470 



MARYLAND. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



on retrenchment, and submitted to the Legis- 

 lature at its session this year, shows the expenses 

 and assessed value of property in the different 

 counties of the State : 



In the city of Baltimore there were issued 

 during the year 3,012 permits for brick build- 

 ings, besides 696 for sheds and improvements. 

 There were issued, in 1867, 1,800 permits, and 

 in 1869, 2,879, showing an increase of 133 for 

 the year. The number of new houses erected 

 was 2,836, which, at an average of seven persons 

 to each house, would represent an increased 

 population of 19,852 inhabitants. There were 

 5,249 transfers of property during the year as 

 against 4,216 the year previous, and an increase 

 in the taxable value of the real estate of the 

 city of $6,615,275 as against $5,641,178 during 

 the year 1868, which was one of general pros- 

 perity. The increase is above three per cent, 

 on the whole assessed value, which was about 

 $203,000,000. The rate of taxation was $1.50 

 on $100, against $1.60 on $100 for 1869. The 

 whole amount raised by taxation was about 

 two million and a quarter dollars. The cen- 

 sus returns made during the year by the United 

 States authorities, as compared with the same 

 statistics for 1860, are as follows: 



According to the same authority, the popula- 

 tion of the city of Baltimore is 267,354, Avhich 

 places it sixth in point of population among 

 the cities of the United States. 



MASSACHUSETTS. The Legislature which 

 convened at the beginning of the year, con- 

 tinued in session until the 23d of June, a pe- 

 riod of 170 days, during which time 409 bills 

 and 87 resolutions were passed. The unneces- 

 sary length of the sessions, for two or three 

 years, has caused much impatience among the 

 people, and has led the Governor to recom- 

 mend the adoption of biennial sessions if the 

 evils cannot be remedied in any other way. 

 " The conviction is prevalent," he says, "that 

 our general laws are well settled, and that the 

 constant liability to change incident to annual 

 sessions, half a year in length, is very injurious 

 to business, and wholly unnecessary. Probably 

 a Legislature sitting once in two years would 

 meet all the real wants of the community. 

 Now, there is scarcely time to learn the results 

 of a law, before it may be altered or repealed. 

 The cost of yearly sessions is a circumstance 

 not to be disregarded, the expense now reach- 

 ing annually nearly four hundred thousand 

 dollars. Half of this would be saved to our 

 tax-payers, already too heavily burdened." 



The prohibitory law formed a prominent 

 topic of discussion, and was amended so as to 

 permit the sale of ale, porter, cider, strong beer, 

 lager beer, in towns and cities that do not pro- 

 hibit such sale. The Massachusetts Grand 

 Lodge of the Knights of St. Crispin was char- 

 tered merely as a charitable institution, with a 

 right to invest its funds in cooperative associ- 

 ations. A bill of great importance to Boston 

 was passed, creating a commission to lay out 

 one or more public parks in or near the city ; 

 the bill to be submitted to the voters of the city 

 at the annual election in November, and be- 

 fore becoming a law to receive a two-thirds 

 vote in its favor. It failed, by a few votes, to 

 obtain the requisite popular majority. Efforts 

 were made to pass ten-hour and eight-hour la- 

 bor laws, but without success. An act was 

 passed requiring assessors of cities and towns 

 to make returns of the aggregate amount of 

 the indebtedness of such cities or towns, for 

 which notes, bonds, or other similar evidences 

 of debt, the payment of which is not provided 

 for by the taxation of the then current year, 

 were outstanding on the 1st of May then 

 next preceding ; also a concise statement of the 

 various purposes for which such indebtedness 

 was incurred, and the amount incurred for 

 each purpose. A compliance with this law 

 will furnish the statistics for ascertaining at a 

 glance the financial condition of every town 

 in the Commonwealth ; and the returns from 

 year to year will show the growth and pros- 

 perity of the State. 



One of the most important subjects before 

 the Legislature, and one which received a large 

 share of the attention of that body, as well as 

 of the general public, had reference to the 



