States and Territories :
To enveloping forty pack-
ages........................ $12 00
To porterage................... 3 00
To express on packages..... 60 00
— 75 00
Whole amount................. $191 50
This will show that the appropriation will
not pay the expenses by $41.50. Any libra-
rian will certify that this is not a high esti-
mate.
August 4, 1864. H. P. JORDAN,
State Librarian.
The PRESIDENT. The president has stated
before that he has never presented the trea-
sury department with any statement of this
freight. The comptrollers under tine present
constitution have uniformly paid this upon
the draft of the librarian. It has been ex-
amined into by the legislature, and being a
specific appropriation I had no right to go
behind the draft that was drawn. I do not
know whether in the last legislature this es-
timate was submitted to any committee on
claims.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. It was reported by the
committee on ways and means.
The PRESIDENT, It is generally submitted
to the committee on claims before it goes to
the committee on ways and means. Whether
there was a distinct detailed statement of ex-
pense submitted I know not. When I re-
marked fie other day that it was exclusively
freights on boxes, I did not suppose that the
freights on these boxes would amount to the
sum of $225; I supposed that it did not
amount to more than $28 or $30. Of this I
had no knowledge. Not desiring to do the
librarian injustice, I have caused the letter
to be read that members of the convention
may know how to act in the premises.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
The fourth section was read as amended, as
follows;
Section 4. The county authorities, now
known as county commissioners, shall be
styled " county commissioners," and shall
be elected by general ticket, and not by dis-
tricts, by the voters of the several counties,
on Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
year 1865, and on the same day in every sec-
ond year thereafter; said commissioners
shall exercise such powers and perform such
duties only as the legislature may from time
to time prescribe; but such powers and du-
ties shall be similar, and the tenure of office
uniform throughout the State, and the legis-
lature shall have power to piss such laws as
may be necessary for determining the num-
ber for each county, fixing the salary, and
ascertaining and defining the powers, duties
and tenure of office of said commissioners; |
and the commissioners elected under this con-
stitution shall have and exercise all the pow-
er and duties in their respective counties, now
exercised by the county commissioners under
the laws of the State, and they shall receive
the same salary, and their prevent number in
the several counties shall remain the same un-
til changed by law.
Mr. SCOTT moved to amend by striking out
the words "county authorities now known
as county commissioners shall be styled,"
and also the words " and not by districts,"
in line three.
Mr. CLARKE. The phraseology here is
taken from the present constitution.
Mr. SCOTT, I suppose the reason of the
language in the present constitution was
adopted because they had formerly been
known by other names: hut they are now
well enough known as county commissioners
to be designated as such.
The amendment was agreed to,
No further amendment being offered, and
the second reading of the report having been
concluded,
It was ordered to be engrossed for a third
reading.
COUNTIES AND TOWNSHIPS.
On motion of Mr. STOCKBRIDGE,
The convention proceeded to the consider-
ation of the report of the committee on the
rights, duties, divisions, and subdivisions of
counties.
The first section was read as follows :
Sec. 1. The general assembly shall provide
for organizing new counties, locating and re-
moving county, seats, and changing county
lines, but no new county shall be organized
without the consent of a majority of the legal
voters residing within the limits about to
form said county, nor shall any new county
contain less than four hundred square miles,
nor less than ten thousand white inhabi-
tants, nor shall any county be reduced below
that amount of square miles, nor below that
number of white inhabitants.
Mr. DUVALL moved to amend by insert-
ing in line five, after the word " limits," the
words "of the counties."
Mr, SANDS. I am very much opposed to
that amendment, because it tikes from the
people wholly and solely interested in the
change, the right to decide whether it shall
be made or not, and leaves it to those who
are not interested in the change to decide the
question. By way of exemplification, you
are laminar no doubt with that noble little
stream upon which our great commercial em-
porium stands—the Patapsco. You know
that it divides the people of Baltimore county
from us merely politically, who are in fact
one and the same people. We have located
at Ellicott's Mills public buildings that cost
Howard county $50,000. Baltimore county
is very large. People are residing within |
