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I had some feeling this morning as this
proposal was made that some of the dele-
gates were supporting it because they in-
tended in that way to salve their consciences
and then later to vote against the proposal
that had any real meaning. This is sheer
hypocrisy, what is taking place here.
Everyone of us knows from our work
here and what we knew before that the
preamble does not stand for any form of
law. All of them know this and to put
something like this, economic opportunity,
into the preamble without making any pro-
vision at all for it in the body of this con-
stitution, in the framework of our govern-
ment, is the same as the other kind of
empty promises that are being made to the
poor and causing the kind of problems and
havoc that we face.
Are you going to walk out of this Con-
vention and return home and say you have
done something for the poor or for the
working people and that you have guaran-
teed economic opportunity? You have put
two empty words in the front of the consti-
tution, in the preamble.
Fellow delegates, you put freedom in the
preamble, but then you took steps in the
Declaration of Rights to make sure that
those freedoms were guaranteed. You re-
fused to put equal educational opportunity
for children or for education in this con-
stitution. You have just now rejected any
sort of equal opportunity for industrial
democracy for all of the millions of Mary-
land people who work on the job and yet
you want to go home with the words
"equal opportunity" in the preamble.
I refuse to be part of such a hypocrisy.
I think it would be far better if we took
them out.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Lloyd
Taylor.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: Mr. Chair-
man and fellow delegates, I rise in support
of this amendment. The preamble is just
a bunch of words and we are tired of a
bunch of words.
The State of Maryland recently filed a
case in the Supreme Court under the direc-
tion of the attorney general. They filed a
case to prohibit the State of Maryland from
being covered by the minimum wage law
and the present minimum wage law that is
effective as of February 1, 1967, is only
one dollar and fifteen cents an hour.
And, of course, the State of Maryland
has filed suit in the Supreme Court to pro-
hibit employees of the public schools and
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hospitals in this state from coming under
the minimum wage law. Two words, "eco-
nomic opportunity/' will not help these
people who work for the State of Maryland.
If we fail to include in the constitution a
really meaningful proposal on the right to
collective bargaining, the poor and working
men of the State of Maryland have not
been helped by this constitution.
If you are going to reorganize the State
instead of regional government and still
have low wages and still have many em-
ployees intimidated by private employers
and by state supervisors and many state
agencies, this will not really help the
working man.
Turning back to what President Roose-
velt said more than forty years ago when
he proclaimed his economic bill of rights,
he said, "We have come to a realization of
the fact that true individual freedom can-
not exist without economic security and in-
dependence." These words in the preamble
will not solve the problem. We have to
solve the problem by putting it in the body
of the constitution.
The constitution does not have any guts.
It has a certain number of political rights,
but people cannot eat political rights. They
need something for their stomachs, and
people throughout the State of Maryland,
want something they can see and something
they can really put their teeth into, but
they cannot put their teeth into this con-
stitution.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Schneider.
DELEGATE SCHNEIDER: Mr. Chair-
man, I move the previous question.
(Whereupon, the motion was duly sec-
onded.)
THE PRESIDENT: The question arises
on ordering the previous question which is
on the motion to reconsider the vote by
which Amendment No. 1 was adopted. A
vote Aye is a vote in favor of the motion
ordering the previous question. A vote No
is a vote against.
All in favor signify by saying Aye; con-
trary, No.
The Ayes have it. It is so ordered.
The question arises on the motion to re-
consider the vote by which Amendment No.
1 was adopted. This is only on the motion
to reconsider. If it is reconsidered, then
Amendment No. 1 will be before you again.
A vote Aye is a vote in favor of the motion
to reconsider; a vote No is a vote against.
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