20 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [July, 29
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

The Speaker then distributed the following message from the
Executive Department:

Governor Ritchie's message to the Special Session of the Gen-
eral Assembly of Maryland convened July 29, 1930.

Gentlemen of the General Assembly of Maryland:

I have called you together in Special Session to meet the ex-
traordinary occasion arising from the following circumstances:

.The law requires a new general registration of voters in Balti-
more City this fall.

The dates are fixed by the law, and are Tuesday, September 23,
Wednesday, September 24, Tuesday, October 7, and Wednesday,
October 8.

By a remarkable coincidence each one of these days is a day
sacred to the Jewish people. On the first registration day, Septem-
ber 23, no Jew, Orthodox or Reformed, would be permitted, by the
tenets of his faith, to register, to serve as a registration official or
to use his home as a registration office. The same is true as to
Orthodox Jews on each of the remaining three registration days,
September 24, October 7 and October 8, except between dark and
ten o'clock P. M., standard time, on the nights of September 24
and October 8.

It is estimated that there are from 26,000 to 30,000 voting
Jews in Baltimore City, of whom it is estimated that 20,000 or
more are Orthodox.

Therefore, the only time this large number of Orthodox Jews
could register would be about three hours on each of the two nights,
September September 24 and October 8, or about six hours in all.

Tinder the most favorable conditions not more than 20 persons
can be registered an hour in any precinct, so that in six hours
120 persons would be the maximum. There are a great many
precincts in Baltimore in which several hundred voting Orthodox
Jews reside, and it is perfectly obvious that six hours are nowhere