496 



MARYLAND. 



ticular county, provided the average attend- 

 ance be not less than fifteen scholars." A tax 

 of ten cents on each $100 of taxable property 

 throughout the State is to be levied for the 

 support of the free public schools and the 

 State Normal School. 



xVn Insurance Department was erected in 

 the office of the Comptroller, with a commis- 

 sioner charged with the execution of the laws 

 relating to insurance, and the various neces- 

 sary provisions were made to give him super- 

 vision and control over the affairs of insurance 

 companies. An act was also passed regulating 

 the licensing of telegraph and express com- 

 panies not organized under the laws of the 

 State. Every company is required to pay $300 

 a year to the Comptroller for a license, and to 

 make an annual report of its affairs. 



Another act provides for a State vaccine 

 agency, to be located in Baltimore, which shall 

 keep on hand pure vaccine virus for the use 

 of physicians practising in the State, and every 

 parent or guardian is required to have his or 

 her child vaccinated within twelve months 

 after birth, and any other person under their 

 care, not duly vaccinated, must be, "prior to 

 the 1st of November each year." 



Another act provides for taxing the gross 

 receipts of railroad companies in the State one- 

 half of one per cent. For this purpose the of- 

 ficers of the various companies are required 

 to make annual reports, and the comptroller is 

 empowered to examine them upon the finan- 

 cial affairs of the companies. Provision was 

 also made for a State tax of two cents per ton 

 on all coal mined in the State and transported 

 over the railroads or canals. 



The most important debate of the session 

 was the adjustment of the claims of the State 

 against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for 

 one-fifth of the passenger transportation on 

 the Washington branch of the road. A joint 

 committee, appointed to make a report on the 

 subject, recommended : 



1. That the Baltimore & Ohio Kailroad Company 

 pay forthwith into the Treasury of the State the 

 amount ftn which judgment has been rendered in the 

 Superior Court of Baltimore City, in the suit of the 

 State against the company to recover one-fifth of tho 

 whole amount received by said company for the 

 transportation of passengers between Baltimore and 

 Washington, on its Washington branch, with interest 

 until paid, and costs of suit. 



2. That the Governor, Comptroller, and Treasurer, 

 shall ascertain what sum is due the State by the said 

 company for the State's proportion of the money 

 received for the transportation of passengers on the 



Washington branch road from the 1st day of Janu- 

 ary, 1870, to the 1st day of January, 1872, and that 

 the company pay the amount so ascertained into the 

 State Treasury on or before the 1st day of July, 1872, 

 with interest. 



3. That the company ought to be released by the 

 State from the payment of any portion of the future 

 receipts for passenger transportation on the said 

 branch road, and from all receipts from that source 

 since January 1 , 1872, and ought also to be exempted 

 from taxation on said branch road, and the company 

 ought to pay to the State in perpetuity the annual 

 sum of $25,000, in equal semi-annual payments, on 



the first Wednesday in July and January in each 

 year, the first of said instalments to be paid on or 

 before the first Wednesday in July next. 



The matter was not brought to a final settle- 

 ment, though it occupied a considerable share 

 of attention throughout the session. 



The revenues of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 

 road Company, for the year ending September 

 30th, amounted to $13,626,677.31, an increase 

 of more than a million dollars over the reve- 

 nues of the preceding year. 



The receipts of the State Treasury, for the 

 fiscal year ending September 30th, amounted 

 to $2,237,578.26, which, added to the balance 

 of $452,246.90 on hand at the beginning of 

 the year, made the total resources of the year 

 $2,689,825.16. Of this amount, $336,208.87 

 was derived from the sale of the stock of the 

 Maryland Hospital loan, and $25,000 was de- 

 rived from the sale of the balance of the Deaf 

 and Dumb Asylum loan, leaving $1,876,369.39 

 as the amount derived from the ordinary 

 sources of revenue, which is greater by $50,- 

 338.67 than the receipts from the same sources 

 for the preceding year. The disbursements of 

 the Treasury for the last fiscal year amounted 

 to $2,350,654.06, which is less than the amount 

 expended in the previous year by $362,847.99. 

 Of the disbursements, $330,000 were expended 

 for the completion and furnishing of the 

 Maryland Hospital at Spring Grove, and $25,- 

 000 for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Fred- 

 erick City. The balance in the Treasury at the 

 end of the fiscal year was $339,171.10. The 

 receipts of the Treasury for the fiscal year 

 1872-'73 are estimated at $1,957,611.65, and 

 the expenditures at $1,749,416.38. The total 

 debt of the State amounted, at the end of the 

 fiscal year, to $10,911,678.75, having been in- 

 creased by the Maryland Hospital loan, and 

 the Deaf and Dumb Asylum loan, by $355,000, 

 and reduced, by payment of bonds falling due, 

 to the extent of $1,872,239.93. There was at 

 the same time $218,750.30 on hand applicable 

 to the further reduction of the debt. The 

 State has productive investments amounting 

 to $4,794,856.26, and unproductive stocks and 

 bonds amounting to $21,053,056. Of tho lat- 

 ter amount, $7,000,000 was invested in the 

 stock of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Com- 

 pany. The affairs of the Canal Company are 

 improving, and it is thought that this invest- 

 ment will in time become profitable. 



The last rail was laid on the Chesapeake & 

 Ohio Railroad in January, 1873, thus complet- 

 ing the communication from Baltimore through 

 Virginia and West Virginia to Huntingdon, on 

 the Ohio River. 



The State penitentiary yielded $3,075.98 

 over and above expenses, the ordinary ex- 

 penses amounting to $71,725.85. Tho number 

 of inmntes at the beginning of the year was 

 669, and 188 were received during the year 

 The number at the close of the year was 640. 

 Of the 188 received during the year, 48 were 

 white males, 1 white female, 115 black males, 



