counties and city respectively, in lieu of all fees
and perquisites as now established by law; in the
event of any vacancy in the office of register of
wills, said vacancy shall be filled by the judge or
judges of the court until an election can be held,
which shall take place under the directions of
the sheriff upon giving thirty days public notice
thereof.
On motion of Mr. DORSEY,
The section was amended by striking out, in
the 2nd line, the words "to be," and in the 3rd
line, by striking out the word "and."
On motion of Mr. SPENCER,
The section was further amended by striking
out, in the 2nd line, the words "a plurality vote
of," and in the 3rd line strike out "qualified."
Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER moved to amend the sec-
tion by striking out, in the 4th line, the word
"six" and inserting in lieu thereof, "four,"
And the question being taken, it was
Determined in the negative.
Mr. JOHN NEWCOMER demanded the yeas and
nays;
Which were not ordered.
Mr. LEE then moved to amend the section by
inserting after the word "and," in the 5th line,
the words "shall not;" and after the word "there-
to," in the same line, the words "for six years
thereafter."
Mr. WELLS demanded the yeas and nays;
Which being ordered and taken,
Resulted as follows:
Affirmative—Messrs. Lee, Chambers, of Kent,
Dashiell and Hicks— 4.
Negative—Messrs. Chapman, Pres't., Morgan,
Dent, Hopewell, Ricaud, Mitchell, Donaldson,
Dorsey, Wells, Randall, Kent, Sellman, Weems,
Bond, Brent of Charles, Merrick, Howard, Buch-
anan, Bell, Welch, Ridgely, Dickinson, Sher-
wood of Talbot, Colston, John Dennis, James U.
Dennis, Hodson, Goldsborough, Eccleston,
Phelps, Chambers of Cecil, McCullough, Miller,
McLane, Bowie, Tuck, Sprigg, Bowling, Spencer,
Grason, George, Wright, Dirickson, McMaster,
Hearn, Fooks, Jacobs, Thomas, Shriver, Annan,
Sappington, Stephenson, Magraw, Nelson, Car-
ter, Thawley, Stewart of Caroline, Gwinn,
Stewart of Baltimore city. Brent of Baltimore
city, Sherwood of Baltimore city, Ware, Schley,
Fiery, Neill, John Newcomer, Harbine, Michael
Newcomer, Kilgour, Brewer, Anderson, Weber,
Hollyday, Fitzpatrick, Smith, Parke, Shower,
Cockey and Brown—79.
So the amendment was rejected.
Mr. FITZPATRICK moved to amend the 20th
section by striking out from the word "shall," in
the 8th line, down to the word "law," in the 10th
line, and inserting the following:
"Shall regulate and graduate the fees and per-
quisites so as to allow a fair compensation for his
services."
Mr. Bowie hoped the amendment would not
prevail. The people in his county wished all
fees to be abolished, and desired to have salaried
officers only. When fees went into the Treasury,
no relief whatever was furnished to the people.
By the present system of charging fees, accord- |
ing to act of the Legislature, the grossest abuse
was practised throughout the State. This mal-
practice was particularly applicable to the office
of Register of Wills, and the Orphans Court.
He hoped the bill would be left as it was at pre-
sent.
Mr. GRASON had heard three or four opinions
as to the system we ought to adopt; but he was
in favor of the present system. In respect to the
alleged abuses practised in the office of the Regis-
ter of Wills, he knew nothing. His objection to
the payment of an annual salary was this, that in
Baltimore, as they well knew, by the most care-
less management of the office, the Registers
would always have enough to pay themselves ;
but in the counties of the State, where the whole
amount received was not more than seven or
eight hundred dollars per annum, if they re-
ceived an annual salary, they would have no in-
ducement to collect the fees, and the whole of
the money would be paid out of the Treasury,
because they would not take the trouble to collect
their own fees.
Mr. SPENCER was opposed to paying public
officers by fees. He thought it one of the great-
est abuses that could be practised, and the sys-
tem had been too long tolerated in this State.
Enormous exactions and impositions had been
practised upon the people of Maryland in various
ways, for a vast number of years. The system
never could be corrected as long as it depended
upon fees. The legislature had again and again
attempted it, but in vain. The people had now
made up their minds that all their officers should
henceforth receive salaries, and not fees. He
did not desire to make those offices revenue offi-
ces, but offices economically conducted and mere-
ly to pay for themselves—no more. He would
allow all those officers salaries.
Mr. SPENCER said that the same identical rea-
sons would apply to clerks and to registers. In
his district there was but one profession, the
medical profession, which made out their bills
in Latin. But it had been found impossible to
ascertain what was the value of the offices.
The people could not know the principles upon
which the fees were charged, or what the sala-
ries were. In some offices the fees would more
than compensate the checks; and in others they
would be too low. Yet it would not do to have
different fees in different offices. They must be
uniform throughout the whole State. If the officer
in the city of Baltimore was made a salaried
officer, while the others were not, there would
be an inequality in the laws. There was but one
way to make it uniform; and that was to have a
uniform system throughout the State for public
officers to be paid so much, and the legislature
could ascertain what was required and what would
be suitable compensation. He moved to amend
the section by striking out from the words "the
legislature," in the 7th to the word "law" in-
clusive in the 10th line.
Mr. RIDGELY was in favor of the suggestion
contained in the amendment of the gentleman
from Allegany. He was satisfied that if left to |
