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I submit that its presence there today is
an historical anachronism which had justi-
fication in 1867, but certainly not in 1967.
Taking a look at the debates of July 12,
1867, on page 390 of the proceedings, you
will be interested to notice that the data
considering the establishment of the Board
of Public Works then gets into the ques-
tion of how the state's interest in the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Canal Company under the
deed of trust to Phineas Howard Janney
and others is handled, how the state's in-
terest in the Chesapeake and Delaware
Canal shall be handled, and how the state's
interest in the Susquehanna and Tidewater
Canal Companies shall be handled.
I submit to you that the reading of the
record will show that the sole purpose of
the Board of Public Works as it originated
was simply to determine how the State
should protect itself in those semi-public
interests in which it had invested so un-
wisely on those many occasions.
It was the function of the Board of Pub-
lic Works to see to it that the Board did
not go into too heavy a public debt and it
is said in one of the committee records in
the 1867 Constitution that the effect of
public debt upon communities is the same
as debt upon individuals. It shuts the door
of hope. It dispirits and paralyzes their
energy.
The public debt is a public calamity, and
on and on the record rolls to talk about
the state unwisely investing in these in-
ternal improvements in which there was a
great deal of private money and unhappily
a great deal of public money as well.
I simply say to you that the presence of
the Board of Public Works in the Consti-
tution of 1867 was predicated upon the
state interest in these subject matters. Over
the years when the legislature has looked
for some place to place various duties, it
has decided it would add to the duties of
the Board of Public Works. Consequently if
you look at Article 78 (A) today and all
seventy-five sections you would see the
Maryland Housing Commission, the acqui-
sition of Carvel Hall, and a host of other
things that have little to do with the orig-
inal operaion of the Department of Public
Works and which could well be taken care
of by the executive branch of government
and by the appropriate department are
there as responsibilities of the Board of
Public Works.
I must disagree with Delegate Sherbow
when he talked about what Governor Agnew
said. He did not request that the Board
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of Public Works stay in the Constitution.
In testimony before the Committee on the
Executive Branch he said, "In my opinion,
the Board of Public Works should be con-
tinued, but reconstituted; its authority
should stem from statutory rather than
constitutional stipulation."
Delegate Adkins asked him this question:
"Do you think this reconstituted Board of
Public Works should be a constitutional di-
mension? Agnew said, "No, Mr. Adkins, it
should not be. I think it should be handled
by statute."
So I am afraid Governor Agnew is not
the ally to keep the Board of Public Works
in the Constitution as has been suggested.
I would go to the very language that
Judge Sherbow said he wrote in the Curlett
Report, and read his only language.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have a little less
than one minute.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: "The major
question involving the Board of Public
Works is that of the future role. If pro-
posed constitutional revisions are adopted,
duties and responsibilities now delegated
to the Board by law would become those of
the governors or the executive officers re-
sponsible to him."
I submit that a reading of that language
is not what I believe it was represented to
us to be.
I submit to you finally ladies and gentle-
men of this Committee, that the duties of
the Board of Public Works can be provided
for by statutes. There is no necessity for
recognition of the Board in the constitution
if we are to have a modern flexible execu-
tive; we must eliminate it. I submit to you
that all this business about checks and bal-
ances within the departments and within
the branches of the state government goes
against a modern efficient flexible govern-
ment, and I will submit to you that in the
interest of a twentieth century chief ex-
ecutive we eliminate the Board of Public
Works as a constitutional drag, because
that is what it is.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Mr. Chairman,
I yield the balance of my time to Delegate
Henderson.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Henderson,
you have five minutes.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: Mr. Chair-
man and fellow delegates, I have very little
to add to what Delegate Gallagher has so
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