to indicate to you anything other than that
this is the present position of the District
Director of Internal Revenue, and I fully
understand that the position he has taken
is not the position that some courts have
adopted. We have asked the District Di-
rector for further clarification, and if and
when it is received, it will be passed on to
the delegates.
Let me remind you that the boat ride is
this afternoon. The boat will leave at 4:30
P.M., from Annapolis. The boat will be
available at Dock Street, from 4:00 P.M.
on. Parking is available at Dock Street at
ten cents an hour until 6:00 P.M.; there-
after, no charge. The boat should be back
by 7:30 P.M., so that those committees
having hearings at 8:00 P.M. this after-
noon should be back in time for them.
As the delegates realize, we have been
duplicating and forwarding to the dele-
gates memoranda in support of delegate
proposals to whatever extent they are of-
fered by delegates, on the theory that each
delegate should, to the greatest extent
possible, be entitled to place his views in
writing before the other delegates. Up until
now, this has not posed a major problem.
The practice will be continued, unless it
grows to such an extent as to interfere
with the duplication of committee reports
and proposals. In this event, the memo-
randa of delegates will be given a pre-
ferred priority in the duplicating room, so
that when the committee reports start to
come in, which will be very shortly, the
committee reports will have priority over
everything. Next will be delegate proposals,
and following that will be the various
memoranda.
It has been indicated to me that some
delegates will desire to file memoranda in
opposition to proposals. These also will be
duplicated within the bounds of reason and
to the extent that I have already indicated.
Let me request, however, that delegates
not make these memoranda unduly long. If
you can make your point succinctly, each
committee will give you the opportunity
to elaborate by personal appearance, and
the memorandum should serve only the
function of stating your views as succinctly
as possible. The memorandum, if at all
possible, should be limited to one page.
I had, as I indicated to the Convention
heretofore, considerable difficulty in resolv-
ing the question of excuse for absences on
the basis of some of the reasons for ab-
sences which have been forwarded to me
within the limitations of the rule adopted |
by the Convention. The problem arises, not
because delegates have requested excuses
for reasons which are not proper, but be-
cause I requested every delegate who was
absent from a session of the convention and
committee on the same day to advise me
in writing of the reason for his absence,
so that I could, in making the first deter-
minations as to absences, adopt some co-
herent rule.
I find it impossible to distinguish be-
tween absences for personal business rea-
sons, by which I mean reasons connected
with the business, but the personal busi-
ness of the delegate, for instance, absences
of a lawyer in trying a case, or absences
due to the demand of the employer of the
delegate.
I went over with the other three officers
of the Convention each of the reasons for
absences, and in order to be absolutely fair,
we adopted a rule which will be evident
when I ask the Clerk to read the following
excuses for absences. These are the only
absences excused during the past two
weeks.
READING CLERK: Announcement to
the Convention: I wish to announce to the
Convention and to enter in the journal
that, pursuant to the provisions of Con-
vention Rule 70C [76]*, I excused absences
of delegates during the two pay periods be-
ginning September 12, 1967, and ending
October 31, 1967, as follows: Name of dele-
gate, E. Stuart Bushong, dates of absences
are September 12 and 13, reason: wife in
hospital; name of delegate, Richard W.
Case, dates of absences, September 15, rea-
son: illness; name of delegate, Perry E.
Darby, date of absence, September 19,
reason: birth of child; name of delegate,
Royce Hanson, date of absence, September
27, 28, 29, October 2 and 3, reason: illness;
name of delegate, William S. James, dates
of absences, September 26 and 27, reason:
attending meeting of National Legislative
Conference to deliver address on the Con-
stitutional Convention of Maryland; name
of delegate, Gerald D. Morgan, dates of
absences, September 14 and 15, reason:
illness; name of delegate, Charles L. Wa-
gandt, dates of absences, September 21,
reason: illness; name of delegate, Ralph
R. Webster, dates of absences, September
12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26,
27, 28, 29, October 2 and 3, reason: illness.
H. Vernon Eney, President.
*The number in brackets refers to the
final number assigned to the rule in the
Rules of the Constitutional Convention. |
