shall consist of not more than four whole
delegate districts or a multi-member dele-
gate district represented by not more
than four delegates."
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Gilchrist for the purpose of
moving the amendment.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: Mr. Chair-
man, may I ask whether the Chair will
provide the amendment?
THE CHAIRMAN: Yes.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: I move the
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there a second?
(Whereupon, the motion was seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
moved and seconded. The Chair will pro-
vide and treat as the first question lines 8,
to and including the first two words of line
18 and will treat as the second question the
last sentence, consisting of line 18, begin-
ning with the words "senatorial district,"
down to and including the end of line 21.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Gilchrist,
who has ten minutes of controlled time.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: Mr. Chair-
man, ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion: In 1970 Kent County will celebrate
its 330th birthday. In 1970, Baltimore City
will have a population of 946,000. Prince
George's County is one of the fastest grow-
ing counties in the United States.
It is 323 miles from Ocean City to Oak-
land.
Garrett County has an average snowfall
greater than Juneau, Alaska. You can
govern by committee if you wish to.
These are not unrelated facts. These are
the material with which we are dealing
today.
On these are predicated the dilemma of
this Convention.
Shall we forget tradition, geography,
different characteristics ?
Shall we remember in our votes the con-
cern that we voiced in debate over the
failure of the small communities of in-
terest?
Shall we do as much as we properly can
to remember them as we try to create a
better legislature for Maryland?
There are a few things in this world
which are black or white. Most of them
are some shade of gray, and I suggest that |
this Convention has the job of assembling
the most becoming state or shade of gray
that it can find for the State of Maryland.
I want to tell a story, and then I am
going to quit, because we have argued most
of the things that can be argued on this
subject in this hall today.
Somebody told me a story a few weeks
ago of the pig standing in a barnyard be-
side a chicken, who looked up and said to
the pig, "My, isn't that wonderful. Look
at the sign on that truck, 'Ham and eggs,
America's favorite breakfast.' The pig
looked at the chicken and said, wonderful
for you, for you it is a contribution, for
me it is total commitment."
I don't want to ask Kent County in 1970
to celebrate its 330th birthday in a state
of total commitment.
This is a county. This is a situation in
which the larger geographical subdivisions
can afford the contribution, but like the
poor pig, the other geographic areas of
Maryland can ill-afford total commitment.
I urge the adoption of the amendment.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man and ladies and gentlemen of the Com-
mittee of the Whole, it is difficult for me
to oppose a plan which has within it the
possibility of having been recommended by
a majority of the Committee; that is to
say, under Mr. Gilchrist's amendment it is
quite possible. With the three-to-one ratio
we could have what we suggest, and to the
extent that that possibility exists within
the plan, I certainly applaud it.
However, having recognized its virtue, I
must also recognize its singlemost, glaring,
significant defect which is this: that the
amendment which we have before us is the
avenue to perpetuating what we have at
this moment. We do not want to continue
what we have, because using the four-to-
one ratio we can provide for a House of
144 and a Senate of 36. I do think that is
exactly what would spring to mind if this
amendment were adopted because of the
attempt I think would be made to provide
each county with as much of an oppor-
tunity as possible to have a delegate it
could call its own. However, if one takes
the 1970 census projection for Maryland,
it would appear that in order to be entitled
to a delegate all its own, a county would
have to have 27,700 population.
As I look at the 1970 projections, I count
the following counties with less than 27,700
population; Calvert, Caroline, Garrett,
Kent, despite its 330th anniversary, Queen |
