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1876.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 783
Mr. Griffith submitted the following petition.
Which was read and referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary.
And ordered to be printed on the Journal.
To the Senate and House of Delegates
of the State of Maryland:
WHEREAS, We the undersigned citizens and tax-payers of
Montgomery county, feeling the oppression and crushing
weight of taxation now resting upon the shoulders of the
people of the State at large, and which has been brought
upon us by the large increase of officials created and provided
for by the Constitution of 1867, and the Laws in pursuance
thereof; but in no branch of the public service does this
alarming increase of State expenditure show itself more than
in the expenses of the Judiciary, as proof of it: In 1864, the
last year of the working of the old Constitution of 1851, the
whole cost of the Judiciary of the State under the one Judge
system was $34,482.42, whilst in 1869, the second year un-
der the operation of the present Constitution of 1867, the
cost of the Judiciary had run up to $97,180.67. Showing an
increase in the annual expenses of that one department alone
of over $60,000 a year, which is shown by the several Comp-
troller's reports.
We, your petitioners, respectfully claim the right secured
to us by the 13th Article of the Bill of Rights, and ever to
be regarded as one of the fundamental principles of all Re-
publican or Democratic Government, the right of petition for
a redress of grievances.
We would, therefore, pray your Honorable Bodies to pro-
vide by bill or otherwise, as an amendment or amendments,
to the present Constitution of the State, restoring the old
Judiciary or one Judge system of 1851, with all of its wise
and economical provisions in lieu of the present cumbrous
and costly one.
The amendment or amendments as prayed for by your
petitioners to be submitted to the people of the State at the
next general election for their adoption or rejection, as pro-
vided for by the 14th Article of the Constitution.
All of which is most respectfully submitted for your ear-
nest consideration.
C. W, LANSDALE,
H. L. OFFUTT,
JOHN M. C. WILLIAMS,
and others.
Mr. Waters, of Carroll, presented the petition of Lloyd R.
Duvall, Gustavus Owings, Basil Hood and 45 other citizens
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