roads. I say that destroys the rights and
interests of the people interested in these
roads. Under the old system, in the part of
the county where I have been living, there
was a supervisor for every road; but under
the present system of electing a road supervi-
sor for every election district, the consequence
has been that he never attends to any of them.
He farms out the roads to people who have no
interest in them, and who do not live on tile
roads, and do not take care of them; whereas
under the old system the men did live on the
.roads, and often rode along upon them. 1
know that we scarcely ever see a road super-
visor in the part of Baltimore county where 1
live a part of the year. I have no (doubt there
has been a practical suffering in consequence
of this change.
.Cut the State up into districts, and in each
let one of their own people be made road
supervisor, and I believe that is the best system
you tan adopt. They will then have an in-
terest in the roads. But if yon elect one
supervisor for an election district, it is a
practical absurdity. If we are to provide
for elections, there is now no mode by which
they can be elected, except for election dis-
tricts; and the mode of election for election
districts is a denial to the people of their
rights. Under the delusive idea of popular
sovereignty, you are talking away from the
people their rights. What. is the use of tell-
ing me that I have the high privilege of
going to the county seat, or the election pre-
cinct, and voting for a road supervisor for
the election precinct? It is a mockery. if
you mean to give me my right to elect a man,
you must give it to me so that I can practi-
cally have Some control over him, so that
practically he will have some responsibility
to me. Otherwise, it is practically no right,
and no privilege at all.
So far as constables are concerned, I do not
see that this section makes any provision at
all for any constables in Baltimore city; and
if it is adopted, so far as I can see, we shall
have to go without constables, unless we can
get them in some other was". What is the
( constable? He is nothing but the bailiff to
execute certain duties. He does not represent
the people. He is not like the justice of the
peace even. I can see great reasons for elect-
ing a justice of the peace; but for the life of
me, I cannot see why we should elect consta
bles. And even under the amendment, the
people will not have the right and cannot
practically elect them. Who ore the consta
bles now in Baltimore city? Not the men
who are elected. It is the universal practice
for the men who are elected to sell out to
somebody. Some local politician, in nine
cases out of ten will get nominated, and sell
out his commission for $150. The people do
not elect them at all. The men who serve
never were elected by the people at all.
It is practically impossible for a ware |
meeting to nominate a constable. A consta-
ble is a business, and a man must carry it on
for years. Under the old provision, we had
men appointed whose business it was. But
elect a man for two years, and who is to be-
come a constable for two years? It will
sometimes happen that aclever man suddenly
thrown out of employment will take a con-
stable's berth for six months; but just as the
people begin to be pleased with him, he gets
something better to do, and resigns and quits
the business. It seems to me that we might
just as well have deputy sheriffs elected by
the people, as constables. I propose to move
presently to cut the constables from this arti-
cle altogether, and get rid of them. I do not
see what we have to do with them. Consta-
bles should be provided for under the judi-
ciary department; they have nothing to do
with this. The old constitution says nothing
about constables here. It does in the judi-
ciary article, but not in this. This section
gives the county commissioners the right to
appoint constables for the counties; but we
have no county commissioners, and therefore
are to have no constables in Baltimore city.
My theory is just this: This whole matter
of the road supervisors should be left to the
absolute discretion of the legislature. If they
can arrange some system for the election of
road supervisors in districts which they live '
in, and can take care of, I believe that is the
best plan. I am in favor of allowing the
constituency to elect their own officers wher-
ever it is practically possible. But I believe
it is impossible to adopt that system in the
constitution, by which every neighborhood
shall elect from their own members, a man to
supervise their own roads. We can only
provide for election by election districts.
We cannot go to work .in this constitution,
and carve out small road precincts from the
election districts. But we can leave the mat-
ter to the absolute discretion of the legisla-
ture, and they can provide some system by
which they can be elected by districts where
it is desirable, or they can provide for their
appointment.
Mr. DANIEL. The reason why the com-
mittee put constables into this section, was
that we were passing upon the powers and
duties of the county commissioners, and we
' designed that the county commissioners
should appoint constables as well as road
supervisors; and that that was the proper
place for it.
Mr. BELT. I want to make a suggestion to
my friend from Baltimore city (Mr. Daniel,)
who has just taken his seat. I think I should
prefer to vote for the proposition to strike
out constables entirely. The office of consta-
ble being a judicial one, it might be proper
to fix the mode of appointment in the consti-
tution, but to fix it in another way. I should
suppose the best way would be to have the
constables appointed by the judge of the |
