400 



MARYLAND. 



in 1871 ntnoiintcd to $44,253, but the law im- 

 POMII:.' the license being defective, ': 

 operative, and tlie bill framed to cover the 

 defect failing to be passed, that item of- rev- 

 enue has been lost to the State for the past 

 two years. 



The total disbursements amounted to $2,- 

 287,038, being less than the total expenditure! 

 for 1872 by the sura of $68,615.70. AUK.M- 

 the disbursements were $453,296 expended in 

 the redemption of the debts of the State, and 

 $152,600 devoted to the payment of the State's 

 subscription to the stock of railroad companies 

 in Charles and St. Mary's Counties, under the 

 act of 1868; leaving $1,681,242 as the expen- 

 ditures for ordinary purposes. The balance 

 in the Treasury at the end of the fiscal vear 

 was $484,810. 



The aggregate debts of the State for which 

 interest has to be provided, on Scptembi 

 1873, were $10,741,215. The State hold- in 

 productive assets $4,522,043 ; leaving the St at e 

 debt over and above its assets, estimated as 

 productive, $6,219,172. 



To meet this surplus of debts, however, 

 there are unproductive assets amounting to 

 $21,608,694.51. 



It is expected that the indebtedness of tlie 

 Chesapeake & Ohio Coal Company to the 

 State, accounting the original investments anil 

 accrued interest, and amounting to $20,136,- 

 253.97, will, before many years, be transferred 

 from the schedule of unproductive assets to 

 that of interest-paying securities, and thus 

 there will be furnished a fund from which 

 ample means will be obtained to retire the 

 public debt, and leave a large balance over and 

 above all the liabilities of tlie State. This 

 anticipation is supported by the marked in- 

 crease of the revenues of the company during 

 the past year. The revenue that accrued 

 from all sources from June 1, 1872, to Novem- 

 ber 30, 1873, was $817,652. The net revenue 

 during this period was $450,397, while that for 

 the period irora June 1, 1870, to November 

 30, 1871, was $410,437, showing an increase 

 in favor of 1873 of $89,900. The amount paid 

 on account of the company from June 1, 1872, 

 to November 30, 1873, was $415,620. 



Under the decision of the Court of Appeals, 

 the surplus revenues are to be used, first, to 

 pay the repair bonds, and then to pay the 

 overdue coupons on the preferred construction 

 bonds; after the overdue interest has been 

 liquidated, the accrued interest on these bonds 

 must be paid; then $5,000 per year to the 

 holders of the bonds issued to the creditors 

 of the Potomac Company; then the sinking 

 fund for the payment of the principal of the 

 preferred bonds, as prescribed by the 5th sec- 

 tion of the act of 1844. 



And after the above payments shall have 

 been made, the entire surplus revenue ahull 

 be applied to the discharge of the principal 

 and interest of the liens and claims of the 

 Bute of Maryland. 



All of the repair bonds, inrltidiir_' overdue 

 and ttrcruin:.' interest, amounting in the aggre- 

 gate to $432,968.88, have been paid and the 

 bonds destroyed. 



<>f the preferred construction bonds issued 

 under the act of 1844, the principal is $1,- 

 699,500; the whole amount appropriated n 

 account of overdue coupons on the bonds 

 since December, 1871, was $584,850; of which 

 amount, as heretofore stated, the :: 

 management has appropriated $407,8,SO; and 

 there yet remains due and unpaid tin- in; 

 from July 1, 1858, amounting to, including 

 e.xipons due to January 1, 1874, $1,580,"' 



Should the revenues of the Canal Company 

 continue to justify tlie retirement of the over- 

 due coupons, in the same manner as at present , 

 it will take, as the above figures will show, 

 about eight years to pay off the overdue inter-^ 

 est on these preferred construction bonds, and* 

 [nit the State in condition to receive some in- 

 terest on its large investments in this valuable 

 work. 



In accordance with the law passed l.y the 

 Legislature at its last session, there has been 

 established in the office of the Controller a 

 bureau known as the Insurance Department, 

 and an Insurance Commissioner has been ap- 

 pointed. The last report of the commissioner 

 gives full tabular statements of the condition 

 .HI I standing of the various in-iiraiice com- 

 panies doing business in the State. It also 

 shows that the increase of the revenue from 

 licenses from foreign insurance companies for 

 1872 over that of 1871 was $20,617.78, and for 

 the year 1873 over 1872 $17.970.8!), showing 

 an increase of $38,588.67 for the tw 



The report of the State Board of Education 

 shows on increase in the number of schools, 

 teachers, and pupils, over that of the pr. 

 ing year. The Governor refers to the im- 

 portance of normal training, and recommends 

 the appointment of a board composed of the 

 Governor, the Attorney-General, and the prin- 

 cipal of the State Normal School, to select a 

 site on which to "erect a building suitable for 

 the purposes of the school and worthy of the 

 liberality of the State." At present the school 

 is held in a rented building. The " Maryland 

 Agricultural College," to which has been 

 transferred the land-scrip granted by the act 

 of Congress of July 2, 1802, for the establish- 

 ment of colleges for the promotion of agricult- 

 ure and the mechanic arts, is satisfactorily 

 performing its part in the cause of education. 

 It is proposed to lay at the college a founda- 

 tion for a colony of Knirlish farm-hands, by 

 L-ing some pioneers in tin- work upon the 

 farm, and thus establishing a nucleus for such 

 immigrants to cluster around, and then to dis- 

 tribute them among the farmers of the s 

 "It is plain," says Governor M'hyte. "that a 

 new system of agriculture molt be adopted in 

 Maryland. It is hardly possible for our farmers 

 to grow grain in competition with the agri- 

 culturist! of the West, and it will bo far more 



