Lane,) who is at the head of the Committee on
the Treasury Department, proposes to create a
new officer as Comptroller of the Treasury, with
a salary of three thousand dollars a year. The
no less distinguished and talented gentleman from
Charles, (Mr. Jeniffer,) Chairman of what is
familiarly called, here the omnibus committee,
has reported in favor of a board of public works
at an annual cost of some six or eight thousand
dollars a year. But where, he would again ask,
are the provisions for retrenching the public ex-
penses? He did not now intend to argue these
reports.
Mr. P said he intended to express at this time
no opinion upon any one of these propositions.
"Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." At
the proper time and in the proper place, he ex-
pected to be able to give a reason for the hope
that was within him.
Again, Mr. President, we have heard much
said about the great and exceeding expensive-
ness of our Judiciary system. This has been a
fruitful source of animadversion by politicians
and especially reformers for many years past;
and the cry has been loud and long for retrench-
ment in this Department of the Government. On
yesterday the equally distinguished gentleman at
the head of the Judiciary Committee, (Mr.
Bowie,) presented his report, and this morning
we find it upon our desks. He had bad only time
to give this report a very hasty glance. He
found, however, it proposed one Judge for each
county in the State, at a salary of two thousand
dollars a year, and six other Judges for the city
of Baltimore, with salaries varying from fifteen
hundred dollars to twenty-five hundred dollars a
year. Also an independent Court of Appeals to
consist of three members, with salaries of twenty-
five hundred dollars each. Now, Mr. President,
according to this report we shall have twenty.
nine Judges in Maryland, with an average annual
salary of over two thousand a dollars a year,
making an annual demand upon the Treasury for
this department of the Government of some
sixty thousand dollars. Mr. P. said he had not
time to pursue this subject further, he would
leave that matter to the especial friends of re-
trenchment and reform upon this floor. He
would remark, however, that by an examination
of the Treasury report, the annual expenses
under the Constitution, under the biennial system,
was about eighty-nine thousand dollars, and if
these various propositions be incorporated in the
new Constitution, the annual demands upon the
Treasury, under the Constitution, will not be
short of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
So far, Mr. President, from the public expendi-
tures being diminished by this Convention, the
probability now is, they will be increased some
sixty thousand dollars annually.
He said, let him in sober earnestness, ask the
reform party here, and especially those from the
smaller counties, who have all to lose upon the
representation question, how they will account
for their stewardship here, when summoned be-
fore the bar of public opinion ? How do you pro-
pose to answer for these increased public expen-
32 |
ditures? Where shall we look for the practical
effects of your retrenchment principles ? We see
no trace of them in these halls. They are gone—
forever gone.
Our labors on this floor, Mr. President, must
be submitted to the sober judgment of an enlight-
ened and far-seeing constituency, and the effects
if may be, will be felt and judged of by poster-
ity itself. We shall, doubtless, be judged by a
righteous judgment. He would forbear saying
more.
Mr JENIFER submitted that the fact of mak-
ing the sessions of the Legislature biennial,
would not relieve the Legislature from the ap-
plications for acts of incorporation and of divorce,
upon which the gentleman from Dorchester,
(Mr. Phelps,) had laid 80 much stress. The
gentleman had asked whether any petitions had
been presented here, calling for a return to an-
nual sessions. He, (Mr. J.,) might, with equal
force, ask whether petitions had been presented
here, asking for any thing in relation to the judi-
ciary—the executive—or any other department?
The people had sent this Convention here, to act
according to their best judgment, and to recom-
mend to their adoption, such provisions as might
be deemed best suited to their interests and neces-
sities.
His colleague, (Mr. Merrick,) had very pro-
perly stated why there ought to be frequent elec-
tions, and especially at the present time, in view
of the finances of the State, when millions of dol-
lars came into the treasury to he expended, and
when, for a period of two years, under the pre-
sent system, the offices were left without public
accountability.
The gentleman from Dorchester, (Mr. Phelps,)
in the remarks he had submitted, had traveled
beyond the legitimate ground. He had referred
to the different reports of committees, and amongst
other things, to the proposed increase of the sal-
ary of the Governor. That question had been
a matter of grave consideration, and the commit-
tee had come unanimously to the conclusion,
that the salary should be raised. They had been
guided by the true Democratic principle, that the
office was one open to the humblest citizen of
the State, and that a salary ought to be attached
to it, which would be commensurate with its im-
portance.
The gentleman had talked a great deal about
expense. The question for the Convention was,
whether a few thousand dollars, more or less,
were to be brought in conflict with the interests
and the exigencies of a whole people. If it was
supposed that the length of the sessions would be
an obstacle in the way of annual meetings of the
Legislature, it would be easy to remove that dif-
ficulty by limiting their duration.
He, (Mr. J„) hoped, therefore, that no such
prohibition would, at present, at least, be adop-
ted.
Mr. DONALDSON said, that he was one of that
majority at the polls, to which the gentleman
from Dorchester, (Mr. Phelps,) had alluded as
having four years and more ago, settled by the
popular voice, that the sessions of the Legisla- |
