570 



MARYLAND. 



gages in this State upon which no taxes are 

 levied, and further investments in mortgages 

 are being made which curtail State revenues." 

 He recommends a new assessment on a plan 

 calculated to reach all kinds of property. 



In 1885 the aggregate assessment of shares 

 of stock of corporations was $66, 088, 001. 8 7i; 

 taxable deposits of savings institutions, $7,- 

 759,029.59. The total deposits in the eighteen 

 savings institutions amounted to $28,853,863.10. 



Oysters. The total number of men actually 

 employed in the catching of oysters is 26,072. 

 The oyster-canning houses of the State give 

 employment to 14,640 men and women, show- 

 ing a grand total of 40,712 employes. About 

 9,000,000 bushels of oysters were caught last 

 season. The current expenses of the present 

 State fishery force have been paid from the 

 oyster revenues, which have proved sufficient 

 for the purpose. The oyster receipts for the 

 fiscal year 1885 amounted to $79,704.17 ; gross 

 ordinary disbursements to $65,030.70. 



There have been two decisions, during the 

 year, upon the constitutionality of that clause 

 of the law by which the State requires a li- 

 cense to be taken out to buy or carry oysters. 

 Under writs of habeas corpus, Judges Bond, of 

 the United States Court, and Irving, of the 

 State Court, have discharged parties arrested 

 for violating this clause, by deciding it to be 

 unconstitutional. 



Penal Institutions. The Maryland Penitentiary 

 is now in the seventy -fourth year of its opera- 

 tions. The average number of prisoners for 

 the past three years has been 520, while the 

 average of any preceding three years in which 

 any considerable surplus was declared was 

 779*. 



The House of Correction, originally intend- 

 ed for the imprisonment of those guilty of pet- 

 ty crimes and to relieve the crowded condition 

 of the Penitentiary, has for the past year been 

 filled beyond its proper capacity. Fiscal year 

 1885, total expenditures, $30,933.26 ; prisoners 

 received, 858 ; cost per capita, $120.84. 



Hospital for the Insane. The building of an- 

 other asylum, to be on the Eastern Shore, is 

 recommended. Embarrassments have attend- 

 ed the failure of the counties promptly to pay 

 for the maintenance of their respective patients. 

 Their indebtedness to this institution has in- 

 creased $10,000 in the past year, and amounted, 

 Oct. 31, 1885, to $24,459.47. 



Militia. The Adjutant-General calls atten- 

 tion to the unsatisfactory condition of the mi- 

 litia, due, as he says, to the meager appropria- 

 tions, which for the past year amounted to 

 $15,450 for 27 companies, each company re- 

 ceiving an average of less than $500. Five 

 companies, equipping themselves, have been 

 received into the service in addition to the 27 

 for which State aid has been provided. 



Education. The following summary exhibits 

 the most important facts connected with the 

 administration of the public-school system of 

 the State, for the school year ending July 31, 



and the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1884, so 

 far as such facts can be presented in figures. 



Number of schools in Baltimore city 

 In the counties . . 



Total. 



Number of different pupils in the city 



In the counties 



120 

 1,977 



2^097 



Total. 



Eeceipts from all sources in the city ........... $050,128 98 



In the counties ....... 1,018,911 71 



Total .................................... $2,669,040J9 



Amount paid teachers in the city. ............. $550,029 98 



In the counties .......... 695,654 46 



Total .................................... $1 245,684~44 



Total expenses in the city .................... $701,852 68 



In the counties ............... 1,018,911 71 



Total ..................................... $1,720,26434 



The number of children in the State between 

 five and twenty years of age in 1883 was 295,- 

 215, of whom 68,409 were colored. The number 

 of colored schools for the year ending July 31, 

 1884, was 415 ; teachers, 536 ; different pupils, 

 31,327; average attendance, 12,574; highest 

 enrollment in one term, 25,03-7 ; cost of schools, 

 $171,047.64; months open, 8^. These figures 

 are included in the totals above. Besides the 

 State Agricultural College, the following col- 

 leges receive donations from the State : St. 

 John's, Western Maryland, Washington, Fred- 

 erick, and the Baltimore Female College. The 

 State Normal School, the School for Deaf and 

 Dumb, and fifteen academies receive State aid. 

 " Under our present rule of distributing the 

 State school-tax," says the Governor, "sepa- 

 rate funds are appropriated to the white and 

 colored schools. The colored schools first re- 

 ceive $1 00,000 per annum, and the white schools 

 the balance collected from said tax. No injus- 

 tice is done the colored schools by this appro- 

 priation, for in proportion to population they 

 receive more than their full share. I believe 

 the uniformity of the system requires no divis- 

 ion of appropriations upon the color- line. Sepa- 

 rate schools must be maintained and impartially 

 operated, but they should be under one system, 

 and paid from one and the same fund." 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met on Sept. 24, and nominated for Comp- 

 troller, Francis Miller; and for Clerk of the 

 Court of Appeals. William M. Marine. The 

 platform favors civil-service reform, a protect- 

 ive tariff, and the regulation of corporations 

 by law, and contains the folio wing planks: 



Resolved, That we view with alarm the tendency 

 in Federal appointments in this State to appoint to 

 office the worst elements of the Democratic party, as 

 testified to by the better element of the Democratic 

 party itself, and that it is the duty of every good citi- 

 zen, irrespective of party affiliations, to show his dis- 

 approval of such appointments as Higgins, Malion, 

 and Thomas, by defeating at the polls the nominees 

 of Senator Gorman, whom we hold primarily responsi- 

 ble, such being the only way to overthrow bossism, 

 and stamp out the disgrace thus brought upon tli 

 State of Maryland. 



