Newton Dennison Mereness

“ Since 1870 suffrage has been the right of all male citizens (including negroes) twenty-one years of age or over who shall have lived within the state for one year and within the county or the legislative district of the city of Baltimore in which they may offer to vote for six months immediately preceding an election; persons convicted of larceny or other infamous crime and not since pardoned by the governor, as well as lunatics or those who have been convicted of bribery at a previous election are excepted. ”

“ At the head of the system is a state board and a state superintendent, and under these in each county is a county board which appoints a superintendent for the county and a board of trustees for each school district none of which is to be more than four miles square. The state board is composed of the governor as its president, the state superintendent as its secretary, six other members appointed by the governor for a term of six years, and, as ex-officio members without the right to vote, the principals of the state and other normal schools. ”

“ Climate.—The climate of Maryland in the south-east is influenced by ocean and bay—perhaps also by the sandy soil—while in the west it is influenced by the mountains. The prevailing winds are westerly; but generally north-west in winter in the west section and south-west in summer in the south section. In the south the normal winter is mild, the normal summer rather hot; in the west the normal winter is cold, the normal summer cool. ”

“ In Maryland a wife holds her property as if single except that she can convey real estate only by a joint deed with her husband (this requirement being for the purpose of effecting a release of the husband’s “dower interest”) , neither husband nor wife is liable for the separate debts of the other, and on the death of either the rights of the survivor in the estate of the other are about equal. Wife-beating is made punishable by whipping in gaol, not exceeding forty lashes. ”

“ The first great dispute between proprietor and people after the restoration of 1715 was with regard to the extension of the English statutes to Maryland, the popular branch of the legislature vigorously contending that all such statutes except those expressly excluded extended to the province, and the lord proprietor contending that only those in which the dominions were expressly mentioned were in force there. ”

“ West of Parr’s Ridge in the Piedmont, the principal soils are those the character of which is determined either by decomposed red sandstone or by decomposed limestone. In the east portion of the mountainous region the soil so well adapted to peach culture contains much clay, together with particles of Cambrian sandstone. In Hagerstown Valley are rich red or yellow limestone-clay soils. The Allegheny ridges have only a thin stony soil; but good limestone, sandstone, shale and alluvial soils, occur in the valleys and in some of the plateaus of the extreme west. ”

“ The leading agricultural pursuits are the growing of Indian corn and wheat and the raising of livestock, yet it is in the production of fruits, vegetables and tobacco, that Maryland ranks highest as an agricultural state, and in no other state except South Carolina is so large a per cent. ”

“ A separate school for negro children is to be maintained in every election district in which the population warrants it. The system is maintained by a state tax of 16 cents on each $100 of taxable property.
The higher state educational institutions are two normal schools and one agricultural college. One of the normal schools was opened in Baltimore in 1866, the other at Frostburg in 1904. Both are under the management of the state Board of Education, which appoints the principals and teachers and prescribes the course of study. ”

“ There is no homestead exemption law and exemptions from levy for the satisfaction of debts extend only to $100 worth of property, besides wearing apparel and books and tools used by the debtor in his profession or trade, and to all money payable in the nature of insurance. Employers of workmen in a clay or coal mine, stone quarry, or on a steam or street railway are liable for damage in case of an injury to any of their workmen where such injury is caused by the negligence of the employer or of any servant or employee of the employer. ”

“ As those states finally yielded, the Union was strengthened by reason of a greater equality and consequently less jealousy among the original states, and the United States came into possession of the first territory in which all the states had a common interest and out of which new states were to be created. ”

“ Communications.—Tide-water Maryland is afforded rather unusual facilities of water transportation by the Chesapeake Bay, with its deep channel, numerous deep inlets and navigable tributaries, together with the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which crosses the state of Delaware and connects its waters with those of the Delaware river and bay. ”

“ The chief of the bureau of labour statistics is directed in case of danger of a strike or lockout to seek to mediate between the parties and if unsuccessful in that, then to endeavour to secure their consent to the formation of a board of arbitration. ”

“ A compulsory education law of 1902—to operate, however, only in the city of Baltimore and in Allegany county—requires the attendance for the whole school year of children between the ages of eight and twelve and also of those between the ages of twelve and sixteen who are not employed at home or elsewhere. ”

“ Of the total number of farms about seven times as many are operated by white as by negro farmers, though the number of farms operated by white share tenants outnumber those operated by negro share tenants by only about five to one. ”

“ Most of the product has been of the semi-bituminous variety and of the best quality in the country for the generation of steam. Nearly all the high grade blacksmithing coal mined in the United States comes from Maryland. The deposits were discovered early in the 19th century (probably first in 1804 near the present Frostburg) , but were not exploited until railway transport became available in 1842, and the output was not large until after the close of the Civil War ”

“ Between 1850 and 1900, while the population increased 103.8%, the average number of wage-earners employed in manufacturing establishments increased 258.5%, constituting 5.2% of the total population in 1850 and 9.1% in 1900. ”