ORDER OF THE DAY—BILL OF RIGHTS.
The PRESIDENT announced that the hour
had arrived to proceed to the consideration
of the order of the day, being the report of
the Committee on the Bill of Rights.
Mr. SMITH, of Carroll', moved that the con-
sideration of that report be postponed to Mon-
day next, and that it be made the order of
the day for that day, at I o'clock.
The question being taken, the motion was
agreed to.
THOMAS J. CORKRAN—RESUMED.
The question recurred upon the motion of
Mr. Stockbridge to reconsider the vote by
which the Convention directed that mileage
and per diem be paid to Thomas J. Corkran
for the number of days during which he tem-
porarily discharged the duties of page to this
Convention.
The question being taken, the motion to
reconsider was agreed to.
The question then recurred upon the adop-
tion of the order.
On motion of Mr. TODD, the order was re-
ferred to the Committee on Accounts.
MISCELLANEOUS.
On motion of Mr. TODD,
Ordered, That if be entered on the Journal
that Mr. Noble, of Caroline county, is de-
tained from his seat in this Convention by
indisposition.
On motion of Mr. GALLOWAY,
Ordered, That it be entered upon the Jour-
nal that, if Mr. Galloway had been in his
seat on Friday, the 13th inst., be would have
voted in the affirmative for the resolution
submitted by Mr. Stirling tendering the
thanks of the State to the soldiers of Mary-
land in the army of Gen. Grant.
Mr. THOMAS submitted the following or-
der :
Ordered, That the Committee on the Legis-
lative Department be requested to inquire
into the expediency of engrafting a provision
in the Constitution exempting an amount to
the value of $500 (five hundred dollars) of a
debtor's property from execution.
Mr. THOMAS said: I will state in relation
to this order that, by reference to the Consti-
tution of Maryland, adopted in 1851, it will
be found to contain a provision conferring
upon the Legislature power to exempt, not
exceeding $500. That provision was not
acted upon until 1861, when the Legislature
passed an act exempting $100 instead of $500.
All I desire is to have this order referred to
the appropriate committee, in order that they
may inquire into the expediency of incorpo-
rating in the Constitution a provision ex-
empting this amount, and not leave the
amount to the decision of the Legislature.
The order was referred accordingly.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE CLERK.
Mr. Negley submitted the following order :
Ordered, That J. W. Garmong be added as
an additional committee clerk, pro tempore, |
his services being already employed by sev-
eral Standing Committees, and that he be de-
tailed on the Committee of the Treasury,
Basis of Representation, Education, and Fu-
ture Amendments to the Constitution.
Mr. THOMAS. I would inquire if the chair-
men of those committees desire the appoint-
ment of another clerk ?
Mr. NEGLEY. As the chairman of the
Committee on the Treasury, I would say that
I have had no clerk at all, and as a member
of the Committee on the Basis of Representa-
tion, I can say that that committee has had
no clerk, I have conferred with the chair-
man of that committee, (Mr. Abbott,) and he
desires to have a clerk.
Mr. ABBOTT. I would simply state, that
although we have had a great many meet-
ings of our committee, I have not yet been
able to find a clerk, and the gentleman from
Cecil county (Mr. Pugh) a member of that
committee, is now performing the duties of
clerk to the committee. The gentleman re-
ferred to in this order has kindly offered to
render any assistance we might need, and I
have got him to draw up several papers for
the committee. I do not know whether the
House is so overburdened with clerks that
they need no more. If so) I do not know
where they are, for none of them ever come
to our committee-room.
The PRESIDENT. If the chairman of any
committee will notify the President of any
delinquencies upon the part of any of the
officers of the Convention, he will at once call
the attention of the Convention to the sub-
ject.
Mr. ABBOTT. I do not desire to be under-
stood as reflecting upon any officer; such was
not my intention at all.
Mr. CUSHING. I will state that the Com-
mittee on Education has bad no clerk.
Mr. CLARKE. And the Committee on the
Tenure of Offices has had no clerk,
Mr. PUGH. I have been acting as clerk to
our committee ever since its first meeting.
Mr. BERRY, of Prince George's I would
inquire if the member intends to claim extra
comensation. [Laughter.]
Mr. DANIEL. There are so many commit-
tees that are said to have no clerks that I
would inquire what our clerks are doing, and
where they are. I have been on several com-
mittees, and I have seen no clerks. It does
seem to me that the clerks appointed here
have not been about doing their duty. I
must vote against this order, unless I can see
some necessity for it. The gentleman named
in this order is a very worthy man, and
should like to see him employed here, if there
is any necessity for it. But I do not believe
there is work for the clerks we now have
even if they attend upon the committees. I
is not here like it is in a legislative body
where a great many bills have to be drawn
and much work of that kind to be done. |
