MARYLAND. 



cies of personal property heretofore excluded from 

 the tax levies. 



We are in favor of a repeal of the laws creating 

 the establishment of the so-called oyster navy. This 

 establishment gives employment to a number of men 

 who are ostensibly engaged in protecting the oyster- 

 beds of the State, but who really fatten on the hard 

 earnings of a poor and worthy class, who have no 

 means of livelihood aside from the catching of oys- 

 ters. 



We also favor a modification of the oyster laws, 

 so far as they apply to citizens of Maryland, because 

 they are oppressive and bear heavily on those who 

 are compelled to pay excessive licenses in order to 

 maintain a superfluous oyster-police force ; and we 

 ask for such further legislation as will protect the 

 oystermen from the unnecessary seizures and harsh 

 treatment. 



We are in favor of a repeal of the inspection laws 

 of the State, and affirm that the Stute tobacco ware- 

 houses have become nurseries for Democratic re- 

 peaters, and the amount annually paid by the grow- 

 er and producer is a tax paid to maintain useless 

 offices, and retards the free exportation of tobacco. 



We are in favor of increased facilities for educating 

 the masses through a uniform system of education. 

 We ask that the school-fund for the several counties 

 shall be increased, so that every child in the State 

 of the proper age shall receive its benefits. 



We believe it is better and cheaper to spend the 

 public money in the erection of scnool-houses, and 

 the employment of competent teachers, than in en- 

 larging our jails and penitentiaries, and in building 

 houses of correction ; and that our next Legislature 

 be recommended to so revise the present laws that 

 the election of school commissioners in the counties 

 be vested in the people. 



We are opposed alike to exorbitant tolls on the 

 Chesapeake & Ohio canal, and to unjust discrim- 

 ination in freights on the Baltimore & Ohio rail- 

 road. We hold that our great works of internal im- 

 provement, whether canal or railroad, were built for 

 the benefit of the people, and that freights and 

 tolls should be so regulated as not to discriminate 

 against local traffic, or for or against special private 

 interests. 



We are in favor of obeying all laws, and of sup- 

 pressing, by force if need be, all lawlessness : that 

 the laws made by the representatives of nil classes 

 ought to be observed by all ; that we hold in equal 

 respect the rights of capital to control its investments 

 and of labor to regulate its compensations by peace- 

 able means, but we deprecate any resort by any 

 class to any mode of violence to subserve its demands, 

 and we declare it to be the privilege of every man to 

 assert his rights only within the bounds of faw. At 

 the same time we remind the voters of Maryland 

 that the Republican party through its protective 

 tariff and other proper legislation has fostered as far 

 as legislation can do so the interests and industries 

 of the laboring classes. 



The Democratic Convention wns held in 

 Baltimore, September 27th. Thomas J. Keat- 

 ing was nominated for Controller, and the fol- 

 lowing platform was adopted : 



The Democratic Conservative party of Maryland, 

 through its delegates in convention assembled, do 

 hereby declare : 



That the platform of principles enunciated by the 

 National Democratic Convention at St. Louis, in 

 1876, is hereby reaffirmed and adopted. 



That we congratulate the Democrats and Conserv- 

 atives in the Forty-fourth Congress upon their suc- 

 cessful efforts in the reduction oTthe annual expen- 

 ditures of the various departments of the Govern- 

 ment 'by more than thirty millions of dollars, and 

 we insist upon the most rigid economy in the con- 

 duct of all our public affairs. 



That it is a cause of congratulation to the country 

 at large, and especially of pride and satisfaction to 

 the Democratic party, that its pacific policy of home- 

 rule and non-intervention in the local affairs of the 

 States has become a cardinal rule of action even in 

 an administration whose title to office is not derived 

 from an election, according to constitutional meth- 

 ods, but exists by the adjudication of a tribunal un- 

 known to the Constitution, but whose award has 

 been acquiesced in by a peace-loving people. 



That the withdrawal from the States of Louisiana 

 and South Carolina of the federal army, which had 

 been a standing menace for years to their citizens, 

 and the recognition of the Democratic Governors of 

 those commonwealths as their lawful executives, 

 merit our approval and shall receive pur support. 



That justice and sound policy forbid the fostering 

 of one branch of industry to the detriment of others, 

 and we demand a revision of our present tariff laws 

 to the end that no more revenue shall be raised than 

 is necessary to defray the expenses of the Govern- 

 ment frugally administered, and for the gradual but 

 certain extinction of the public debt. 



That we protest against the donations or loans of 

 money, lands or bonds, or the pledge of the public 

 credit, by Congress in aid of associations or corpora- 

 tions engaged or purporting to be engaged in public 

 or private enterprises, and we insist that the opposi- 

 tion of the Democratic party to subsidies of all kinds 

 shall be faithfully carried out by the representatives 

 in Congress whose election is due to the support of 

 the party. 



That condemning all lawlessness and supporting 

 the public authorities in the suppression thereof, 

 but acquitting the true workingman of all complicity 

 therein, and sympathizing with those poorly reward- 

 ed for labor, we have no new promises to make, but 

 we affirm the resolutions adopted by our State Con- 

 vention of 1873, in the following words, viz. : " That 

 the wealth of the country is mainly derived from tl.e 

 product of her labor, and every just measure to im- 

 prove the condition and promote the advancement 

 of the laboring classes should receive sympr.tby, and 

 will command our cordial support." 



That we recommend to the next General Assembly 

 of Maryland proper legislation for the encourage- 

 ment of colonization in our own State. Thousands 

 of acres are laying waste in our State, and wise mea- 

 sures would not only enhance the value of pur prop- 

 perty, but give also relief to many who intend to 

 to exchange the workshop for the field, and to secure 

 to themselves homes more in accordance with the 

 changed condition of things in our country. 



The election resulted in the success of the 

 Democratic ticket, 80,710 votes heing cast for 

 Keating, and 60,231 for Porter. The majority 

 of the former, therefore, was 30,479. 



The peace of Maryland was greatly disturbed 

 during the past year by the lawless proceed- 

 ings and riots growing out of the great railroad 

 strike. (See LABOR STEIKES.) 



In December an important decision was ren- 

 dered by the Court of Appeals, holding that s 

 negro was not entitled to be admitted to prac- 

 tice as a lawyer in that court. The applica- 

 tion was made by Charles Taylor, a colored 

 citizen of the State of Maryland. It was op- 

 posed on the ground that the statute of 1876. 

 chapter 264, section 3, limits the privilege (.f 

 admission to the bar to white male citi/ens 

 above the age of twenty-one years. On behalf 

 of the applicant it was argued that the provis- 

 ion of the statute which excludes colored citi- 

 zens from the privilege of admission to the 

 bar is repugnant to the fourteenth amendment 



