712 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (MASSACHUSETTS.) 



year are estimated for labor, $5,715,520; for fertil- 

 izers, $2,618,890. 



Floating Steel Dry Dock. The Maryland 

 Steel Company, at Sparrows Point, completed and 

 on Oct. 15, 1901, started down for Algiers, La., 

 the large steel dry dock for the Government, the 

 contract being $810,000. The voyage of 2,000 

 miles was attended with great danger, but the 

 great dock, towed by powerful seagoing tugs, 

 reached the Government station safely. The dock 

 has been tested, and it met all requirements. The 

 new battle-ship Illinois was used for the test, and 

 was easily floated. The dock also showed her 

 ability to dock herself for cleaning and painting. 



Johns Hopkins University. On Feb. 22. 

 1901, Dr. Daniel C. Gilman tendered his resigna- 

 tion as president of Johns Hopkins University, 

 having rounded out the seventieth year of his 

 life and a quarter of a century as the head of the 

 institution, which began its career under his guid- 

 ance in 1876. Prof. Ira Remsen, who had been 

 at the head of the department of chemistry, was 

 elected to succeed him. Recently William Keyser, 

 William Wyman, and several other citizens of 

 Maryland made a gift to the university of a piece 

 of ground valued at $1,000,000, on the condition 

 that the university raise another million for erect- 

 ing and maintaining the necessary buildings on it. 



Monument to Columbus. While it is gen- 

 erally known that the first monument to George 

 Washington was erected in Baltimore by the 

 State of Maryland, few are aware that the first 

 shaft in this country dedicated to the memory of 

 Christopher Columbus is also there. In the 

 grounds of the Samuel Ready Asylum, on North 

 Avenue, stands a modest memorial, erected by a 

 Frenchman, Charles Francis Adrian le Paulmier, 

 Chevalier d'Amour. The chevalier was the first 

 consul-general in Maryland. The monument 

 was for nearly thirty years the only Columbus 

 memorial in the New World, and for more than 

 fifty years the only one in the United States. 

 There was a question whether the shaft was really 

 a monument to the discoverer of America, or a 

 memorial erected by Zenus Barnum (who sub- 

 sequently became possessed of the chevalier's es- 

 tate) to a pet horse bearing the same name. An 

 investigation made by Johns Hopkinsians has 

 produced historical data to substantiate the 

 statement that the enthusiastic Frenchman fol- 

 lowed up the suggestion, made at a public dinner, 

 to erect the first monument in this country to its 

 discoverer. Until recently the monument was 

 hidden in an obscure place on the estate that is 

 the home of one of the most noteworthy chari- 

 ties of Baltimore, but it now occupies a conspicu- 

 ous position exposed to the view of all who pass 

 the institution. It is an obelisk 44 feet 4 inches 

 high, made of stuccoed brick. The base is 6^ feet 

 square and the top 2J feet square. The base 

 is 24 feet high, with rounded corners of molded 

 brickwork. The pedestal proper is 5 feet square 

 and 10 feet in height, and is surmounted by a 

 capstone 1J feet high. On the west side of the 

 pedestal is a marble slab 2J feet by 4 feet, upon 

 which is the following inscription: "Sacred to 

 the memory^ of Chris Columbus, Oct. XII, 

 MDCC v IIIC. 



Legislative Session. Gov. Smith, on Feb. 13, 

 1901, called the General Assembly of Maryland 

 to meet in special session on March 6. The rea- 

 sons set forth for the call were: That errors in 

 the enumeration by the United States census of 

 the population of this State, if not corrected by 

 an enumeration under State authority, would 

 give to some sections of the State a disproportion- 

 ate representation in the House of Delegates. 



That there was urgent need for legislation to 

 reform " manifest and great abuses in the election 

 law of this State." That there was a demand 

 from the mayor and city council of Baltimore 

 for additional power in connection with sewerage 

 of the city and the preservation of its sanitary 

 condition. 



The Legislature, having a Democratic majority, 

 carried out the party program and adopted a 

 ballot-law similar to the one in Massachusetts. 

 Its effect is practically to require an educational 

 qualification for suffrage, which was not neces- 

 sary under the old law. Party emblems, which 

 under the old law were as sign-posts to the illit- 

 erate voter, were abolished, and the voter is now 

 required to make a mark beside the name of 

 each candidate for whom he desires to vote. The 

 names of the various candidates are arranged 

 alphabetically according to surname, under the 

 designation of the office. Assistance from clerks, 

 which illiterates heretofore enjoyed, was abol- 

 ished, only the blind and those physically dis- 

 abled being now entitled to clerical assistance. 

 A ballot is entirely invalidated if, under the desig- 

 nation of any office, the voter has marked more 

 names than there are persons to be elected for 

 that office. It is also invalidated if there is a 

 mark of any kind on the ballot other than the 

 cross-marks called for by the law. Many Mary- 

 landers holding office in Washington are cut off 

 from voting by the section which provides that 

 persons who have taken up a residence outside of 

 the State will be conclusively presumed to have 

 surrendered their right to registration as legal 

 voters in this State unless within thirty days after 

 the passage of the law they make affidavit that 

 they did not so intend, and that they expected 

 to resume actual residence in Maryland six 

 months before the next general election. 



The Legislature also passed a law for the enu- 

 meration of the population of the State, which 

 was done under the direction of Buchanan 

 Schley. The figures were reported to the Gov- 

 ernor, who made the result known by proclama- 

 tion issued July 23, 1901, and reapportioned the 

 representation in the House of Delegates in ac- 

 cordance with the result. Under the national 

 census of 1900, the total membership of the House 

 of Delegates was 91. The State census of 1901 

 increases this membership to 95, giving an addi- 

 tional delegate to each of the following counties: 

 Dorchester, Montgomery, Prince George, and 

 Washington. 



Political. At the elections held on Nov. 5, 

 1901, the people of Maryland voted for a State 

 Comptroller and clerk of the Court of Appeals, 

 besides members of the Legislature and city and 

 county officials. The result was that Dr. J. W. 

 Hering, Democrat, was reelected Comptroller, de- 

 feating Herman S. Platt, Republican, by a plu- 

 rality of 121, the total vote being Hering 96,477, 

 Platt 96,356. For clerk of the Court of Appeals, 

 Thomas Parran, Republican, defeated J. Frank 

 Turner by a plurality of 1,389, Parran's vote 

 being 96,658 and Turner's 95,269. 



The chief interest in the Election Day is the 

 Legislature, which is to elect a successor to George 

 L. Wellington in the United States Senate. For- 

 mer Senator Gorman is the only Democratic can- 

 didate for the office, and as the Democrats have 

 a majority in both houses, there is no reasonable 

 doubt of his election at the coming session. 



MASSACHUSETTS, a New England State, 

 one of the original thirteen, ratified the Consti- 

 tution Feb. 6, 1788; area, 8,315 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus, was 378,787 in 1790; 422,845 in 1800; 472,040 



