594 



MARYLAND. 



sign to favor a new party nor to combine for 

 or against either of those existing. Their ob- 

 ject was to redress their grievances and secure 

 relief from the burdens of taxation. Both par- 

 ties were to understand, however, that, what- 

 ever politicians might do, the people would not 

 fear to fall out of line whenever they fail of 

 strict fidelity to duty, and that they could not 

 command their allegiance with empty promises 

 nor retain it with broken pledges. Local or 

 county taxation is enormous and burdensome, 

 but local taxes were in their control, and it 

 was their right to say how they should be ap- 

 propriated. The greatest burdens were at their 

 own doors, but the remedy, which was in their 

 hands, was to give more attention to self-gov- 

 ernment, and put aside the delusion that they 

 had done their whole duty to society by taking 

 part in national and State politics. They must 

 put good men into the local offices. " If we 

 would build up our State, we shall best do it 

 by building up the counties. Your county 

 commissioner, like the judge, should know no 

 man in administering the finances in which 

 men of all parties have an equal interest and 

 equal rights. All local affairs should be sep- 

 arated, as far as possible, from State and na- 

 tional politics." 

 The following resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved -1. That local self-government being the 

 germinal principle out of which free institutions of the 

 Anglo-Saxon type have grown, its spirit should be 

 fostered, and laws should be so framed as to vest as 

 much as possible of administrative duty in the coun- 

 ties, and whenever practicable in the yet smaller divi- 

 sions in the bodv politic. 



2. That it is the duty of all good citizens to. excite a 

 generous pride in our respective counties, and to use 

 all means to elevate the standard of our local offices, 

 so that no man. however exalted, shall feel it beneath 

 his dignity to snare in the obligations of watching over 

 and taking counsel with his fellow citizens about the 

 public affairs of his county. 



3. All unnecessary and superfluous offices should be 

 abolished, and the salaries and fees of others be re- 

 duced and restricted by law. In view of the present 

 high purchasing power of money, this may be effected 

 without injustice or hardship to officials and with 

 great advantage to the State. 



4. The next Legislature of Maryland should, in 

 deference to that spirit of economy which so thorough- 

 ly pervades the popular mind and which the times so 

 urgently demand\ institute such legislation as will se- 

 cure necessary reforms, and reduce the expenditures of 

 .the public money to such a degree that the outlay shall 

 be commensurate with the services rendered therefor. 



5. That, so far as the reform and retrenchment of 

 purely local expenditures in the respective counties is 

 concerned, this Convention remits them to the judg- 

 ment of the citizens of the several counties, believing 

 that they 'can be best considered and regulated, and as 

 we think very materially reduced, in every county in 

 the State. In many counties we are satisfied that 

 more than ten per cent, of the annual expenses can be 

 saved if more efficient and impartial officers are se- 

 lected. 



6. That the Legislature has it in its power to save a 

 large sum of money every year from tne current rev- 

 enue of the State by the passage of laws to enforce a 

 more rigid compliance with the requirements of sec- 

 tion 1, Article XV., of the Constitution of Maryland, 

 relating to clerks of courts, registers of wills, and all 

 other officers whose pay or compensation is derived 

 from fees or moneys coming into their hands for the 



discharge of their official duties, or in any way grow- 

 ing out of or connected with their offices ; and also a 

 more rigid observance of the provisions of sections 35 

 and 45, Article III., of the Constitution, and that the 

 Legislature be called upon to repeal chapter 151, acts 

 of 1865. 



7. That the laws relating to the inspection of tobacco 

 should be repealed, to relieve the producers and the 

 State of what has become a burden to the producers 

 and a reproach to the State. 



8. That the public-school laws of Maryland are capa- 

 ble ofgreat improvement, and should be amended. 



9. That proper legislation should be instituted to 

 reduce the expenses of the courts throughout the 

 State, which have increased in the last few years to 

 such large proportions as to add materially to a burden- 

 some taxation. 



10. That provision ought to be made by law for the 

 speedy trial of petty offenders before justices of the 

 peace, with the right of appeal to the Circuit Court. 



11. That a committee of one from each county here 

 represented (the President of the Convention to be the 

 chairman) be appointed by the Chair to prepare and 

 present to the Legislature a statement of such offices 

 as ought to be abolished, of such expenditures as ought 

 to be curtailed, of such salaries as ought to be reduced, 

 and of such amendments by law as will insure a 

 greater vigilance in those who have the supervision of 

 public expenditures. 



A resolution relating to temperance and the 

 election of favorable candidates to the State 

 Legislature was also adopted. 



A Convention of Nationals assembled in Bal- 

 timore on September 10th. John Henley was 

 chosen permanent President. In an address to 

 the Convention the chairman of the National 

 Executive Committee said: "The same ques- 

 tion is before the people now as existed be- 

 tween the American colonies and their mother 

 country. It is, Shall the government be for 

 the few or for the people? Shall it be a gov- 

 ernment for a favored class, or for the rich 

 and poor alike? The money power and the 

 would-be aristocracy is making the same fight 

 now it made under Alexander Hamilton, and 

 when Andrew Jackson crushed it. It was de- 

 feated then, and will be now. The purchase 

 and control of old party leaders and the manip- 

 ulation of conventions by the money power 

 created the necessity for the new party." 



A preamble and resolutions were adopted, 

 as follows : 



The Greenback -Labor party of the State of Mary- 

 land, in Convention assembled, in the city of Balti- 

 more, September 10, 1879, reiterating the grand prin- 

 ciples of financial reform heretofore promulgated by 

 us to the people of this State, and for the advance- 

 ment of such other reforms as experience is daily 

 proving and demonstrating the vital necessity of in 

 all industrial pursuits, based upon such remedies as 

 have been persistently, uniformly, heedlessly, and 

 grossly neglected by the dominant political parties in 

 this State and nation, namely, the so-called Demo- 

 cratic and Ecpublican parties, docs, in the interest of 

 our long-suffering and law-abiding citizens, again 

 solemnly declare, as absolutely essential to the peace, 

 safety, and welfare of society, that the following prin- 

 ciples should be immediately adopted and enforced as 

 national measures : 



1. The greenback dollar must be a legal tender for 

 the payment of all debts, public as well as private, 

 and oy the Government solely issued, and protected 

 and received as absolute money. 



2. That the national Government shall issue no 

 more interest-bearing bonds or obligations, and that 



