MARYLAND. 



467 



bat a limited supply of milk, as in the largo 

 town-, stature declines. 



urn up, tin- author finds that tho stature 

 oi' man in the largo towns of Britain is proved 

 to !n- considerably below tho standard of the 

 nation; and believes it poille that such deg- 

 r:ilat.ioii is hereditary and progressive. In 

 l>ru>-M-l> it is tlio reverse of this, for there the 

 inhabitants at tho ago of nineteen were found 

 \>y MM. Quetolet and Villerm6 rather taller 

 than those of the surrounding country. Wher- 

 ever a race attains its maximum of physical 

 development, it contains its maximum of abil- 

 ity and energy. Thus tho inhabitant of Oude 

 or the Punjab is as superior in courage and 

 eiu-rgy to the puny Bengali as he is in bodily 

 conformation. And Scotland in general, Nor- 

 thumberland, Cumberland, parts of Yorkshire, 

 etc., and Cornwall, are the portions of Great 

 Britain which produce the finest and largest 

 men, and it will be acknowledged that they 

 also yield more than their share of ability and 

 energy for the national benefit. 



MARYLAND. The Legislature of the State, 

 holding biennial sessions, met on the 5th of 

 January, and continued in session during tho 

 constitutional period of ninety days, and ad- 

 journed on the 4th of March. Its political 

 complexion was unanimously Democratic. The 

 session was an unusually interesting one, and 

 a large number of bills became laws. The 

 fifteenth amendment to the Federal Constitu- 

 tion, having been submitted for ratification, 

 was unanimously rejected. Tho subject of a 

 new school law was early brought to the at- 

 tention of the Legislature by the memorial 

 of a committee of the State Teachers' Associa- 

 tion addressed to the joint committee of the 

 two Houses on education. The result of a care- 

 ful consideration of this important subject was 

 the passage, on the 4th of April, of an act pro- 

 viding a general system of free public schools. 

 Under the new law, the supervision of the 

 schools is vested in a State board, county 

 boards, and school-district boards. The State 

 Board is composed of four persons appointed 

 by the Governor. Their term of office is two 

 years. The principal of the State Normal 

 School is also ex officio a member of this board. 

 The county board is composed of three mem- 

 bers, who are appointed by tho judges of the 

 Circuit Court for the term of two years. In 

 counties having more than one hundred schools, 

 five commissioners are to he appointed. The 

 district boards are composed of three persons 

 for each school, who are appointed by the 

 county board of school commissioners, and hold 

 office for one year. The general supervision 

 of tho school system is vested in the State 

 Board, with the power to explain and enforce 

 the law, and to decide all disputed questions 

 arising under it. The county examiner is re- 

 quired to devote his whole time to the service 

 of the public schools, and, in counties having 

 more than eighty-five schools, an assistant ex- 

 aminer may be appointed. The schools are to 



be kept open ten months in the year, and, if 

 they are not open during seven and a half 

 months in any year, the Comptroller is required 

 to withhold one quarterly instalment of the 

 public-school tax. A Stute tax of ten cents on 

 each one hundred dollars of taxable property 

 throughout the State is to ! nnually for 



tho support of schools. Tho total amount of 

 taxes paid for these by colored citizens, together 

 with all donations made for that purpose, is to 

 be set aside for maintaining schools for col- 

 ored children ; and the boards of county 

 school commissioners are authorized to appro- 

 priate such additional sum as, in their judg- 

 ment, may be needed to assist tho schools for 

 colored children. At this session, a registra- 

 tion law was passed, applicable to the city of 

 Baltimore. An important act on the subject 

 of banking was passed. It declares that asso- 

 ciations for carrying on the business of bank- 

 ing may be formed by any number of persons, 

 not less in any case than five, who shall enter 

 into articles of association, which shall specify 

 in general terms the object for which the asso- 

 ciation is formed. 



Other measures of less importance were an 

 insurance law, anew jury law, an act to protect 

 oyster-beds and regulate the taking of oysters 

 in the waters of the State, and an act for the 

 protection of game in the waters of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay, which are frequented by immense 

 numbers of wild-fowl. A controversy, known 

 as the "oyster war," arose during the year 

 between the State and Virginia, as to the juris- 

 diction of Sangier Sound, which attracted no 

 little public attention. Certain citizens of 

 Maryland, duly licensed by the laws of that 

 State, had been arrested by the Virginia au- 

 thorities and their vessels confiscated, while 

 they were fishing for oysters in that sound. It 

 was claimed, on the part of Maryland, that the 

 boundary between the States at this point was 

 in dispute, and that no interference should be 

 made with the citizens of Maryland pending 

 its settlement. On the part of Virginia, it was 

 contended that the arrested parties were fishing 

 on the Virginia side of the conventional line 

 agreed upon in 1868, by the chief oyster in- 

 spectors of the two States, which line was to 

 be observed till the final settlement of the 

 boundary question. The arrested parties were 

 subsequently released, and their property re- 

 stored, and a joint commission agreed upon 

 by the two States for the determination of the 

 boundary. Subsequently, a similar question 

 arose, with regard to the Pocomoke River, 

 which had not been settled at the close of the 

 year. 



Several railroad projects have been brought 

 to the attention of the public, which, if carried 

 out, will have an important bearing upon the 

 commercial and industrial interests of the State. 

 The most important of these have reference to 

 the construction of a railroad between Danville 

 and Lynchburg in Virginia, a distance of sixty- 

 three miles, known as the Danville and Lynch- 



