Mr. President. I had hoped I would not
have to speak twice on the subject matter,
but those three minutes ran out very
quickly. I would just like to leave this with
the Convention. I asked our research bu-
reau of our fine Committee headed by a
fine Chairman, how many states have re-
written or attempted to rewrite their con-
stitution since the historic decision of
Baker v. Carr. The answer was eight. Eight
states have either rewritten or have at-
tempted to rewrite their constitutions. I
think five of those constitutions have been
ratified by he people.
My next question was how many of these
states since that historic decision and since
the rewriting of their constitution have
provided for the unicameral system? The
answer was none. I know that Maryland
should not follow the footsteps of other
states for the sake of following their foot-
steps. But you are a great lawyer, Mr.
President, you believe in precedent, and all
other lawyers believe in precedent. If you
do not have any law at home, Mr. President,
you go ahead and look for law elsewhere
and argue your cause to the court. My
argument to this Convention is this: the
best precedent we have is a hundred years
old in Maryland, 1867 is the last time the
Constitution was written, and other states,
the eight that have attempted to rewrite.
their constitutions, have not provided for
the unicameral system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Cleveland.
DELEGATE CLEVELAND: Mr. Chair-
man, I am not going to make a speech or
repeat any arguments. I merely wish to
present myself as a living witness.
I came here in favor of the bicameral
system. I am now going to vote for the
unicameral system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in opposition to the
amendment?
Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Mr. Chairman,
I wish to speak in opposition to the amend-
ment. I feel that many of the arguments
which have discussed Nebraska in urging
that we entertain unicameralism have been
invalid in that Nebraska represents a ho-
mogeneous group. None of these arguments
are relative to a heterogeneous State such
as Maryland. For this reason 1 oppose the
unicameral system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate White, do
you desire to speak in favor of the amend? |
DELEGATE WHITE: Mr. President, I
rise to make a simple statement, that I
listened four or five hours, and I was able
to make up my mind during the last four
minutes.
(Laughter.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in opposition to the
amendment?
Delegate Stern.
DELEGATE STERN: Mr. President, I
speak against the amendment and for
many reasons, but the basic reason is
tradition. We have learned a lot from it.
This past weekend I was in New York and
saw a play in which tradition was personi-
fied. If that is the case in these two cham-
bers, I vote to keep the fiddler on the roof
in honor of tradition.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
Delegate Harry Taylor.
DELEGATE H. TAYLOR: Mr. Chair-
man, fellow delegates, I rise to speak in
favor of unicameralism. Bicameralism re-
minds me a little bit of a football game
where the quarterback snaps the ball to
the halfback, he runs and gives it to the
other halfback, the fullback finally gets it,
and he ends up under a pile of players, and
none of the spectators know who has the
ball.
I served in the legislature for four years
and even on the inside you have trouble
knowing who has the ball. There is a lot
of good legislation that goes down the
drain. There is a lot of bad legislation that
slips through. The voters as spectators
when the game is over should have a right
on election day to determine what players
should be traded off before the next game.
If we have unicameralism I think the spec-
tators, the people of Maryland, will know
who has the ball, and will know who to
trade come next election.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in opposition?
Delegate Kirkland.
DELEGATE KIRKLAND: Mr. Chair-
man, I might say this: having been an old
football coach, I would sure like to know
where Harry Taylor learned his football.
(Laughter.)
DELEGATE KIRKLAND: I am one |
