478 



MARYLAND. 



ate and thus recognise in its broadest sense the 

 doctrine of the bill of rights, which declares 

 that " every person holding property in this 

 State ought to contribute his proportion of 

 public taxes for the support of the Government 

 according to his actual worth in real or per- 

 sonal property." The exemption of mort- 

 gages from taxation is supposed, by many, to 

 have had a bad effect and to have thrown great 

 burdens upon real estate. For purposes of edu- 

 cation, Maryland spends more than $1,500,000 

 a year, about one half of which is contributed 

 by the State Treasury from direct taxation, 

 and the rest is levied by the counties and the 

 City of Baltimore upon the taxable basis with- 

 in their limits. Of this large sum, the whole 

 amount apportioned to the counties is intrust- 

 ed to the Boards of County School Commis- 

 sioners, who are required to publish annually a 

 statement of their receipts and disbursements, 

 and to forward a copy of the report to the 

 State Board of Education. The condition of 

 the public schools for the year ending Septem- 

 ber 30, 1877, is shown in the following state- 

 ment, which does not include those in the city 

 of Baltimore : 



Number of schools 1,827 



Increase over last year 74 



Total number of scholars enrolled 



during the year 104,46 



Increase 2,280 



Highest number enrolled in one 



term 86,440 



Increase 1,810 



Average dally attendance 47,804 



Increase 817 



Number of teachers employed 2,142 



Increase 28 



Numer of men teachers 1,130 



Number of women teachers 1,012 



Total receipts from all sources, in- 

 cluding- balances on hand at the 

 beginning of the fiscal year, 1877. $1,011,579 87 



Increase $7,425 18 



Total expenditures $928,225 C4 



Balance on hand at close of fiscal 



year 88,854 83 



Total $1,011,579 87 



Decrease in expenditures as com- 

 pared with last year $17,187 87 



This is the 10th year of the present system 

 under the Constitution of 1867. The progress 

 made during this period is shown by the fol- 

 lowing figures : 



During the year Dr. C. W. Chancellor, Sec- 

 retary of the State Board of Health, pursuant 

 to instructions received from Governor Car- 

 roll, made an. extended inspection of the pris- 

 ons, almshouses, and reformatories of the State. 

 His elaborate report has attracted wide atten- 

 tion. The report gives details of the shocking 

 condition in which many of the public institu- 

 tions were found. It says : 



In most of these places cleanliness is an unknown 

 luxury ; all is filth and misery and the most degra- 

 ding unrelieved suffering. The inmates, sane and 

 insane, were found in many instances huddled to- 

 gether, without discrimination of age, sex, or con- 

 dition, commingling in unrestrained licentiousness, 

 and with results shocking to all sense of decency and 

 humanity. 



The statistics accompanying the report show 

 that there are in the almshouses and jails of 

 the State more than 500 insane and idiotic 

 persons for whom there exists no proper pro- 

 vision. " It is impossible," says Dr. Chancel- 

 lor, "to imagine anything worse than the bru- 

 tal degradation and cruelty to which the insane 

 are subjected in some of the county aims- 

 houses." For this he does not reflect special- 

 ly upon the " keepers," but attributes the fault 

 generally to the system of which they are 

 the agents, and urges as one of the features 

 of a necessary change that every inmate of 

 the establishment, capable of physical exertion, 

 should be set to work as a means of inducing 

 health and morality. For this purpose he re- 

 commends the establishment by counties of 

 union almshouses which should also be work- 

 houses. In 1870 the population of the State 

 was 780,894. The number of insane was 733, 

 and of idiotic 362; total 1,095. On May 1, 

 1877, the total number of insane was 1,051, of 

 whom 752 were paupers. Dr. Chancellor con- 

 demns strongly the custom of placing children 

 in almshouses and prisons in company with 

 old criminals, and suggests the establishment 

 of district " asylum schools " for the mainten- 

 ance and education of pauper-children. Con- 

 siderable space in the report is devoted to a 

 discussion of the "tramp," who is character- 

 ized as a great and growing evil. The most 

 stringent and severe measures, such as those 

 in force among the ancients, are recommended 

 as the best means of ridding society of these 

 " willful paupers." At the Frederick County 

 almshouses 8,000 of these vagrants were fed 

 and lodged between October 1, 1876, and 

 March 1, 1877. 



The report says that there is probably no 

 institution in the State so faulty in construc- 

 tion and so poorly adapted to the purposes 

 for which it is used as the House of Refuge, 

 its whole surroundings being gloomy and pris- 

 on-like. The discipline of the House is, how- 

 ever, excellent, and the place is kept clean and 

 in good order. The State Penitentiary is de- 

 scribed as a model of its kind, but its removal 

 from the city (Baltimore) is recommended, the 

 House of Refuge being suggested as a suitable 

 situation, with such additions to the present 

 buildings as may be necessary. The condition 

 of affairs exposed by Dr. Chancellor was 

 brought to the attention of the Legislature of 

 1878 by Governor Carroll, who remarked that 

 twenty-five years ago the almshouses and pris- 

 ons of the counties of New York were in a 

 similar condition. Those evils have been re- 

 moved by the active interest of persons in the 

 various counties who have formed volunteer 



