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people, you are going to abolish some cities that perform
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very essential governmental services in what are still
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predominantly rural areas of the State of Maryland and
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will continue to be so. I am talking about the far
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western part of the State and the Eastern Shore.
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The question on mandatory home rule is a diffi-
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cult one. There will be obviously political opposition to
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it, perhaps from some of the smaller counties. Yet, when
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they gave it to the city, they gave it to all of them in
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one fell swoop, and I think it has worked reasonably
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satisfactory. In other words, what you are trying to do,
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you will never achieve to any great degree, the uniformity
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of the State, dealing with its political subdivisions un-
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less you give then all home rule at one time. As long as
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you continue to have ten with home rule and thirteen
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counties operating with another system, you are still
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going to come up with a continual hodgepodge of local
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exemptions, county exemptions and the like.
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Also, I think the feeling in the small counties
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has changed with reapportionment. Today they are very
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gun-shy of loosing their senator and having all their
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