the present Constitution, the governor of
the State appoints the adjutant general?
Does he also appoint the assistant adju-
tant general and other officers below the
adjutant general?
DELEGATE BOYER: I am not posi-
tive, Delegate Marion. Perhaps Delegate
Clarke who got into this in the Committee
might answer, if I may yield to Delegate
Clarke.
DELEGATE E. CLARKE: It is the
general practice that the governor appoint
the adjutant general. The adjutant general
then nominates such other officers as he
feels he needs to have an adequate staff
and the governor then commissions those
officers.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Then is it cor-
rect that the Committee intends the lan-
guage "shall appoint its officers" means the
Governor shall have power to appoint not
only the adjutant general but assistant
and all colonels and majors and captains
and lieutenants down to second lieutenants
in the Maryland national guard?
DELEGATE E. CLARKE: The intent
is to permit the Governor to appoint offi-
cers in the sense that he appoints the adju-
tant general and such other top officers as
seems desirous. Then, based upon the rec-
ommendation of the adjutant general, if
there is one, or the chief of staff and the
ranking officers, he would commission the
other officers. This I believe, would be
tantamount to appointment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions, Delegate Marion?
DELEGATE MARION: One other ques-
tion of the Chairman of the Committee
with respect to language "when in actual
service" on line 19. Is it the intention of
the Committee that members of the Militia
be subject to trial for offenses which are
committed while they are in actual serv-
ice or only when they are on actual duty,
which might be a much more limited con-
cept in point of time?
DELEGATE BOYER: It was the intent
that they be subject to trial for offenses
while in actual service. Otherwise, they
would be subject to civilian criminal pro-
cedures.
DELEGATE MARION: So that if some-
one committed an offense while he was on
"active duty" or in "actual service," he
could be tried by a military court even |
though several weeks or months or years
later and he was no longer in that service.
DELEGATE BOYER: If he acted in a
dishonorable manner wearing the uniform
or while in actual service, he would be sub-
ject to military discipline.
DELEGATE MARION: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions for purposes of clarifica-
tion? Delegate Harry Taylor.
DELEGATE H. TAYLOR: I have one
question to ask the Chairman of the Gen-
eral Provisions Committee. How much
thought did the Committee give to the use
of the word "great" on the 14th line? It
occurs to me that. we might be requiring
the Governor to sit back and witness de-
struction of life and property up to a point
that he determines to be great, but that
actually might be an embarrassing wait.
DELEGATE BOYER: Delegate Taylor,
this question did come up at great length.
We deleted the word "great," and tried to
find another synonym to substitute for it.
We felt that the word "destruction" had
to be limited so that it would not cover a
minor automobile accident or something like
that. We could find nothing more descrip-
tive, more all-inclusive than "great" and
had to leave it to the good faith and in-
telligence of the governor to determine
what he considered serious.
DELEGATE HENDERSON: If you
eliminate the word "great," would you not
still be leaving to his wisdom and discre-
tion.
DELEGATE BOYER: We felt it prob-
ably would be more opportune and more
appropriate to put at least this restriction
on the governor. Perhaps in your opinion
it accomplishes nothing but the Committee
felt it at least did put a floor, if not a.
ceiling.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions for purposes of clarifica-
tion? Delegate Hardwicke.
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: I would
like to pursue with the Chairman the line
of questioning, I believe, Delegate Bothe
commenced, which is whether or not the
Chairman believes, if we remained silent
in the Constitution on the militia, the legis-
lature might have the power to create one
and empower the governor to do the things
which he is empowered to do by this pro-
posal.
DELEGATE BOYER: It is my under-
standing that where the Constitution is |
