embark, without compass, on a wide sea
of conjecture.
His reasons for voting at the polls for biennial
sessions, were his dread of too much legislation,
and his desire to save the State the expense of
the alternate session. Shortly after he was elec-
ted a Delegate to the Genera] Assembly, and
placed in a position which obliged him to become
thoroughly acquainted with the financial laws
and their system of administration, in this State.
He then felt ashamed of the ignorance in which
he had voted for biennial sessions. He became
convinced, that as long as the receipts and dis-
bursements of the Treasury were so great, our
security required yearly sessions of the Legisla-
ture. The Treasurer now receives upwards of
$1,200,000 annually, and there is often a balance
of $400,000 on hand, from month to month, and
on the transactions of the Treasurer, the law, as
yet, has not imposed adequate checks. The only
control over that officer and his accounts, was in
the Legislature. No Treasury could well be in
a more exposed condition. We had been re-
markably fortunate in the character of our offi-
cers, but safety to the State, and justice to our
own agents, require that they should not be sub-
jected to such great temptations. All the officers
'in the State engaged in the collection of the re-
venue, and the number is very great, and their
duties most various, are obliged by law to make
their returns to the Legislature, as well as to the
Treasurer. The Legislature is the grand inquest
of the State, and the knowledge of this brings all
these officers up to the line of their duty. This
is our great security for their promptness and
efficiency. To demonstrate this in detail, would,
perhaps, be tedious to the Convention, he merely
stated it now, as the result of his own observa-
tion and experience.
As to the saving effected by biennial sessions,
(Mr. D.,) thought it merely apparent, not real.
We need this check on the accounting officers,
and the cost of the alternate session, was of little
consequence compared with the security obtain-
ed. Besides, the public moneys are more loosely
and lavishingly appropriated by a Legislature,
under the biennial system, where the members
are not so soon called to account for their action
by the people. This is well illustrated by the I |
I proceedings of the Legislature, it its last ses-
sion.
He differed with the gentleman from Dorches-
ter, (Mr. Phelps,) in his ideas of retrenchment
and economy. True economy is judicious ex-
penditure. The refusal to incur an expense,
needed for a proper administration of affairs, is
false economy. The gentleman from Dorches-
ter, had complained that articles had been report-
ed here, for the appointment of a Comptroller of
the Treasuary, thus establishing a new office.
Mr. D. stated that he considered such an offi-
cer, in this State, absolutely necessary. It is im-
possible for the Treasurer, to administer, with
efficiency, all the multifarious duties now imposed
upon him; and a Comptroller is also needed as a
check upon the Treasurer and Commissioner of
Loans. He did not hesitate to express a belief,
that if we had had such an officer for the last ten
years, we might have secured annually, from ten
to twenty thousand dollars more revenue than
was secured.
In regard to the excess of legislation, (Mr. D.,
said,) he objected to it as much as any man
could, and he would go as far as any one, in re-
stricting the Legislature, so as to remedy that
evil. Bat, he asserted, the legislation under our
biennial system, is as excessive an amount, as
when we had annual sessions, and is decidedly
worse in quality. If worse in quality, then will
there be more need of future change or explanatory
supplements. The session being limited,
and members being always most anxious to get
through their private and local bills, of which
there is a great accumulation in the course of
two years, the public business is thrust aside, or
most carelessly performed. Mr. D. considered
this as fully demonstrated by the laws of the ses-
sion of 1849, to which he particularly referred.
Mr. D. concluded by repeating, that he be-
lieved the annual system was very important in
regard to our finances, was more truly economi-
cal than the biennial system, and really more
conducive to well considered and permanent
legislation.
Mr. SELLMAN expressed himself conversant with
the whole history of the legislation of the State in
regard to this question of biennial sessions. Some-
times it had been used as a stalking-horse—
sometimes as an ambling ponny. It bad been
presented as one of the measures for the resto-
ration and preservation of the State credit, and
so far as it had been based upon that considera-
tion, it had due weight with him.
But how stood the matter in regard to the ar-
gument of the gentleman from Dorchester, (Mr.
Phelps)? If it was a mere question of economy,
that gentleman had not carried his argument out
as he ought to have done; for, in view of econo-
my alone, why designate two years as the pe-
riod of the meeting of the legislature? Why not
say, once in four, six, eight, or ten years?
But there was another and more important
principle at stake—that was to say, the right of
the people frequently to supervise the acts of their
public servants. He referred to the history of
this question under the old Constitution, and sta-
ted that the motive which controled its framers |
