so indispensable to the security of the public
funds.
The question was then taken upon the amend-
ment of Mr. DORSEY.
Determined in the negative,
The third article was then adopted,
The fourth article was then read and adopted.
Mr. SPENCER submitted the following pream-
ble and resolutions:
Whereas, There will necessarily be sundry ac-
counts against this Convention, growing out of
the printing and binding of the Register of the
Debates, and the journal of the Convention, and
the printing and circulating of the Constitution ;
and whereas, it would be attended with great ex-
pense for this Convention to remain in session,
until these matters are closed,
Resolved, That the committee on printing be
discharged.
That Messrs. RANDALL and WARE, he appoint-
ed, on the printing committee with all the pow-
ers of the present committee, and which powers
shall continue in full force, after the adjourn-
ment of this Convention, and as long as they find
it accessary, and that Samuel Peacock, one of
the committee clerks of this body, be continued
as said clerk as long as it may be required for
the public service, in the opinion of the said
committee, and that the President be authorised
lo pay on the certificates of the said committee
as of the 12th of May, 1851, such sums as may
become due for the printing, reporting, &c.
And be it further Resolved, That the per diem
of the said committee and their clerk shall con-
tinue, until the termination of their duties;
Which was read.
Mr. GRASON moved to postpone the considera-
tion of said report until Monday next;
Determined in the affirmative.
On motion of Mr. TUCK,
The Convention took up for consideration the
report submitted by him on the 18th April, as
chairman of the committee on the appointment,
tenure of office, duties and compensation of all
civil officers not embraced in the duties of other
standing committees.
The first section was read, as follows :
1st. Of the Lottery Commissioner; there
shall be one Lottery Commissioner, who shall
perform the duties now or that may hereafter be
prescribed by law. He shall be elected by the
electors of the State, at the first election for de-
legates to the Assembly after the adoption of
this Constitution, and biennially thereafter.
His whole compensation shall be fifteen hun-
dred dollars per annum. The Legislature shall
have power to abolish or regulate the said office,
except as to the mode of appointment and
amount of compensation. In the case of a va-
cancy happening in said office it shall be filled
by the Executive in same manner as vacancies
happening in Executive appointment.
Mr. TUCK moved to amend the 1st section of
the report by striking out in the sixth line there-
of the words, "his whole compensation shall be
fifteen hundred dollars per annum," and insert-
ing in lieu thereof "his whole compensation for |
salary and clerk hire shall be three thousand
dollars, and no more, and he shall not receive
any fees, commissions, or perquisites of any
kind from any source whatever for the perfor-
mance of his duties."
Mr. MORGAN offered as a substitute for the
section the following;
"That from and after 1st April 1859, no lotte-
ry scheme shall be drawn in this State for any
purpose whatsoever; that at the time of electing
delegates to the General Assembly, there shall
be elected by the qualified voters of the State,
one commissioner of lotteries, who shall hold
his office commencing from the expiration of
the commissions of the present officers, for the
period of two years, and shall be re-eligible from
term to term until the close of the system, when
said office shall expire; that he shall enter into
"bond with security as now required by law, that
it shall be his duty to make such a contract as
will extinguish all existing lottery grants before
the 1st day of April 1859, and secure to the
State a nett annual revenue equal to the average
derived from the system for the last five years;
that: all compensation for his services, shall be
paid out of the fund raised for the consolidated
lotteries, and shall not exceed the commissions
now and heretofore received by commissioners
of lotteries from the lottery grants; provided,
that said commissioner shall not receive a great-
er amount of commission or compensation than
the amount now received by one of the present
lottery commissioners out of said grants."
Mr. DONALDSON objected to this amendment
upon the ground that it was a continuance of
the lottery system for a much longer time than
was necessary. He considered the whole sys-
tem as one of complicated fraud which had
been practised upon this State for years to the
great injury of the community economically as
well as morally. Though $52,000 were receiv-
ed by the State from the lotteries, yet it was the
worst system which the legislation of any com-
munity had tainted itself with. The lottery
commissioners, by a construction of law, had
received upwards of $5000 per year, although
the very words of the law granting the salary of
$1250, were that they "shall be entitled to
no other compensation whatever." But the ques-
tion now related to the future. By the amend-
ment, the time of the continuance of the system
would be increased one-third. There were at
least a million dollars spent annually in con-
nection with the Maryland lotteries. Out of
this illicit trade, the State had realised $52,000
annually, not as "the price of blood," but of all
of crime, peculation, and fraud, the very
worst kind of gambling, the most unfair for
those participating in it, and the most injurious
to the whole community. In 1846, they had
been told that it could be finished in ten years.
He believed it could now he closed up in four
years at the very latest. It was an injury to the
State, because it destroyed industry itself, which
no profits could replace.
Mr. MORGAN was not one of those who
thought that no good had resulted from the lot- |
