2. Home rule should be strengthened,
not weakened. The trend throughout the
country has been one of permitting local
governments to enjoy increasingly the
benefits of home rule. Current activities
in other states confirm this. Home rule
has been increasing in Maryland and
reapportionment may abet this trend.

3. The General Assembly of Mary-
land should not be burdened with the
consideration of purely local matters.

Experience in Maryland demonstrates
that much local legislation receives only
cursory review by even the county dele-
gation in the General Assembly. It would
not be expected that members of the
state delegation in the federal Congress
should act upon state legislation even if
the United States Constitution so per-
mitted. There are enough important
state-wide matters to occupy the full at-
tention of the General Assembly.

4. The success of the United States
system of government depends upon
strong state and local governments.

Among local governments, county gov-
ernment particularly needs to be strength-
ened. This is so because county gov-
ernment today is demonstrating that it
is one of the chief instruments for ef-
fectively performing many services which
are required as a result of the increased
urbanization of the country. Unfortu-
nately, many general powers inherent in
county government have atrophied over
the years while counties were primarily
rural in character, and their functions
were basically those of administrative
districts of the state. Many small cities
need not have been established — they
had been better left as sanitary districts
of counties. Weak local government
begets weak state government. Inde-
pendent special districts should be dis-
couraged.

STATEMENTS

5. Government organization should
be flexible and those governments es-
tablished at the local level should have
sufficient economic resources to enable
them to sustain themselves. The demand
of the people is for services. They are not
particularly excited about who provides
these services. Governments which are
established should be clearly responsible
to the people. This can be done through
a variety of forms, not the least of which,
in rural areas, is the strengthening of
the traditional county commissioner
form as it is found in Maryland. The
form of government has nothing to do
with the principle of home rule. If
county commissioners were to delegate
their administrative powers to an ex-
ecutive agent, thus separating policy
from administration, many fundamental
ills would be corrected and in rural
counties the system would be satisfac-
tory.

II CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
I. Adequate constitutional provi-
sions delegating powers. The present
constitutional provisions of Articles XI
and XI-A leave the cities and counties at
the mercy of the General Assembly
through amendment of the Express
Powers Acts and through public gen-
eral laws amending other articles of the
Code affecting local government admin-
istration.
2. Elimination of discriminating con-
stitutional provisions. The effect of the
present constitutional provisions is to
inhibit effective local government of
Baltimore City, incorporated munici-
palities, non-chartered counties, and
chartered counties in one manner or
another.
3. The Constitution should make a
direct delegation of power. There could
be a direct delegation of powers either
by a classification of jurisdictions by

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