MARYLAND. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



and commending the legislation of 1806 and the 

 i irernmcnt. The money declaration 



\va- a- f"K 



We believe in the gold standard upon which to 

 base our circulating medium, and are opposed to 

 five and unlimited coinage of silver until an inter- 

 national agreement of the important commercial 

 countries of the world shall give silver a larger 

 use." 



The State Convention of the Democratic party 

 was held at Baltimore, June 10. A double delega- 

 tion at large, with half a vote each, was sent to the 

 national convention and candidates for presidential 

 electors were chosen. The platform called upon all 

 Democrats in Maryland "to unite in a vigorous and 

 harmonious effort to preserve our people from the 

 evils of McKinleyism " : expressed belief in the dec- 

 laration in the Chicago platform of 1892 as to tariff 

 reform : and adopted a money plank as follows : 



"Believing that the true interests of the people 

 require that the earnings of agriculture and trade 

 and the wages of labor should be paid in money 

 that is intrinsically worth in all the markets of the 

 world what it purports to be worth, we demand the 

 maintenance of the existing gold standard of value, 

 and further that the Government shall keep all its 

 obligations at all times redeemable and payable in 

 money of the greatest intrinsic value, and of the 

 highest standard adopted by the civilized nations 

 of the world, and we therefore resolutely oprose 

 the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio 

 of 16 to 1." 



The Platform Committee was divided on the 

 money plank : the 5 silver men urging the adoption 

 of a substitute that declared for free, unlimited, and 

 independent coinage of gold and silver at the coin- 

 age ratio of 16 to 1. Thev were defeated by a vote 

 : | to 29A. 



The Prohibition party, in State convention at 

 Baltimore, in April 23. selected delegates to the 

 national convention at Pittsburg and adopted a 

 brief. platform whose distinguishing feature was the 

 reference to the fact that the party's " reasonable 

 appeals for the enactment of the local veto bill 

 by Legislature have been again ignored and re- 

 jected." 



A second State convention was held in Baltimore, 

 July 28, when candidates for presidential electors 

 and members for the State Central Committee were 

 selected, and a platform was adopted which con- 

 fined itself to the liquor question. 



The National party in Maryland held its first 

 State convention at Baltimore, on Aug. 4. and 

 chose candidates for presidential electors. The 

 platform, with some slight changes, is similar to the 

 national platform of the party. 



The Sound-Money Democrats at Baltimore, on 

 Aug. 26, selected delegates to the National Conven- 

 tion and adopted a platform which reaffirmed in 

 every detail the platform promulgated by the Dem- 

 ocratic State Convention on June 10: denounced 

 the "unmerited assault" by the Chicago Demo- 

 cratic Convention upon President Cleveland, and 

 heartily commended the policy of his administra- 

 tion : denounced the Chicago nominee as undemo- 

 cratic: welcomed "the convention which is about to 

 assemble at the city of Indianapolis to place before 

 the country a Democratic platform in opposition to 

 the Populist platform adopted at Chicago"; and 

 continued as follows : 



"We are irrevocably opposed to the 'financial 

 policy of the Chicago platform. We believe that 

 the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio 

 of 16 to 1 is simply a synonym for repudiation; 

 that it is unjust and dishonest : that it will inevi- 

 tably reduce the standard of American wages : that 

 it will debase the currency of the country, and 



cause ruin and disaster among every community in 

 the land." 



At the election in November the Ki-jnil . 

 carried the State by a plurality of 32,232, the vote 

 being: McKinh-y. 186.978; Bryan. 104.740: Lever- 

 iiiL'. 5.922: Palmer, 8,507; Matchett, 588 ; limtley, 

 136. Six Republican Representatives in Coi._ 

 also were clnen. 



MASSACHUSETTS, a New England State, one 

 of the original thirteen: ratified the Constitution 

 Feb. 6. 1?-- -.315 square miles. The popu- 



lation, according to each decennial census, was 

 378.787 in 1790; 422,845 in 1800; 472.040 in 1810; 

 ;V.>:!.l.-,) in ls2<>: liUUOs in 1S.50: 737.699 in 1*40; 

 994.514 in ls50: ].231.<i6t. in ls(.;ii : 1.457.351 in 

 l*7i>: 1,788,065 in 1880; and 2.2:>.943 in 1890. By 

 the State census in 1st;') it was 2.500,183. Capital, 

 >n. 



Government. The following were the State offi- 

 cers during the year : Governor. Frederick T. Green- 

 halge. who died March 5. when Lieut.-Gov Roger 

 "vVolcott became acting Governor ; Secretary of 

 State. William M. Olin ; Treasurer, Edward P. Shaw ; 

 Auditor. John W. Kimball ; Attorney-General. Ho- 

 M. Knowlton ; Adjutant General. Samuel Dai- 

 ton : Secretary of the Board of Education. Frank A. 

 Hill all Republicans: Chief Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court. Walbridge A. Field : Associate Justices. 

 Charles Allen. Oliver W. Holmes. Marcus P. Knowl- 

 ton. James M. Morton. John Lathrop, and James 

 Barker. 



Finances. The condition of the State debt and 

 of the sinking fund at the beginning of the vear 

 were as follow: Total funded debt. $29,675,229.40; 

 less armory loan. Fitchburg Railroad security loan, 

 metropolitan sewerage loans, metropolitan parks 

 leans, and metropolitan water loan, $16.090,000 ; 

 total. sl3.5S-5.229.40. Amount of sinking funds for 

 the redemption of the above, exclusive of the ar- 

 mory, Fitchburg Railroad securities, metropolitan 

 sewerage, etc., $7,444,001.42 : net debt. $6.141.227.98. 

 The deductions are made because the armory and 

 sewerage loans are to be paid from a sinking fund 

 created and endowed by taxation of the cities and 

 towns benefited. 



The metropolitan parks loan will be paid by a sink- 

 ing fund created and endowed by the taxation of 

 what is known as the metropolitan district and the 

 metropolitan parks loan, series 2. half of which that 

 is to say. $250.000 will be paid in the same man- 

 ner: also the Fitchburg Railroad securities loan, 

 0.000. The principal and interest will be paid 

 by the Fitchburg Railroad Company bonds, which, 

 with the Fitchburg Railroad Company's stock, con- 

 stitute the sinking fund for their redemption. 



At the end of the year the net debt was reported 

 to be $ 5,000.000 larger. Bonds to the amount of 

 si 1.730.000 were issued during the year for the 

 following purposes: Grade crossings, $3.500.000; 

 armory loan, $150.000 ; metropolitan park loan, 

 $1,400*000; metropolitan sewerage loan. $30.000; 

 metropolitan sewerage. Neponset valley. $150,000; 

 metropolitan waterworks. $4.775.000: "State high- 

 ways. $600.000: Statehouse loan. 1901. 

 Statehouse construction loan. $625.000; total, $11.- 

 730.000. 



The current expenditures for 1895 amounted to 

 about | 



Education. In 1885 the number of pupils of all 

 enrolled in the public schools was 3b9.714 : in 

 H 2.953. The average extent of tuition ii 

 was nine months: in 1895. nine months and six 

 days. In 1885 the amount expended for each pupil 

 was $16.38: in ls'.i5. $l'.i.9s. New normal scl 

 have been established at Barnstable. Fitchburg. 

 Lowell, and North Adams. The normal school at 

 Fitchburg was organized in September, 1895, with 



