Baltimore is practically the only port of entry in the State. In 1916 the imports of merchandise at this port were val ued at $8,414,193 of dutiable articles and at $30,527,473 of articles free of duty, and in 1917 at $7,958,139 of dutiable articles and at $29,005,646 of articles free of duty. The greatest value of any article imported on the free list was manganese ore ($6,910,396), next came wood pulp ($6,834,157), nitrate of soda ($3,180,545), pig iron (V.192,609), crude min eral oil ($1,887,734), copper ($1,716,672), iron ore ($1,392,559). Molasses came first among dutiable articles, with a value of $2,957,060; corks second, with a value of $923,128. The total value of exports for 1917 was $377,623, 300, compared with $290,312,216 for 1916, an increase of more than 30 per cent. Copper stood first among exports in 1917, with a value of $84,341482, and was followed by iron and steel ($73,790708), wheat ($45,806,823), Indian corn ($22,047,886), flour ($19,532,954), raw cotton ($17,696,807), rye ($15,961,340), oats ($14,407,329), brass ($14,093,614), tobacco ($12,113,11), chemicals ($9,094,384). During 1917, Canadian articles (valued at $12,992, 021) were exported from Baltimore, in transit, the chief articles being wheat ($10,903,879), oats ($893,871) and wheat ,flour ($686,465). The city has an important coastwise trade.
State Finances.— The gross amount of the State's debt is $27,448,880, and after deduct ing productive stocks and the sinking fund, the net debt amounts to $18,655,983. The total assessed value of property in 1916 was $1,182, 456,531, of which the valuation of Baltimore city property amounts to $646,493,644 and that of the counties to $535,962,867. The city pays 54.67 per cent of the direct State taxes. The real estate in the counties is assessed at $422, 292,436. The State tax rate in 1910 is 364 cents on each $100, and the tax is chiefly levied to pay for the public schools and for the State debt. The tax rate in Baltimore city is usu ally in the neighborhood of $2 per $100 of valuation, and the assessment is little below the full value of property. Tax rates in the counties vary from about $0.90 to $1.40, and in the municipalities, from $0.50 to $1.28.
The receipts of the State for the fiscal year ending 30 Sept. 1917, amounted to $11,676,471, and the balance in the treasury at the begin ning of the year was $1,624,095. The disburse ments for the year were $11,450,622, leaving a balance of $1,849,904. To this should be added a balance in funds account of $423,715, and de ducted on account of dedicated funds, $1,633, 200, leaving $640,420 as the balance of general funds. Taxes on gross receipts of corpora tions brought in $1,029,090; on collateral in heritances, $300,254; on insurance companies' licenses, $412,205; on motor-vehicle licenses, $733,858; on liquor licenses, $1,324,015. For
the general government there were expended $499,384; for protection of persons and prop erty, $671,164; for promotion of agriculture, $402,378; for conservation of natural re sources, $156,094; for conservation of health, $132,470; for maintenance of highways, $2,664, 470; for maintenance of hospitals, homes and asylums, $1,448,274; for maintenance of cor rectional institutions, $157,750; for education, $1,907,025, and for interest on the public debt, $1,042,195.
The legislature consists of two houses: a senate of 27 members (one sen ator from each county and from each of four districts into which Baltimore city is divided), and a house of delegates of 101 members (each county sending from two to six delegates, and Baltimore city ranking as four of the largest counties). Regular legislative sessions are held biennially in the even years, beginning on the first Wednesday in January and may not exceed 90 days. Members receive $5 per day during the session. Extra sessions are held at the call of the governor and may not exceed 30 days. There are six representatives of the State in Congress: one from the Eastern Shore, a second from Harford, Baltimore and Carroll counties and a part of Baltimore city, a third and a fourth from districts entirely in the city, a fifth from southern Maryland and a part of Baltimore city and a sixth from western Maryland. The Democratic party usu ally has a majority in the general assembly. Senators are elected for four and delegates for two years. The executive department has at its head the governor, elected in 1919 and at four-year intervals thereafter. He receives a salary of $4,500 a year, the use of an executive mansion and an allowance for expenses. The administration is more unified than in many States, as the goy nor has extensive powers of appointment. His financial control is very great. All bills are submitted to him after passage by the general assembly for approval and veto. For some years he has possessed the power of vetoing separate items of ap propriation bills, and it was even held that this power included that of diminishing the amount of appropriations voted by the legislature. In 1916 the people adopted a constitutional amend ment which has placed an autocratic power of budget making in his hands. He now prepares and submits to the general assembly a pro posed budget of appropriations, which they may diminish, but not increase, from which they may strike out items, but to which they can add none.