contemplated in part the giving of an additional
delegate to Montgomery, He thanked him for
his effort to restore justice to that wronged coun-
ty. As this subject was up, he desired to state
a few prominent facts to show the claim she had
for an additional delegate. When this subject
was up before, the gentleman from Frederick,
{Mr. Thomas,] spoke of the size and wealth of
Frederick county, as well as her population, as
compared with Calvert, to show why she should
have increased representation. He, (Mr. D.,)
would take the gentleman upon his own ground,
and apply it to Montgomery. The large, the
populous and wealthy county of Frederick, was
the language of the gentleman. Now, sir, it so
happens that Montgomery is but five square
miles smaller than the large county of Frederick.
Yet Frederick has six delegates and Montgom-
ery but two. Montgomery is seventy square
miles larger than Washington county; yet Washington
has five and Montgomery but two dele-
gates. She is sixty square miles larger than
Somerset;—yet Somerset has four delegates
and Montgomery but two. But to the credit of
Somerset, be it spoken, that although she gets a
full delegation, as large as she expected, so great
was the injustice and iniquity of the proposition
adopted, to other counties in the State, that her
delegation unanimously voted against it. So in
point of size, one of the gentleman's arguments,
Montgomery is almost equal to Frederick, and
much larger than several other counties which
are to have much larger delegations than is re-
corded to her.
Again, sir, let us try Montgomery by the gen-
tleman's other proposition—wealth and taxation.
in this respect she stands higher than the others,
being the seventh county in the State in point of
taxation and assessment; while she is the eighth
in point of size—having twelve counties below
her in point of wealth, assessment and taxation,
and eleven in point of size. Yet in point of rep-
resentation, she is put down with the smallest
and weakest county in the State. The iniquity
of this arrangement will be more striking when
she is compared with the smaller counties of the
State. Take Caroline, for example, in point
of size, but little over half that of Montgomery;
only about two-thirds her population, and hardly
one-fourth her wealth. Yet in point of repre-
sentation she is put upon a par with Montgom-
ery. Her assessment and taxation will be found
to be larger than several counties which have
three delegates, while she gets but two. He
hoped that these prominent facts, would induce
the Convention to reconsider the representation
question, as moved by his friend from Kent,
that one act of justice might be done to the deeply
wronged and injured county of Montgomery.
Mr. JOHNSON. I was told this morning at my
breakfast table, that in the Virginia Convention.
Henry A. Wise, has just concluded a speech of
five days, the sum and substance of which was
that a white man was worth thirty-five cents,
and that it took two white men in Virginia to be |
worth as much as one negro. I shall vote against
the reconsideration, because I look upon this
whole plan as being arbitrary, it is one, which,
to me, as a reformer is shocking and monstrous;
but I find that the Convention is not in a tone and
temper to go as far upon the question of repre-
sentation as I should be willing to go, and I
therefore adhere to the plan as determined upon
by the majority of the Convention.
One of my colleagues has been kind enough to
place in my hands a table which I wish to read,
showing the amount of taxation paid by each
county, for each delegate; and also, the num-
ber of voters in each county for each delegate. I
will remark that the table is predicated upon
the direct taxation paid by each county, and has
no relation to the indirect taxation.
amount of Direct Taxation to each member per
Treasurer's Report.
Baltimore city, to each member, $47,576
Prince George's, " " 7,741
Frederick, " " 7,560
Montgomery, " " 6,522
Washington, " " 5,838
Baltimore county, " " 5,586
Carroll, " " 5,527
Talbot, " " 5,483
Queen Anne's, " " 4,868
St. Mary's, " " 4,864
Anne Arundel, " " 4,803
Kent, " " 4,424
Howard, " " 4,306
Cecil, " " 4,283
Harford, " " 4,242
Charles, " " 4,140
Dorchester, " " 3,464
Worcester, " " 2,916
Calvert, " " 2,635
Allegany, " " 2,258
Somerset, " " 2,083
Caroline, " " 1,805
Number of voters to each member as apportioned in
the Counties and city of Baltimore, (per statement
accompanying map):
VOTERS.
Baltimore city, to one member, 2,041
Washington, " " 1,072
Frederick, " " 1,053
Carroll, " " 1,037
Harford, " " 994
Cecil, " " 983
Worcester, " " 865
Allegany, " " 835
Montgomery, " " 816
Talbot, " " 767
Baltimore county, " " 765
Dorchester, " " 732
Howard, " " 656
Somerset, " " 612
Caroline, " " 591
Queen Anne's, " " 579
Charles, " " 575
St. Mary's, " " 517
Prince George's, " " 505
Anne Arundel, " " 486
Kent, " " 467
Calvert, " " 302 |
