MARYLAND. 



421 



The receipts from registers of wills amounted to 

 $120,184.83. The iimounts paid in from collectors 

 of State taxes aggregated $1,010,681.76. Receipts 

 from tax on the snares of capital stock of the vari- 

 ous incorporated institutions in the State amounted 

 to $81,332.50. The gross receipts from tobacco 

 warehouses amounted to $78,541.66; disbursements, 

 $72,283.78. Receipts from licenses and taxes upon 

 premiums paid by insurance companies and from 

 the fire marsharamounted to $139,069.82; from 

 franchise tax on the deposits of savings banks and 

 institutions, $29,059.93. 



Banks. Among the total resources, $19,530.414.- 

 19, of the 47 national banks in the State reported 

 at the beginning of the year were : Loans and dis- 

 counts, $10,363,203.71 ; United States bonds to se- 

 cure circulation, $2,106,750 ; premium on United 

 States bonds, $148,994.18; stocks, securities, etc., 

 $2,261,889 ; real estate and mortgages owned, $94,- 

 408.35; due from approved reserve agents, $2,044,- 

 s::9.97; gold coin, $384,568.98; total specie, $713.- 

 960.53. Among the liabilities were: Capital stock 

 paid in, $3.746,700 ; surplus fund. $1,667,675 : un- 

 divided profits, less expenses and taxes paid, $409,- 

 521.99; national bank notes issued, $1,882,570; 

 amount outstanding, $1,818,370; due to other na- 

 tional banks, $331,803.73; due to State banks and 

 bankers, $116,928.99; individual deposits, $11,287,- 

 180.14. 



Education. The annual report of the State 

 Hoard of Education gives the following statistics: 

 Number of schools in Baltimore city, 188 ; in the 

 counties, 2,266 ; total, 2,454, being an increase in 

 1897 of 65. Number of different pupils, city 90,- 

 996 ; counties, 138.951 ; total, 229,947, being an in- 

 crease of 10.585. Number of teachers city, 1,798 ; 

 counties, 3,038 ; total, 4,836, being an increase of 

 220. Receipts from all sources city. $1.280.266.01 ; 

 counties, $1,298,380.49; total. $2,578,646.50, being 

 an increase of $238,029.89. Amount paid for teach- 

 ers' salaries city, $1.011,449.60 ; counties, $861.722,- 

 01 ; total, $1.873,171.61, being an increase of $82.- 

 430.79. Total expenses for public-school purposes 

 city, $1,404,543.56 ; counties, $1,298,380.49 ; total, 

 $2,"702,924.05, being an increase of $52,658.46. 



The counties throughout the State are said to be 

 taking action toward an execution of the powers 

 vested in them by the Legislature for the establish- 

 ment of local libraries. Each of these libraries will, 

 in a sense, be a branch of the State library. The 

 financial plan upon which they are to be established 

 is comparatively inexpensive. Before public money 

 can be expended in the enterprise it is made neces- 

 sary to submit the question to a vote in order that 

 the people of the town may give expression to their 

 preference, and the same right is extended to the 

 county at large. 



At a convention of the State Sunday-school Union 

 Maryland was claimed as the ' banner State : ' of 

 Sunday-school unions. There were reported 250,- 

 000 pupils, 25,000 teachers, and 2,600 schools. 



Fisheries. In 1896-'97 the Fish Commissioners 

 propagated at the hatcheries and distributed to dif- 

 ferent parts of the State more than 136,000,000 fish, 

 including shad, perch, trout, bass, and carp. The 

 area occupied by oyster beds in Chesapeake Bay was 

 estimated at about 200 square miles. While 1897 

 was noted for an immense catch of oysters, there 

 was a serious depression in prices. The report of 

 the Commissioners of Fisheries says: " The diamond- 

 back terrapins for which Maryland has long been 

 famous are now in great danger of becoming ex- 

 tinct. The price for them has become so extrava- 

 gant that none except the wealthy can indulge in 

 the luxury of eating them, and yet the numbers are 

 so few that they are not the source of any consider- 

 able revenue to the people of the State." 



