THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Clarke.
DELEGATE E. CLARKE: I would like
for the record to show I was present at roll
call. My button did not work.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Wheatley.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: It gives me
a great deal of pleasure to announce the
delegate to my right, Delegate Weidemeyer,
had the pleasure of celebrating another
birthday yesterday. He has requested that
1 withhold the exact age from the minutes
of the Convention. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any dele-
gates present now who were absent at roll
call desire to indicate their presence? Dele-
gate Singer.
DELEGATE SINGER: Mr. President, I
wish to indicate my presence.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Hard-
wicke.
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Delegate
Hardwicke, present.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any other
delegates present now who were not pres-
ent at roll call desire to indicate their pres-
ence? If not, the chair recognizes Delegate
Powers, Chairman of the Committee on—
just a moment, Judge Powers. There was
one other matter that I wanted to call to
the attention of the delegates. I am sure
all of you are aware that at the end of this
week we will be at the mid point of the
Convention. I am sure all of you are like-
wise aware that in committee you have
been moving very rapidly in the past week
to crystallize your thinking and that the re-
ports are beginning to shape up.
1 want to mention to the delegates gen-
erally several things that 1 mentioned to
the chairmen last Thursday evening in con-
nection with the reports of the committees.
I make this announcement to the other
delegates in connection with the minority
reports.
As I think all of you realize, the reports
of the committees and the minority reports
are very important historical documents,
historical in the sense that they are the
documents to which the courts in the fu-
ture will have primary recourse to deter-
mine the intent and meaning behind the
various provisions adopted in the constitu-
tion.
They are therefore not casual memo-
randa to be dashed off hurriedly. They
should receive the best attention of the |
committee chairman in the case of ma-
jority reports, and of the spokesman for
the minority in the case of minority re-
ports. Remember that 20 per cent of any
committee can file a minority report. It
should be done just as carefully as the ma-
jority report. The two rules you have to
keep in mind necessarily, if you desire your
report to have an effect on the remaining
delegates, it must be short enough to be
read. We are all going to be deluged even
more than we have been in the past by a
mass of written material. It is going to be
necessary for all the delegates to try as
best they can to familiarize themselves with
all the mass of material accumulated in the
hearings held by the committees in the
past six weeks. This in itself is a tremen-
dous volume of reading to assimilate in a
very short time. It is, therefore, even more
important that the reports of the minority
not be repetitious, be short enough to be
read, but be long enough to be truly in-
formative and, if you desire them to have
that effect, to be persuasive.
The chair now recognizes Delegate Pow-
ers.
DELEGATE POWERS: Mr. President,
I move we adjourn until 2:00 P.M. tomor-
row.
THE PRESIDENT: All those in favor,
signify by saying Aye; contrary, No. The
Ayes have it. It is so ordered.
(Whereupon, at 4:25 P.M., the Conven-
tion adjourned to reconvene at 2:00 P.M.
on Tuesday, October 24, 1967.)
PLENARY SESSION
OCTOBER 24, 1967—2:00 P.M.
SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT
WILLIAM S. JAMES,
PRESIDING
THE SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT: The
prayer will be offered by the Reverend W.
Curtis Draper of Upper Marlboro Episco-
palian Church, Upper Mariboro, Maryland.
Reverend Draper.
REVEREND DRAPER; Let Us Pray:
Almighty God, Our Heavenly Father,
without Whose help our labor is in vain,
renew in those who are gathered here at
this hour a sense of Thy Gracious Pres-
ence. May it be to us this day a constant
impulse to courage, trustfulness, and a
united effort. Thou has committed to us a |
