MARYLAND. 



471 



to suspend on account of financial embarrass- 

 ments. It has received State aid from time to 

 time, and the trustees now propose to transfer 

 the property to the State if provision is made 

 for its support. The Institution for the Educa- 

 tion of the Deaf and Dumb has been completed, 

 and contains 89 pupils. It is capable of ac- 

 commodating 150. The Institution for the In- 

 struction of the Blind has 51 inmates, and the 

 amount paid by the State for its support dur- 

 ing the year was $13,650. The State Peniten- 

 tiary has been established on a self-sustaining 

 basis, and during the year its earnings exceeded 

 the expenses by $1,417.96. 



The subject of temperance reform and of 

 putting more rigid restrictions on the sale of 

 intoxicating liquors has occupied a good deal 

 of attention in the State, but has not been 

 made an issue in politics. The Annual Con- 

 vention of the State Temperance Alliance was 

 held at Baltimore on the 4th of May, and the 

 following resolutions, adopted on that occa- 

 sion, show the general purposes and policy of 

 the organization : 



Whereas, The experience of the past two years 

 has developed the fact that the churches, temperance 

 societies, and people generally, are willing to co- 

 operate with the State Alliance in its endeavors to 

 destroy the legal dram-trade of Maryland ; and 

 whereas, this united action on the part of the 

 churches and people has resulted in securing local- 

 option laws for six counties on the Eastern Shore, 

 and a grand-jury law tor twelve counties in the 

 State ; and whereas, the citizens where these laws 

 have been obtained have generally voted against 

 liquor license : therefore 



Resolved, That we reaffirm the position taken by 

 the convention which organized this Alliance, viz. : 

 That we recognize the Church as a divinely-appointed 

 head and leader in the temperance reform ; and as 

 the liquor system is an open enemy of the Church, 

 she should therefore take the advance in eiforts to 

 destrov the system. 



Resolved, That as local option submits the question 

 of the dram-trade license to the whole people as a 

 question of public policy, thus taking the matter out 

 of the hands of political parties so called, and mak- 

 ing it simply one of morals, we will continue to press 

 upon the masses the duty of supporting this effective 

 method of overthrowing the traffic. 



Resolved, That we regard with great satisfaction 

 the action of the last Legislature in enacting local- 

 option and grand-jury laws for several counties of 

 the State. 



Resolved, That in the conduct of the people in 

 voting down liquor license, and in petitioning the 

 grand-juries against said license, we witness the 

 progress of popular sentiment in opposition to the 

 dram-trade, and we most earnestly urge upon the 

 citizens in local-option counties the importance of 

 enforcing the laws against the traffic. 



Resolved, That as the Court of Appeals has sus- 

 tained the validity of existing local-option laws, we 

 hereby pledge increased activity in the work of ob- 

 taining such statutes for each county in the State. 



Resolved, That while we have neither intention nor 

 disposition to form a temperance political organiza- 

 tion, we do most fervently exhort all the people to 

 appreciate the necessity of demanding from each 

 political party the nomination of men for the next 

 Legislature who are not opposed to local option. 



Resolved, That in the woman's temperance move- 

 ment we recognize a providential interposition in be- 

 half of our reform, and we hail all women's temper- 



ance organizations as most efficient helpers in the 

 work of this Alliance. 



Resolved, That our present license system not only 

 makes a traffic legally right which public opinion 

 declares to be morally wrong, but it protects the 

 liquor-seller at the expense of all other citizens, and 

 gives to a few persons the power to inflict the most 

 terrible evils upon society in opposition to the wish- 

 es of a large majority of our citizens ; and that, in 

 continuing to legalize and protect the traffic in alco- 

 holic drinks, the Legislature violates the fundamen- 

 tal principles of all good government, viz., " the 

 right of society to protect itself." 



The Democratic State Convention met at 

 Baltimore on the 21st of July. A contesting 

 delegation from three wards of that city caused 

 a good deal of discussion and delay, and the 

 business of the convention was not transacted 

 until the following day. The candidates to be 

 nominated were for Governor, Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, and Controller. There had been a pretty 

 warm canvass going on for some weeks be- 

 tween the supporters of John Lee Carroll, 

 James B. Groome, and William T. Hamilton, 

 for the nomination for Governor. Mr. Groome 

 was the incumbent of the office and Mr. Ham- 

 ilton was an ex-United States Senator. On 

 the second day of the convention Mr. Groome 

 withdrew his name, leaving the contest to the 

 friends of Carroll and Hamilton. Mr. Carroll 

 was nominated on the first ballot by a vote of 

 60 to 50. The nomination was made unanimous. 

 Levin Woolford was renominated by acclama- 

 tion as candidate for Controller. Four ballots 

 were taken for a candidate for Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, resulting finally in the choice of 0. J. M. 

 Gwinn/ A new State Central Committee was 

 then chosen, and Mr. Carroll, having been 

 notified of his nomination, came in and ad- 

 dressed the convention at some length. The 

 following platform was adopted : 



We, the representatives of the Democratic-Con- 

 servative voters of the State of Maryland, in conven- 

 tion assembled, do hereby declare our unfaltering de- 

 votion to those cardinal principles of republican gov- 

 ernment enunciated by Thomas Jefferson, in language 

 so clear that it cannot be improved, to wit : 



Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever 

 State or persuasion, religious or political. 



The support of the State governments in all their 

 rights, as the most competent administrations for 

 our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks 

 against anti-republican tendencies. 



The preservation of the General Government in 

 its whole, constitutional vigor as the sheet-anchor 

 of our peace at home and safety abroad. 



The supremacy of the civil over the military au- 

 thority. 



Economy in the public expense, that labor may 

 be lightly burdened. 



The honest payment of our debts, and the sacred 

 preservation of the public faith. 



The diffusion of information, and arraignment of 

 all abuses at the bar of public reason. 



Freedom of religion. 



Freedom of the press. 



Freedom of person, under the protection of the 

 liabeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially se- 

 lected. 



Pledged to this creed of political faith 



We do further resolve, That we protest against 

 the burdens of a high protective tariff, as needless 

 exactions from a people already intolerably op- 



