Annes, Somerset, and Talbot. I count seven
and quite possibly Worcester might be in
that because it would be 1,700 under the
27,700 projection.
Consequently, while I applaud the at-
tempts of Mr. Gilchrist to be the peace-
maker, we need the peacemakers among
us, I do not really think the possibility as
suggested holds out more than the pros-
pect for a General Assembly of 144 dele-
gates and 36 senators with the seven coun-
ties not really being entitled to a delegate
under the population formula; not that it
might not happen that they would be sig-
nificant enough in voting in a larger area
to elect their own resident delegate. That
might be possible; I recognize that.
The evil that I think we are trying to
combat here is too large a House. We have
a House of 142 members and actually un-
der the amendment before you, in order to
keep the four-to-one ratio, you would add
two more delegates to a House which is
already overcrowded.
To go from 142 to 144, it seems to me,
would only compound by two the over-
crowded situation which exists, and which
we heard described; a House which is
really too large to function effectively at
the committee level.
1 return once again to the Committee Re-
port which provides a membership of 105,
and the establishment of three committees
to split the work of the House of Delegates
on a genuine basis apportioning among the
105 delegates a genuine distribution of the
workload, and thereby providing a very
effective lower chamber.
If I believed that within the formula
that the amendment suggests that 35-105
would be adopted, I would certainly recom-
mend it, but I feel, and I think the other
members of this Committee would certainly
feel that what will happen is the 180 maxi-
mum will be used.
We are going to have a four-to-one ratio,
36 senators, 144 delegates; and 144 dele-
gates is two more than we ought to have
under any circumstances, and many more
than we ought to have at the moment.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I oppose the
amendment despite the obvious virtue that
I have referred to, but human nature being
what it is, I feel we can expect the 36-144
figure and I feel that that is something
that this Convention does not want to rec-
ommend.
In so doing, I recommend once again the
committee report of 35 and 105. |
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gilchrist. .
DELEGATE GILCHRIST. Mr. Chair-
man, how much time have I?
THE CHAIRMAN: You have a little less
than seven minutes to allocate.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: I allocate
three minutes to Delegate Grant.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Grant to speak in favor of
the amendment.
DELEGATE GRANT: Mr. Chairman, I
represent 20,000 people living on the Missis-
sippi River Watershed, who are trying to
remain part of the State of Maryland.
It might be true we are basking in five
inches of snow now. The Road Department
assures me the roads are still open. I talked
to them a while ago.
Despite a five-hour trip from Annapolis,
after wading through five inches of snow,
and traveling five hours to get down here,
you find out they don't want you. Some
fellow on the other side of the mountain is
going to take care of everything you have.
It is not making my people a part of the
State of Maryland. "County" to me is not
a dirty word. It is a community of interest.
It might be historical accident that coun-
ties in Maryland have become the communi-
ties of interest, but nevertheless they have.
People live in different communities of dif-
ferent sizes just like people wear different
size shoes. The basic question is whether
you want to deenfranchise people wearing
the wrong size shoes to achieve some nebu-
lous good by reducing the size of this body
below what is necessary to give these
people a reasonable chance to be repre-
sented in their legislature.
It is not a question of voting strength.
Obviously my delegate down here is one of
142 delegates. No matter how much he
wanted to pass a bill, he could never pass
it if the other delegates did not agree with
it.
One-man, one-vote is a very understand-
able and very necessary thing. This is a
different question, a question of standing.
You have to have somebody here to intro-
duce legislation. You have to have some-
body here to testify before committees. You
have to have somebody here who can give
you an answer, will this or won't this work?
We are attempting to set up in the State
of Maryland as I noticed—I served on the
Local Government Committee and our re-
port will be discussed in the Committee of |