Penitentiary. At the close of 1897 there were 

 855 prisoners in the Penitentiary; during the year 

 412 were admitted and 325 discharged. The pris- 

 oners were profitably employed under the various 

 contractors, the percentage of non-productive in- 

 rnates being only 8. The prisoners earned for 

 themselves by overwork $23,722.83. The net earn- 

 ings of the institution amounted to $27,871.84, a 

 gain of $10,147.49 over the previous year. The cost 

 per capita for the support of the prisoners for the 

 year was $97.38$, the smallest in the history of the 

 prison. For the erection of new buildings $405,- 

 709.66 was expended, and $143.695.33 for the pur- 

 chase of ground. 



Exports and Imports. It is officially stated that 

 the year 1897 " was the greatest ever known in the 

 history of the export trade of Baltimore." During 

 the year there were exported 15.178.649 bushels of 

 wheat, 42.692.087 bushels of corn, 3,418,669 bushels 

 of rye, 5,244,164 bushels of oats, and 2,287,130 bar- 

 rels of flour. In addition to the great increase in 

 the breadstuff trade there were notable gains in the 

 trade in lard, provisions, glucose, copper, lumber, 

 and tobacco. The imports for the year amounted 

 to $11,107,467. Receipts at the customhouse were 

 $228,711. During the year 1,023 vessels sailed for 

 foreign ports, carrying 1.656,928 tons of cargo; for 

 coastwise ports, 2,138 vessels, with 2,143,104 tons of 

 cargo. 



Coal and Tobacco. The total output of coal of 

 the various mines was 3,931,929 tons. The crop of 

 tobacco was 34,873 hogsheads, the medium and bet- 

 ter grades selling at 13 and 14 cents per pound. 



Industries. There were 32,556 farmers in the 

 State, tilling an area of 9,382 square miles. Outside 

 the city of Baltimore there were 5,016 manufactur- 

 ing establishments, including 737 flour mills, 239 

 fruit-packing houses, 389 sawmills, 89 oyster-pack- 

 ing establishments, 146 carriage and wagon fac- 

 tories, and 201 dairies. In Baltimore alone there were 

 990 factories, employing about 100,000 hands, whose 

 aggregate wages per annum were $42,000.000 | cap- 

 ital invested, $120,000,000; value of output per an- 

 num, $175,000,000. Baltimore's shoe business was 

 estimated at about $20,000,000; the millinery trade 

 approximated $3,000,000 ; hats and straw goods, 

 $2,000,000 ; canned articles, $7,000,000 in Baltimore 

 and $3,000,000 outside. Over 160 incorporations 

 for business enterprises were recorded during the 

 year in the city, 133 of which were for mercantile, 

 manufacturing, and various trade purposes, the 

 aggregate capital invested being $5,490,000. The 

 remaining 27 corporations, with a capital of $44,- 

 111,100, were building and savings associations, etc. 

 Water Ways. But little work was done in the 

 improvement of the rivers and harbors of the State. 

 In November the Board of Public Works decided to 

 sell all the interest of the State in the Chesapeake 

 and Ohio Canal, which had cost the State about 

 $25,000,000. It is said that this action was taken 

 for the purpose of enabling the Baltimore and Ohio 

 reorganization managers to obtain a title to the 

 property and to use it in connection with their sys- 

 tem. The canal extends from Georgetown, D. C., 

 along the banks of the Potomac to the Cumberland. 

 and is the oldest of the great interior artificial 

 water ways planned in this country in the early part 

 of the century. It was for more than half a century 

 the main public work of Maryland and was built 

 almost entirely by the State. 



Game. The effort to introduce foreign quail 

 into the State has proved a failure. Many birds 

 were imported from the Scilly Islands and from 

 China and liberated in the State, but all have dis- 

 appeared. The failure of the foreign quail propa- 

 gation was followed by success in the introduction 

 of American birds. Thousands of partridges from 





