county commissioners may be elected on the
same day.
The motion was agreed to, and the section
was informally passed over.
ROAD SUPERVISORS AND CONSTABLE.
The fifth section was read as follows :
Section 5. The general assembly shall
provide by law for the appointment of road
supervisors and constables in the several
counties by the county commissioners, and
the number of said supervisors and consta-
bles in the several election districts in the sev-
eral counties shall be determined by the said
county commissioners, but the tenure of office
shall be uniform, and their power and duties
shall be similar throughout the State.
Mr, DELLINGER submitted the following
amendment:
Section 5. Strike out in the first line the
word "appointment," and in the third line
the words " by the county commissioners "
and insert in the first line the word "election,"
Mr. DANIEL. I hope the amendment will
not prevail. The committee considered that
subject well. There seemed to be a general
desire, as I thought, expressed to get clear of
the election of these small officers by the peo-
ple of the counties. It has been stated that
very frequently a Congressman or a senator,
or a judge, will be exchanged upon the day
of election, for a mere road supervisor, or
constable, or magistrate. I think everybody
who has observed the course of elections
with reference to these small officers, must
have come to the conclusion that there is
more corruption arising from the election of
such officers than in the election of any
ethers.
For my part, desirous as I am to see judges
of the State appointed in some proper mode,
I think it a great deal better to have these
small officers appointed than to have the
judges appointed. I think it is a great deal
better, if you introduce the election of either,
it will be better to introduce it upon the mat-
ter of judges; it being a matter of so much
graver importance that the attention of the
people will be more strongly brought to bear
upon the choice of officers, and there will be
a wiser selection than for these smaller of-
ficers. I think the great trouble arises from
these smaller offices. I think our past expe-
rience under the old constitution, when con-
stables and road supervisors were appointed,
showed a better result than our later experi-
ence under our present constitution, since
they have been elected. I think we have had
a betier class of officers. It takes out all this
political chicanery which so much attends
elections to these little, low, petty offices. I
hope that this change will not be made, but
that the appointment will be restored to the
county commissioners; especially as the judi-
ciary report for some others of these smaller
officers under its charge to be appointed. I |
think therefore that no change should be
made, at least until this whole subject can be
considered together. I think we shall find
great difficulty and embarrassment if we go
into the election of these officers as heretofore.
Mr. DELLINGER. There would be a great
deal of force in what the gentleman has said,
if the privilege of electing these officers had
never been given to the people; but having
been once given to them it is a dangerous ex-
periment to attempt to take it from them.
My impression is that if we do not give the
election of these officers to the people, they
will defeat this constitution. I have not a
particle of doubt about it. I am free to con-
fess that if the people are not to elect these
officers who have been elected, I shall be very
much disposed to vote against this constitu-
tion. I have no idea that a privilege once
granted to the people shall be retrenched
from them.
Mr. SCOTT. The difficulty deprecated by
the gentleman from Baltimore city (Mr. Dan-
iel ) can be obviated by the election of those
officers on a separate day from the State elec-
tion. Then they will not barter off the more
important officers for less important local
officers. We can have spring elections for
county commissioners, road supervisors and
constables;. and then there will be no possi-
bility of bartering these offices.
Has the gentleman thought about the diffi-
culty that be would bring upon the county
commissioners, with at least five hundred ap-
plicants for these different offices, button-
holing every commissioner wherever they
could find them. Every road supervisor and
every constable would be pressing. I would
not consent to be county commissioner for
ten dollars a day under such circumstances.
If we are to have these officers appointed,
it seems to me that the same argument might
he carried a little further, and we might con-
clude to have no elections at all, because the
people are not qualified lo judge and elec-
tions are liable to lead to corruption. The
argument leads invariably to the conclusion
that we shall have no elections at all. The
safest plan is to leave these offices elective,
and let these officers be elected at elections
held specially for that purpose, and not mixed
up with the general elections of the State.
Then you will secure pood officers and avoid
bartering away important candidates for
those of less importance.
Mr. MILLER. I had thought that one of
the great reforms we were sent here to ac-
complish was to restore in some degree at
least the old mode of appointing oncers and
not electing them by the people. This mat-
ter of electing these road supervisors, con-
stables, justices of the peace, and all these
subordinate officers by the people, has been
one of the great evils of the old constitution
—one about which the people in this section
of the State, I know, complain more than |
