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Newark and others during the riots there
worked with the poor in trying to get
them certain legal rights. He said: "To
extend the protection of our existing in-
stitutions and laws to every person is
obviously essential. But there is a more
fundamental question regarding the struc-
ture of the institutions themselves."
He asked the question: "Do our local
institutions adequately serve the require-
ments of modern urban America?" And he
asked this question: "Is the structure of
criminal law in your neighborhood ade-
quate?"
I want to say that from today's Mornincj
Sun I have a statement dated December 9,
and it says: "Rural Poor Called U.S. 'Dis-
grace'." Now I am talking about the poor
White and poor Negro.
The statement said that, "President
Johnson was told today that the
14,000,000 Americans living in abject
rural poverty are a 'national disgrace' to
the world's richest nation. In a 160-page
report issued last September and re-
leased by the White House today, a spe-
cial national advisory commission warn-
ed that riots are rooted in rural poverty
and indicated government, private enter-
prise and citizenry for indifference to
the problem."
The article continued: "Describing the
misery in which the rural poor live, the
report spoke of Negro children who do
'not get enough food to sustain life, and
(are) so disease ridden as to be beyond
cure.'
"It described the rural poor as living
in 'atrocious houses and going to poor
schools with the result that more than
3,000,000 rural adults are classified as
illiterates.
"In both educational facilities and op-
portunities, the rural poor have been
short-changed,' it declared."
This news article from the Sun of this
morning said: "And because the major
social welfare and labor legislation has
discriminated against rural people, many
of the rural poor have been denied unem-
ployment insurance, denied the right of
collective bargaining and denied the pro-
tection of workmen's compensation laws."
Now I will get into the area where we
are concerned with the citizen of Mary-
land. We find that in the courts, even
though we have the equal protection clause
of the United States Constitution, even
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though we have enacted the equal protec-
tion doctrine in our Constitution, many
people are deprived because of their low
economic status or their social status.
I read again from the Sun, this time
from August 2, 1966. The article pertains
to the landlord and tenant problem. The
landlord and tenant problem is an example
of what you might call a social status and
the economic status. From feudal times,
the landlord has been known as the lord of
the manor, and the tenant has been known
as someone who has to abide by the wishes
of the landlord.
I can cite other facts from the United
States Civil Rights Commission to support
this, but I shall read, briefly. The Sim
editorial says:
"When it comes to landlord-tenant re-
lationships, the People's Court functions
primarily as a rent-collection and evic-
tion agency. It sees to it that tenants
fulfill their obligations to their land-
lords or get out. But there is another
side to the coin, and that is the land-
lords' obligation to provide their tenants
with the safe, sound and sanitary housing
prescribed by city law."
Then the article goes on to describe the
judge and his role in the People's Court. It
says:
"Judge Rogers favors some new kind of
landlord-tenant court which would have
the powers to fine landlords for not mak-
ing repairs or to order their rents with-
held until repairs are made."
Now, this particular right was established
in the State of New York.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Taylor, you
have one minute left.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: In order to
wind up, I would like to say that we have
discrimination against the economically de-
prived in earlier laws concerning schools.
"Arthur W. Sherwood, Republican candi-
date for Mayor, yesterday accused the
School Board of shortsightedness," accord-
ing to the Sun, "because it allocated only
$S~030,000 of a proposed $20,000,000 bond
issue to inner-city school construction."
Just a few days ago the Tax Assessment
Department in the City of Baltimore re-
leased a story saying that it would assess
the property in a certain section of Balti-
more up to 60 percent of its real sales value.
At the present time the property is un-
assessed, and this property is owned by
many well-to-do people.
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