MAINE. 



MARYLAND. 



405 



is a direct result of a more extensive and prof- 

 itable employment of the inmates. 



The finances of the State are in a prosperous 

 condition : 



Keceipts for the year 1869 $939,814 50 



Cash in the Treasury, January 1, 1869 215,725 93 



Total $1,155,540 43 



Expenditures forthe year 1869 919,609 80 



Cash "balance in the Treasury Decem- 

 ber 31, 1869 $235,930 63 



The whole public debt on the 1st of January, 



1870, including the civil and war debt and the 

 municipal reimbursement loan, amounted to 

 $8,100,900. The amount of the civil debt was 

 $384,000; and that of the war debt, $4,632,- 

 500. Of the war debt $800,000 falls due in 



1871. The sinking fund arising from the tax 

 of three-fourths of a mill on the dollar now 

 amounts to $972,530, which will be more than 

 sufficient to pay the funded debt falling due 

 in 1871. 



The number of savings-banks in Maine is 

 thirty-seven. The deposits in these, for the 

 year 1869, amounted to $10,839,955, and were 

 made by about 40,000 depositors, making an 

 average of a little over $250 for each depositor. 

 The Executive of the State does not approve 

 of taxing these savings-banks. 



The consideration of the bill for establish- 

 ment of a State police, to secure a more rigid 

 execution of the prohibitory law, having been 

 postponed from the last Legislature, Governor 

 Chamberlain took occasion, in his annual 

 message to the Legislature, to speak of the 

 inexpediency of such a measure. "It is prop- 

 er," he says, " that I should inform you that 

 there seems to be a general falling off in re- 

 spect for our liquor laws. The enforcement 

 of these laws comes in no manner within the 

 power of the Executive. It very properly de- 

 volves upon municipal officers, and the degree 

 of their zeal and efficiency is measured by the 

 prevaling local sentiment. It is not an un- 

 reasonable theory that the State should secure 

 the even and impartial execution of her laws 

 throughout her jurisdiction. So far probably 

 all good citizens would agree ; but the erec- 

 tion of a special police for the purpose mainly 

 of enforcing the liquor law beyond, certainly, 

 if not against, the wishes of the municipalities, 

 has been urged by some as a proper measure 

 and proclaimed by a few as a test of allegiance, 

 to the cause of temperance. But, in a gov- 

 ernment like ours, one of the most delicate 

 things which a State could be called upon to 

 do is, to invade the ancient rights and digni- 

 ties of towns, which the historian and states- 

 man know are at the foundation of our liber- 

 ties. It is still more difficult when the issue 

 is upon a contested question of social ethics, 

 or public morals, on which even good men 

 might be divided, and bad men find pretext 

 for giving the most dangerous passions way. 

 The antagonism to excessive measures is like- 

 ly to react against a virtue which all good citi- 



zens hold high. Unfortunately we have made 

 the experiment our own; and the salutary 

 lesson to be learned from it may warrant me 

 in taking public notice of it here." 



MARCH, ALDEN, M. D., LL. D., an eminent 

 surgeon and medical professor, born in Sutton, 

 Worcester County, Mass., in 1795 ; died at Al- 

 bany, N". Y., June 17, 1869. His early life was 

 passed on a farm, and the rudiments of his 

 education acquired in public schools, in which, 

 for a short time, he was a teacher. Having 

 studied medicine with an elder brother who was 

 a surgeon in the U. S. Army, he attended medi- 

 cal lectures in Boston, and subsequently gradu- 

 ated at Brown University, Providence, which, 

 at that time, had a Department of Medicine. 

 While a student, he was distinguished for his 

 zeal and industry in the study of anatomy, and 

 thus laid the foundation of his future surgical 

 renown. In 1820 he went to Albany, and en- 

 tered upon the practice of his profession, in 

 which he continued actively engaged up to 

 the period of his death. No improvement in 

 his profession escaped his attention and investi- 

 gation. His bold and independent habits of 

 thought and action were always conspicuous, 

 and he originated many new and important 

 improvements in surgical science. As a bold, 

 dexterous, and skilful operator, Dr. March had 

 no superior in this or any country. Few per- 

 sons ever combined so many of the elements 

 of a great and successful surgeon. He had a 

 frame of wonderful power and endurance, a 

 mind of electric quickness and ceaseless activ- 

 ity, with skill in discrimination and tact and 

 dexterity in execution, which carried him suc- 

 cessfully through the most difficult and trying 

 ordeal of surgical practice. He was never dis- 

 mayed by the magnitude or danger of a surgi- 

 cal operation, upon which, perhaps, the safety 

 or life of his patient depended. Having pre- 

 pared himself for every emergency, he would 

 commence an operation with calmness and self- 

 possession, which inspired hope and confidence 

 in his patients, and excited admiration and 

 astonishment among his assistants and asso- 

 ciates. Dr. March was the father and one of 

 the founders of the Albany Medical College, 

 at the head of which institution he continued 

 for thirty years, having previously labored 

 eighteen years to prepare the way for its estab- 

 lishment. He was also identified with the foun- 

 dation of the Albany City Hospital, and among 

 the last acts of his life donated to each of these 

 institutions the sum of $1,000, and to the col- 

 lege he bequeathed his pathological museum, 

 the most valuable in this country. He received 

 his degree of LL. D. from Williams College, 

 and was an honorary member of most of the 

 leading medical societies in the United States. 



MARYLAND. The sessions of the Legis- 

 lature of the State of Maryland are biennial, 

 and occur only on the even years ; there was, 

 therefore, no meeting in 1869. 



The Comptroller's annual report shows that 

 the total receipts into the treasury for the fis- 



