next general election in the State thereafter,
wheat a commissioner shall be elected for a
full term ensuing."
By general consent the rules were suspended
and the amendment received.
The question was upon agreeing to the
amendment.
Mr. STIRLING. I would suggest to my col-
league (Mr. Stockbridge) to modify his
amendment so that it shall read "until the
next general election for members of the
general assembly." There a re two general
elections provided for under this constitution.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE, This article provides
for his election at a general election which is
not for members of the general assembly.
Mr. STIRLING. The amendment of my
colleague is correct according to this report.
But it strikes me that it would be proper to
have the report corrected. It was provided
that an election for this office should be held
in 1869, because the term of the present in-
cumbent expired at that time. But it is an
anomaly to provide for the election of a gen
eral State officer at an election for county
officers. If the amendment I propose is
adopted, it will in effect extend the term of
the present incumbent one year; but I see no
objection to that. The house has already
provided in the article on the treasury de-
partment that there shall be an election for
comptroller and treasurer this fall, not to
interfere with the terms of the present incumbents,
but that the elections for those officers
shall hereafter take place on the same day with
the elections for governor and members of the
legislature. That being the case, the election
for commissioner of the land office ought to
take place on the same day, as he is also a
State officer. I therefore move to amend the
amendment by inserting after the words
"next general election" the words "for
members of the general assembly."
The question being taken upon Mr. STIR-
LING'S amendment to the amendment of Mr.
STOCKBRIDGE, it was adopted.
The amendment as amended was then
adopted.
Mr. STIRLING. In order to make the sec-
tion conform to the amendment just adopted,
I move to strike out the word " sixty-nine "
near the beginning of inc section, and insert
the word " seventy."
The question being taken, the amendment
of Mr. STIRLING was adopted.
The next section was then read as follows :
" Sec. 3. The State librarian shall be
elected by joint vote of the two branches of
the general assembly for four years, and un-
til his successor shall be elected and qualified,
His salary shall he fifteen hundred dollars
per annum. The legislature shall pass no
law whereby he shall receive an additional
compensation. He shall perform such duties
as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by
law."
60 |
On motion of Mr. STOCKBRIDGE,
By general consent the section was amend-
ed by adding thereto the following :
" In case of a vacancy in the office of State
librarian from death, resignation or any
other cause, the governor shall fill such va-
cancy until the next meeting of the general
assembly thereafter."
The next section was then read as follows :
"Sec. 4. The county commissioners shall
be elected by general ticket by the voters of
the several counties, on Tuesday next after
the first Monday of November in the year
eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and on the
same day in every second year thereafter ;
said commissioners shall exercise such powers
and perform such duties only as the legisla-
ture may from time to time prescribe; but
such powers and duties shall be similar, and
the tenure of office uniform throughout the
State, and the legislature shall have power to
pass such laws as may be necessary for de-
termining the number 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 constitution shall have and
exercise all the powers and duties in their
respective counties now exercised by the
county commissioners untier the laws of the
State, and they shall receive the same salary.
and their present number in the several
counties shall remain the same until changed
by law."
Mr. RIDGELY. It will be observed that
these county commissioners are to be elected
on general ticket and not by districts, and
for a period of two years. On motion of the
gentleman from Allegany (Mr. Hebb,) a pro-
vision was adopted in relation to the judges
of the orphans' court, by which the first
judges elected are to serve respectively two,
four and six years, and then a judge will be
elected every two years for a period of six
years. Now it strikes me that the game rea-
sons which influenced the house to modify
the present system in relation to the judges
of the orphans' court, pre-eminently exist in
relation to the board of county commissioners,
and that great public benefit would result
from adopting a system by which they should
not all go out of office together.
Mr. HEBB. I fully concur in the remarks
of the gentleman from Baltimore county
(Mr. Ridgely.) And if the convention will
consent to suspend the rules to enable me to
offer such an amendment, I will do so.
Mr. SCOTT. I hope the convention will
suspend the rules for that purpose. The
county commissioners are actually the most
important officers we elect. They come
right down to the pockets of the people. The
board is open for bogus claims, when they
are all inexperienced men coming in at the
same time, and they are not unfrequently
taken advantage of. And I think some ar- |
