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day, you can ask right now. The rules that
the Chair indicated were relatively simple.
DELEGATE MALKUS: That is, Mr.
President, of course, one man's opinion and
I am a little bit confused. You talked kind
of long and very much to the point, but I
would like to have what your ground rules
are in writing so I can plan accordingly
and I would like to have them in ample
time before we take up now the important
subject matters which we are going to go
ahead and pass. That which we have talked
about before is lay talk and now we are
getting into the real serious subject mat-
ter, something I thought we should have
taken up a long time ago.
But be that as it may, I want to know
what the rules are well in advance so that
I will be able to understand and have an
opportunity to go ahead and study the
finished subject matter.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any fur-
ther questions?
(There was no response.)
The Chair recognizes Delegate Powers.
DELEGATE POWERS: Mr. President,
I move the Convention resolve itself to a
Committee of the Whole for the purpose of
considering the general orders of the day.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there a second?
(T lic motion was duly seconded.)
THE PRESIDENT: All those in favor
signify by saying Aye; contrary, No. The
Ayes have it. It is so ordered.
(Whereupon, at 2:25 P.M., the Conven-
tion resolved itself into the Committee of
the Whole.)
(The mace was removed by the Sergeant-
at-Arms.)
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
DECEMBER 13, 1967—2:25 P.M.
PRESIDENT H. VERNON ENEY,
PRESIDING
THE CHAIRMAN: The Committee of
the Whole will please come to order.
We still have under consideration Com-
mittee Recommendation R&P-1, and under
immediate consideration is Amendment No.
22 proposed by Delegate Weidemeyer.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Weide-
meyer to speak to the amendment.
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DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President and members of the Committee,
the Amendment No. 21 which we adopted
this morning is one of the worst amend-
ments and one of the worst sections that
we could possibly have included in our
constitution. I think our Committee on
Personal Rights correctly concluded that
such a section should not be included with-
in the Declaration of Rights.
When we adopted Amendment No. 21
which said employees without qualification
shall have the right to organize and bar-
gain collectively through representatives of
their own choosing, we have not limited, we
have opened up the area to all employees
of whatsoever nature wherever they are in
the State, domestic and everything else.
We have also opened it up to the em-
ployees of the State, all governmental em-
ployees, subdivisional employees, munici-
pal employees and many others where the
legislature should probably have a say as
to whether or not there should be or-
ganization of labor unions and collective
bargaining with those municipalities or
with the State.
Mr. President, if I were an ardent labor
worker interested in organizing labor and
gathering strength for labor organizations
and giving them full control over every
facet of our lives and I were a delegate in
that category, then I would have to vote
for Amendment No. 21. But if I were a
delegate who was figuring on running for
election in the next election and I wanted
to garner the votes of labor and say I did
something for them without giving con-
sideration to what I might be doing to the
draft of the constitution or the welfare of
the people of the State of Maryland, then
I might have voted hypocritically for
Amendment No. 21. But had I done so, I
would have gone home and prayed for
four things:
First, that the Lord would forgive me
for the sin that I committed.
Secondly, that no harm would be done to
the State of Maryland.
Thirdly, that I would garner the votes
that I tried to get; and fourthly, that the
delegates of this Convention would rise up
and see what they had done and reverse
themselves, and reconsider, and knock out
Amendment No. 21.
On the other hand, if I were a delegate
to this Convention, earnestly desiring to
have a draft of a Constitution which all
of the people could live with, which the
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