precedent, and looking into the history of
acts of the General Assembly, to be forced
in doing such research and reporting to
have to use the interchangeable terms,
House of Delegates, up to perhaps the year
1968, and thereafter the term "House of
Representatives" if this amendment was
adopted.
I do believe that it would be quite con-
fusing to the researcher and to the student
of history and to the general public from
that point of view when these two terms
had to be substituted for each other, de-
pending upon the date that one was re-
ferring to the action of the lower chamber.
I do believe that there is some argument
which Mr. Gleason thought to rebut in his
presentation, that to make the change at
this time would in the minds of many
Marylanders create confusion between the
members of the federal Congress in the
lower house and the members of the Gen-
eral Assembly. Despite the large migration
that may have occurred, there are many
Marylanders, and I daresay the vast ma-
jority of Marylanders who are acquainted
with the name of the General Assembly
and the terms used therein and the title,
"House of Delegates" has a specific mean-
ing to them. When a Marylander uses the
term "House of Representatives", he is al-
ways referring to the federal Congress, the
lower chamber thereof.
For these reasons, therefore, first of
history, and second, because of confusion
that I think this amendment would create,
I would urge this Committee of the Whole
to vote against the amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion? Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr.
President, members of the house, I must
back up the Chairman of the Committee
because I am unalterably opposed to this
amendment. I think members of the House
of Delegates, if the legislature of Maryland
is to function successfully, ought not be re-
quired to write letter after letter to their
constituents, explaining to them that they
are not members of Congress I do not
know how many times it was in the four
years I served in the House that when we
were even called House of Delegates' mem-
bers, that people got us confused with
House of Representatives of Washington
and wrote me to do things for them. If we
call the lower house the House of Repre-
sentatives, I think that members of the
House of Delegates would be spending half
of their time writing letters explaining |
that they do not have jurisdiction over the
matters for which their constituents are
complaining. Therefore, I am against the
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion? Delegate Clagett.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Mr. Chairman,
yesterday, I made the statement that I had
as many traditional ties as anyone in this
chamber. Those ties are not ones, however,
that I am going to feel bound by when it
is a matter of function and responsibility,
or ability to do what is constructive along
the line of governmental responsibility.
When it is a matter of name, however, I
feel the strength of the tie, on the identifi-
cation as "delegate" applicable to this
chamber, as distinguished from "repre-
sentative", which I believe would be truly
in identification of the federal chambers,
I am strongly in favor of holding onto the
tie and the tradition, and, therefore, would
oppose the motion.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion? Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: Mr. Chair-
man, I would just like to say, our Chair-
man of the Legislative Branch occasionally
finds himself in a peculiar position in this
chamber and will find himself so in the
future because he has to oppose what he
has supported in the Committee at times.
On this particular measure I think as 1
recall, the Chairman did support the
change of name. I might say further that
in our Committee, we have four members,
past or present, serving in the House of
Delegates, and those voted divided 2 and
2. Most of these people were native Mary-
landers.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion? Are you ready for the question?
Delegate Hanson?
DELEGATE HANSON: Mr. President,
having said a few unkind words for tradi-
tion yesterday, I would like to say a kind
word for tradition today, and say that for
the reasons outlined by Delegate Clagett
and by the Chairman, I will oppose the
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion?
(There was no response.)
Are you ready for the question?
(Call for the question.)
The question arises on the adoption of |
