1664 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 713

serve for two years, Lewin W. Wickes, who should serve for
four years, and Arthur P. Gorman, Jr., who should serve for
six years, and who should be Chairman of said Commission,
and it was further provided that the successors to these com-
missioners should be appointed by the Governor of Maryland.
That by the further provision of the said Act of Assembly the
salary of each of said commissioners was fixed at three thou-
sand dollars ($3, 000) per annum, payable out of the State
Treasury; and in addition to said sum, the Chairman of said
Commission was to receive also three thousand dollars
($3, 000) per annum, payable out of the funds of the Mayor
and City Council of Baltimore as an employe of said munic-
ipal corporation; and it was further provided that each of the
other two commissioners should receive also in addition the
sum of two thousand dollars ($2, 000) per annum, payable out
of the funds of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, as
employes of said municipal corporation, and,

WHEREAS, it was the belief in the past by successive General
Assemblies of Maryland that the provision of Article XV,
Section 1, of the Constitution of Maryland prohibited the
General Assembly from creating any office whereof the salary
of any officer holding such office should exceed three thousand
dollars ($3, 000) per annum, and,

WHEREAS, it was solely because of such belief that the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore was charged with the
payment of a portion of the salaries of the members of the
Public Service Commission, the Counsel to said Public Service
Commission, the State Industrial Accident Commission, and
the State Tax Commission, and,

WHEREAS, all doubt as to the power and authority of the
General Assembly of Maryland to create a salaried officer
carrying a greater salary, than three thousand dollars per
annum and payable solely by the State of Maryland, notwith-
standing said provision of the Maryland Constitution has been
removed by the Court of Appeals of Maryland by virtue of the
said Court's decision recorded in Thrift vs. Laird, 125 Md.
55, wherein the Court, referring to said Article XV, section
1, stated:

"That language undoubtedly does impose a limitation upon
the compensation which a certain class of officers or appointees
may receive, but it seems to be reasonably clear from the
language of Section 1, Article XV, when considered in the
light of its historical genesis and the accepted canons of con-