liberty to appoint under this section as it
now stands.
Mr. SCHLEY. The difficulty alluded to had
occurred to me, and I have prepared an
amendment to rectify it, which I will offer,
lest there should be some difficulty in the
mind of the governor. I propose to strike
out of the first line of the section the words,
" by and with the advice," and insert " sub-
ject to the approval." It will then read—
" The governor shall, subject to the approval
and consent of the senate, appoint," &c.
I have no doubt myself that the governor
would have perfect authority to appoint
under the section as it now stands; and I
cannot conceive how there should be any
question in the mind of the executive about
his power to do so. But lest such a doubt
should arise, I propose to remove it by these
weirds: " Subject to the approval," looks to
the ulterior approval of the senate, not to
any antecedent approval, as may be implied
now. "By and with the advice and consent"
may be held to mean an advice and consent
at the time or the appointment. But if it Is
made subject to the approval and consent of
the senate ——
The PRESIDENT. Whenever convened.
Mr. SCHLEY. Well, I have no objection to
adding those words, but I did not think it
necessary. The approval must be ulterior
and not antecedent.
The PRESIDENT. The advice and consent
of the senate must be subsequent to.
Mr. SCHLEY Very well; I will adopt the
suggestion of the President, and move to
amend the section so that it shall read—"sub-
ject to the approval and consent of the sen-
ate, whenever convened."
Mr. RIDGELY. The amendment of the gentleman
from Frederick (Mr. Schley) is ob-
noxious to the same difficulty that is supposed
to exist in this section as it now stands. I
understand the governor's view is that this is
not an act that be is capable of performing,
unless with the advice and consent of the
senate; and it would be the same with the
advice and approval of the senate. I did not
suppose myself that that difficulty was really
well taken; because it seemed that the lan-
guage of this section was of itself sufficiently
clear and explicit to convey the idea that the
power to be here exercised by the governor
would he corresponding with all other pow-
ers exercised by him, by and with the advice
and consent of the senate; that like other
appointments, this would be sent to the senate
for confirmation or rejection whenever
they should meet. But as the governor
states this difficulty, it would be proper for
us to obviate it. And the committee had
prepared an amendment which I will read
now, and which will perhaps better meet the
case than the amendment proposed by the
gentleman from Frederick. I propose to
strike out the words "by and with the ad- |
vice and consent of the senate," and to add
to the end of the section the following pro-
viso :
"Provided, however, that such appoint-
ment of State superintendent of public
schools, shall be nominated to and confirmed
by the senate during the first session after this
first appointment."
The PRESIDENT. Why not insert after the
words " by and with the advice and consent
of the senate," the words "atits first ses-
sion ?' '
Mr. STIRLING. I would suggest that the
difficulty may be rather technical, but it still
exists, it seems to me, even with these pro-
posed changes. The expression ' 'with the
advice of the senate" implies some contemporaneous
action, and if you say "at its first
session," it still leaves the same doubt.
Mr. CUSHING. How would it do to amend
the section in this way; strike out the words
" within ten days after the ratification by the
people of this constitution," where that now
stands, and add to the section the follow-
ing:
' 'The first appointment shall be made by
the governor within ten days after the ratifi-
cation by the people of this constitution, and
shall be ratified by the senate at its first ses-
sion thereafter."
Mr. RIDGELY. The amendment I offered
does not meet the case as concisely and pre-
cisely as the one suggested by the chair. 1
therefore would move to insert after the
words "consent of the senate" the words " at
its first session thereafter."
Mr. SCHLEY. I think that will accomplish
the purpose, and therefore I will withdraw
my amendment.
The question was upon the amendment as
proposed by Mr. RIDGELY.
Mr. MILLER. The objection I have to this
section as it stands—and the amendment as
: proposed by the gentleman from Baltimore
county (Mr, Ridgely) still leaves it objec-
tionable—is that the governor is required to
appoint this very important officer within ten
days after the ratification of this constitution
by the people. And then this officer, by an-
other part of this section, is required within
thirty days after the meeting of the next
legislature—that is, before the first of Feb-
ruary next after his appointment—to devise
a plan for a uniform system of public schools
throughout the State and report it to the
legislature. And if the legislature does not
adopt that plan, or provide some other at its
first session, then by virtue of the third sec-
tion of this report the plan devised by the
State superintendent is to become ipso facto
the law of the land. Now, it seems to me
that that is too short a time in which to ac-
complish such a work as this.
In the first place, the governor is allowed
too short a time to look around to get the
best man to fill this important office. And |
