and meat-packing; cars and repairs by steam railways; shirts;
cotton goods; malt liquors; and cigars and cigarettes. In the
value of fertilizers manufactured, and in that of oysters canned
and preserved, Maryland was first among the states in 1900 and
second in 1905; in 1900 and in 1905 it was fourth among the states
in the value of men’s clothing. Baltimore is still the great manufacturing
centre, but of the state’s total product the percentage
in value of that manufactured there decreased from 82.5 in 1890
to 66.5 in 1900, and to 62.3 (of the factory product) in 1905. The
largest secondary centres are Cumberland, Hagerstown and Frederick
the total value of whose factory products in 1905 was less than
$10,000,000.
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. As early as 1783 steps were taken to extend these facilities to the navigable waters of the Ohio, chiefly by improving the navigation of the Potomac above Georgetown. By 1820 this project was merged into a movement for a Chesapeake and Ohio canal along the same line. Ground was broken in 1828 and in 1850 the canal was opened to navigation from Georgetown to Cumberland, a distance of 186 m. In 1878 and again in 1889 it was wrecked by a freshet, and since then has been of little service.[1] However, on the same day that ground was broken for this canal, ground was also broken for the Baltimore & Ohio railway, of which 15 m. was built in 1828–1830 and which was one of the first steam railway lines in operation in the United States. Since then railway building has progressed steadily. In Maryland (and including the District of Columbia) there were 259 m. of railway in 1850, 386 m. in 1860, 671 m. in 1870, and 1040 m. in 1880; in 1890, in Maryland alone, the mileage was 1270.04 m., and in 1909 it was 1394.19 m. The more important railway lines are the Baltimore & Ohio, the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington (controlled by the Pennsylvania and a consolidation of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore, and the Baltimore & Potomac), the Western Maryland, the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg (leased by the Western Maryland), the Northern Central, the Maryland electric railways (including what was formerly the Baltimore & Annapolis Short Line), and the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis electric railway. Baltimore is the chief railway centre and its harbour is one of the most important in the country.
Inhabitants.—The population of Maryland in 1880 was 934,943; in 1890, 1,042,390, an increase of 11.5%; in 1900, 1,188,044 (14%); in 1910, 1,295,346 (increase 9%).[2] Of the total population in 1900 there were 952,424 whites, 235,064 negroes, 544 Chinese, 9 Japanese and 3 Indians, the increase in the white population from 1890 to 1900 being 15.2%, while that of the negroes was only 9%. In 1900 there were 1,094,110 native born to 93,934 foreign-born, and of the foreign-born 44,990 were natives of Germany and 68,600 were residents of the city of Baltimore. The urban population, i.e. total population of cities of 4000 or more inhabitants, in 1900, was 572,795, or 48.2% of the total and an increase of 16.6% over that of 1890; while the rural population, i.e. population outside of incorporated places, was 539,685, an increase of about 8% over that of 1890. There are about 59 religious sects, of which the members of the Roman Catholic Church, which was prominent in the early history of Maryland, are far the most numerous, having in 1906 166,941 members out of 473,257 communicants of all denominations; in the same year there were 137,156 Methodists, 34,965 Protestant Episcopalians, 32,246 Lutherans, 30,928 Baptists, 17,895 Presbyterians and 13,442 members of the Reformed Church in the United States. The chief cities are Baltimore, pop. (1910) 558,485, Cumberland 21,839, Hagerstown 16,507, Frederick 10,411 and Annapolis 8609.
Government.—The state constitution of 1867, the one now in force, has been frequently amended, all that is required for its amendment being a three-fifths vote of all of the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly, followed by a majority vote of the state electorate, and it is further provided that once in twenty years, beginning with 1887, the wish of the people in regard to calling a convention for altering the constitution shall be ascertained by a poll. Any constitution or constitutional amendment proposed by such constitutional convention comes into effect only if approved by a majority of the votes cast in a popular election. 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. In 1908 the General Assembly passed a law providing for annual direct primary elections (outside of Baltimore; and making the Baltimore special primary law applicable to state as well as city officials), but, as regards state officers, making only a slight improvement upon previous conditions inasmuch as the county or district is the unit and the vote of county or district merely “instructs” delegates to the party’s state nominating convention, representation in which is not strictly in proportion to population, the rural counties having an advantage over Baltimore; no nomination petition is required. In the same year a separate law was passed providing for primary elections for the choice of United States senators; but here also the method is not that of nomination by a plurality throughout the state, but by the vote of counties and legislative districts, so that this measure, like the other primary law, is not sufficiently direct to give Baltimore a vote proportional to its population.
The chief executive authority is vested in a governor elected by popular vote for a term of four years. Since becoming a state Maryland has had no lieutenant-governor except under the constitution of 1864; and the office of governor is to be filled in case of a vacancy by such person as the General Assembly may elect.[3] Any citizen of Maryland may be elected to the office who is thirty years of age or over, who has been for ten years a citizen of the state, who has lived in the state for five years immediately preceding election, and who is at the time of his election a qualified voter therein. Until 1838 the governor had a rather large appointing power, but since that date most of the more important offices have been filled by popular election. He, however, still appoints, subject to the confirmation of the senate, the secretary of state, the superintendent of public education, the commissioner of the land office, the adjutant-general, justices of the peace, notaries public, the members of numerous administrative boards, and other administrative officers. He is himself one of the board of education, of the board of public works, and of the board for the management of the house of correction. No veto power whatever was given to the governor until 1867, when, in the present constitution, it was provided that no bill vetoed by him should become a law unless passed over his veto by a three-fifths vote of the members elected to each house, and an amendment of 1890 (ratified by the people in 1891) further provides that any item of a money bill may likewise be separately vetoed. The governor’s salary is fixed by the constitution at $4500 a year. Other executive officers are a treasurer, elected by joint ballot of the General Assembly for a term of two years, a comptroller elected by popular vote for a similar term, and an attorney-general elected by popular vote for four years.
The legislature, or General Assembly, meets biennially in even-numbered years, at Annapolis, and consists of a Senate and a House of Delegates. Senators are elected, one from each of the twenty-three counties and one from each of the four legislative districts of the city of Baltimore, for a term of four years, the terms of one-half expiring every two years. Delegates are elected for a term of two years, from each county and from each legislative district of Baltimore, according to population, as follows: for a population of 18,000 or less, two delegates; 18,000 to 28,000, three; 28,000 to 40,000, four; 40,000 to 55,000, five; 55,000 and upwards, six. Each legislative district of Baltimore is entitled to the number of delegates to which the largest county shall or may be entitled under the foregoing apportionment, and the General Assembly may from time to time alter the boundaries of Baltimore city districts in order to equalize their population. This system of apportionment gives to the rural counties a considerable political advantage over the city of Baltimore, which, with 42.8% of the total population according to the census of 1900, has only 4 out of 27 members of the Senate and only 24 out of 101 members of the House of Delegates. Since far back in the colonial era, no minister, preacher, or priest
- ↑ Maryland and Delaware together began the construction of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal (1312 m. long) across the north part of the state of Delaware, between the Delaware river and Chesapeake Bay; this canal received Federal aid in 1828, was completed in 1829, and in 1907 was chosen as the most practicable route for a proposed ship waterway between the Chesapeake and the Delaware.
- ↑ The population at previous censuses was as follows: 319,728 in 1790; 341,548 in 1800; 380,546 in 1810; 407,350 in 1820; 447,040 in 1830; 470,019 in 1840; 583,034 in 1850; 687,049 in 1860; and 780,894 in 1870.
- ↑ The General Assembly regularly elected the governor during the period 1776–1838.
