470 



MARYLAND. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



funded debt of the city on the 81st of October, 

 1878, was $27,108,925, being an increase of 

 $1,144,500 over that of the corresponding date 

 of the previous year. The guaranteed debt of 

 the city was $2,648,500, October 81, 1872, and 

 $1,995,000 October 31, 1873, showing a de- 

 crease during the year of $653,500. The ag- 

 gregate funded and guaranteed debt, therefore, 

 was on the 31st of October, 1873, $29,103,925. 

 In this total are included the loan to the Balti- 

 more & Ohio Railroad Company, the Water 

 and Park stock, the guaranteed debts of the 

 York & Cumberland and the Union Railroad 

 Companies, all of which regularly pay to tlio 

 city the interest on the loans, stocks, and guar- 

 antees. These amount to $11,172,566. The 

 city, therefore, has to provide only for the pay- 

 ment of interest on $17,931,359. 



As against this aggregate funded and guar- 

 anteed debt, the city has securities, available 

 assets, etc., amounting to $27,252,514. 



According to the report of the City Regis- 

 trar, the floating debt of the city is $875,415, 

 which is an increase since October 31, 1872, of 

 $264,884. This has been caused by an increase 

 of the expenses in several of the departments 

 of the city government, by making appropri- 

 ations of money not embraced in the tax levy, 

 and by over-estimates in the matter of collec- 

 tions upon the tax levy. 



While it is apparent, Bays the Mayor, that the ex- 

 penses of the oitv have been increased, and that a 

 necessity for funding its debts exists, it is agreeable 

 to know that important ends have been accomplished 

 by the expenditures, and that " there is something to 

 show" therefor. Tlie extension and improvement 

 of Patterson Park ; the beautifying and the improv- 

 ing of all the public squares ; the erection of sclipol- 

 houses and of station-houses ; the making within a 

 period of two years a ship-channel which it was sup- 

 )sed would require five times that measure of time 

 t > complete the extension of the water-works over 

 fie beautiful and fast-improving northwestern sec- 

 tion of the city: the introduction of a new supply of 

 water from the Gunpowder Bivcr that will, with the 

 present supply from Jones's Falls, be ample lor a 

 population of 600,000 ; and the aid extended for the 

 c instruction of a railroad through the fertile Valley 

 of Virginia, which, with its important connections, 

 will bring to our doors the treasures of a rich soil, 

 are measures that will prove beneficial to the city in 

 every respect, ire indications of its progress, nnd 

 gntfiylng to the people of our goodly city. It is the 

 waste of the means of the people that produces dis- 

 content, not the proper application of such means. 



The construction of the now City Hall has 

 been progressing satisfactorily, and it is be- 

 lieved that the building will bo ready for oc- 

 cupancy by the 1st of November, 1H74. Its 

 estimated cost is $2,500,000, and when com- 

 pleted it will be in the opinion of many one of 

 the most magnificent structures of the kind in 

 the United States. 



The Corn and Flour Exchange reported the 

 receipts of flour and grain during the year as 

 follows: Flonr, 1,312,612 bbls.; wheat, 2,810,- 

 917 bushels; corn, 8,330,449 bushels; rye, 

 l'io..-,i'.i bushels ; oats, 1,255,072 bush. N. 



Baltimore is celebrated for its oyster nnd 

 fruit packing trade. Within ten years the trade 



has increased 800 per cent. There are about 

 fitly (inns engaged in this business, of which 

 twenty confine themselves exclusively to the 

 packing of raw oysjers. During the pu.-t 

 about 20,000,000 cans of fruit and 

 were packed, of which about one-third 

 peaches and the balance other variety 

 fruit, berries, and vegetables. About :i,0<>0,000 

 bushels of oysters were steamed Mid hermetic- 

 ally sealed. The season for hermetically 

 ini: oysters commences about the 1st of Octo- 

 ber, arid continues until about the 1st of April. 

 The packing of raw oysters is the largest 

 branch of the business. The twenty firms en- 

 gaged in this department packed during the 

 year about 6,000,000 bushels <.t'o\M 



During 1873 Baltimore suffered extraordi- 

 nary losses by tire. Among the public buildings 

 destroyed were the Holliday -Street Theatre, 

 the Museum building, the Church of the A 

 cension, the First English Lutheran and Cen- 

 tral I'resbyterian Churches, all of which, with 

 one exception, were old nnd familiar land- 

 marks. Several planing-mills and other 

 manufactories were also destroyed. The year 

 also witnessed the most serious conflagration 

 that ever visited Baltimore ; it occurred in 

 July and involved the destruction of two 

 churches, St. Alphonsas Hall, and about one 

 hundred dwellings. 



MASSACHUSETTS. The Legislature which 

 had assembled early in January continued in 

 session till June 12th, 170 days, the longest 

 session ever held in the State, except those of 

 1869 and 1870. During this time there were 

 passed 885 acts and 71 resolves. Two matters 

 which attracted general attention in the early 

 da* s of the session were the election of Georjro 

 8. Boutwell as United States Senator, to fill the 

 vacancy occasioned by the election of Henry 

 Wilson to the vice-presidency ; and the re- 

 fusal of the two Houses to rescind the resolu- 

 tion passed by the extra session of 1S72, cen- 

 suring Charles Sumner for his action in rela- 

 tion to flags of army regiments and the army 

 roister. 



i .eorge Sewall Bontwell was horn in Brook- 

 line, Mass., January 2S, 1818, nnd at the ago 

 of eighteen began the study of law. Ho entered 

 political life in 1840, as an advocate of the 

 election of Van Buren to the presidency, and 

 between 1842 and 1K">1 he wa< seven times 

 elected as a Democratic member from <Irot..n 

 to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. 

 In 1851, by a coalition of I ' and Free- 



Soil, -rs he was elected Governor, nnd was re- 

 elected to the same office in the following 

 year. After the repeal of the Missouri Com- 

 promise in is.-. Hie left .the Democratic p 

 and subsequently helped to organize tli. 

 publican party, with which ho has since n< 

 In 1868 he became a member of Congress, and 

 was twice roClectcd to that office. He was 

 appointed Secretary of the United States' 

 Treasury in March 1869, and resigned that 

 office after his election to the Senate. 



