1174 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 22

office-holders in Washington, whether they took their
families with them or not, to return to the portions of
the State from which they were appointed to exercise
the right of voting. No Court ever denied this right,
or ever intimated that it did not exist, until the case
of Southerland vs. Norris, in 74 Maryland, after the
passage of what was called the "Poe Affidavit Law,"
first passed in 1890, under which, in addition to mak-
ing the affidavit of intention to return, the party had
to remain physically in the county six months before
the election, or otherwise be deprived of his right
to vote.

The purpose of this Act, as declared in the Legisla-
ture and elsewhere at the time, was, in large measure,
to prevent what was then termed the "army of office-
holders" in Washington city, from returning to the
State of Maryland to vote.

Theretofore they could return and vote; thereafter
they could not. No such act has ever been passed
with reference to residence, even for the purpose of
voting, and certainly not in relation to office-holding,
so far as lo affect persons who have "not" left the
State, but. who are still in the State of Maryland.

In practically every State of the Union residence, as
applied to office-holders, has been so construed as to
permit the retention of the residence from which the
office-holder was appointed, unless by clear manifes-
tation or declaration he showed a purpose to adopt
another place as his legal domicile or residence.

No one can contend that there has been any such
manifestation in the case of Smoot.

In some of the States—mostly in the Northern
States—there is a constitutional provision to the effect
that office holders can vote in the State from which
they have been appointed.

In the others—and notably is that the case in the
Southern States—without any constitutional provi-
sion, the Courts have, so far as we have been able to
learn, invariably held that persons in the service of
the Government, whether in or out of the State, re-
tained their original domicile.