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. In 1900 the total value of manufactured goods was $242,552,990, an increase of 41.1% over that of 1890. Of the total given for 1900, $211,076,143 was the value of products under the factory system; and in 1905 the value of factory products was $243,375,996, being 15.3% more than in 1900. The products of greatest value in 1905 were: custom-made men’s clothing; fruits and vegetables and oysters, canned and preserved; iron and steel; foundry and machine-shop products, including stoves and furnaces; flour and grist mill products; tinware, coppersmithing and sheet iron working; fertilizers; slaughtering 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 has been eligible to a seat in either house. A senator must be twenty-five years of age or over, and both senators and delegates must have lived within the state at least three years and in their county or legislative district at least one year immediately preceding their election.
The constitution provides that no bill or joint resolution shall pass either house except by an affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to that house and requires that on the final vote the yeas and nays be recorded.
Justice, &c.—The administration of justice is entrusted to a court of appeals, circuit courts, special courts for the city of Baltimore, orphans’ courts, and justices of the peace. Exclusive of the city of Baltimore, the state is divided into seven judicial circuits, in each of which are elected for a term of fifteen years one chief judge and two associate judges, who at the time of their election must be members of the Maryland bar, between the ages of thirty and seventy, and must have been residents of the state for at least five years. The seven chief judges so elected, together with one elected from the city of Baltimore, constitute the court of appeals, the governor with the advice and consent of the senate designating one of the eight as chief judge of that court. The court has appellate jurisdiction only. The three judges elected in each circuit constitute the circuit court of each of the several counties in such circuit. The courts have both original and appellate jurisdiction and are required to hold at least two sessions to which jurors shall be summoned every year in each county of its circuit, and if only two such terms are held, there must be two other and intermediate terms to which jurors shall not be summoned. Three other judges are elected for four-year terms, in each county and in the city of Baltimore to constitute an orphans’ court. The number of justices of the peace for each county is fixed by local law; they are appointed by the governor, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, for a term of two years.
In the colonial era Maryland had an interesting list of governmental subdivisions—the manor, the hundred, the parish, the county, and the city—but the two last are about all that remain and even these are in considerable measure subject to the special local acts of the General Assembly. In general, each county has from three to seven commissioners—the number is fixed by county laws—elected on a general ticket of each county for a term of from two to six years, entrusted with the charge and control of property owned by the county, empowered to appoint constables, judges of elections, collectors of taxes, trustees of the poor, and road supervisors, to levy taxes, to revise taxable valuations of real property, and open or close public roads.
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. Prior to 1841 a divorce was granted by the legislature only, from then until 1851 it could be granted by either the legislature or the equity courts, since 1851 by the courts only. The grounds for a divorce a mensa et thoro, which may be granted for ever or for a limited time only, are cruelty, excessively vicious conduct, or desertion; for a divorce a vinculo matrimonii the chief grounds are impotence at the time of marriage, adultery or deliberate abandonment for three years. 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. 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.