Maryland State Archives

2001/5/16
I went to the Archives today. I went through several correspndence files but it was not very fruitful. I re-examined a couple of Annual Reports which I was unable to access on-line and also looked at microfilm copies of the Evening Capital an Annapolis newspaper. I spent four hours at the Archives.

2001/5/14
Looking at the insitutional history and looking for info to add. I'm looking at the Annual Reports AGAIN! I want to look at the budget of the Comptroller's office 1915-25. Time spent so far today, 2.5 hours.
2001/5/2
Took another look at the Annual Reports and my notes. Worked on putting notes into a narrative. Also looked at some secondary sources again - Brugger; Fox and Wright; and the Old Line State I also found a web site for Blair House which I linked to my biography of Lee. Total time, approximately 7 hours.
2001/4/18
I went back to the Maryland Room in order to finish the interview with E. Brooke Lee. In the last part of the interview, Lee described becoming Secretary of State and and going into the HOuse of Delegates. This took approximately 3 hours. 2001/4/13
I spent just over 3 hours in the Maryland Room. Through a web search I discovered a small collection of the Lee Family Papers at the Maryland Room. This collection includes a very extensive interview with Lee for the Oral History Project of the Montgomery County Historical Society. It has a wealth of information. I wasn't able to finish it all (the room closed - I had no idea I'd luck out) - I'll have to go back. I think I did read the best stuff for my purposes though. Among other things, I discovered that Lee did not really want to be Comptroller - he was sort of drafted into the position.

2001/4/12

I spent about 2 1/2 hours at the Marylandia Room. I looked at the Annual Reports from 1915-1925. The Annual Report for 1920 contains no commentary by the Comptroller. This was a disappointment since it is one of the two years in which my guy was in the office. I'm not sure why there's no commentary - my guess is since it has something to do with his first year - the same thing occurs with the Annual report for FY ended 1922 which was Gordy's first year.
I also tried to look at the Montgomery County Sentinel again but Maryland doesn't carry it for the years I need. I tried looking at the Microfilm at the state archives but it is out of focus.
2001/3/28

Review of PHRC

1. Describe your overall impressions of the Public History Resource Center web site?

   I think this would be extremely helpful for the individual considering a career in public history. The list of educational programs offering public history is one example of a feature that would prove practical and helpful, I think. In general, I found it to be a good pointer, or gateway, to information.

   I found the home page difficult to read. Visually, I think the home page is too crowded. An example of a way to make it easier to read, the section where they delineate the contents of the page could be in a list.

2. Which components of the web site are strongest or most effective?

   As I mentioned above, I like the practical information offered and itt's a good pointer to more comprehensive , detailed information.

3. Which components of the web site are weakest or least effective?

   I think the home page is ineffective - I found the site map a lot more useful. By using the site map, I was able to navigate and could see what was available and exactly how to get to it.

   Also, a number of links do not work.

   I think more museums need to be included, there is mention/link to only 3 art and 2 history museums.

4. What can you suggest that would help improve these areas?

   As for crowding on home page, I would take the bit of text towards the top, to the right of the image and widen the space between each line. Also, making a list of the lines where the sections of the site are delineated would help.

   More frequent updates - links change all the time.

5. Are there any publications, web sites, schools, firms, etc. that we have not included in the web site and that you think would add to the site?

   Yes. For books on pubic history there are many. Some good ones to add would be:

   • Dubin, Steven, Displays of Power: Memory and Amnesia in the American Museum.
   • Wallace, Mike (no not the "60 Minutes" guy), Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory
     
   • Kammen, Michael, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition on American Culture.
   • Henderson, Amy and Kaeppler, Adrienne (eds), Exhibiting Dilemmas: Issues of Representation at the Smithsonian.
   • All the many books out there on material culture which is a BIG component of public history.

6. The "How to Practice Public History" and "Views from the Field" are new sections. Do you have any thoughts about the future direction of these sections or suggestions for content?

   Since they're new features, they should be featured more prominently on the home page. In fact, I don't see how to get to "How to Practice Public History" from the home page other than through the map at top. It's kind of buried in the site - it should be emphasized.

   2001/3/28
   I looked at Maryland, A Middle Temperment. I found the chronology in the back to be helpful - I'm a big fan of chronologies. Also, it had a lot of good background information on the state of Maryland during my era. 2001/3/21
   I spent about two hours at McKeldin reading microfilm of the Baltimore Sun. This was moderately productive. I worked my way through 1919 and 1920.

   2001/3/8
   At the archives again. I'm adding some information to the information from 3/6.

   Also spent some time re-reading sections of Wilner pertinent to my era. 2001/3/6
   I spent some time at the archives today. I looked at a couple of newspaper items and the biography compiled by the archives 2001/02/01
   Hi everyone. I would like to select E. Brooke Lee as my comptroller to cover. He was Comptroller from 1920 to 1922. I picked him for a couple of reasons. One, I study 20th century history so I thought it might make sense to pick someone from the 20th century and 2. he's the first comptroller in what Wilner labeled the Modern Board. I did a quick web search and found that UMD has Lee Family Papers so perhaps that will be helpful.

   Wilner, A.M., The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History. (Hall of Records Commission, Department of General Services:Annapolis, MD), 1984.

   In, The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History, Alan Wilner traced the development of the Maryland Board of Public Works since its beginning in 1825 through 1983. The Maryland Board of Public Works is part of the executive branch of Maryland’s state government and is comprised of the governor, the comptroller, and the treasurer. According to Wilner, the growth and development of the Board is, “intertwined with the political, economic and fiscal history of the state.” (ix) As the state expanded so did the responsibilities of the Board.

   The book is organized in a logical and clear order. Appendices include a list of commissioners and members of the board, and a guide to the records of the board (1851-1983). The history of the board is presented chronologically. Each chapter presents an era where the responsibilities, nature and character of the board changed. In each chapter, Wilner examined the type of issues with which the Board concerned itself and the composition of the Board itself. He illustrated the workings and evolution of the Board in each era by examples. For example, his discussion of the Board’s experience in the granting of state contracts to minority owned businesses in the 1970s demonstrate a new area of responsibility for the Board. Wilner’s presentation clearly outlines how the Board of Public Works changed from its inception in 1825 to 1983. He effectively demonstrated how the development and evolution of the Board was affected by the state’s political, fiscal and economic history.

   First Wilner looked at the early policies up to 1825. By 1825, the state’s involvement in corporations of internal improvement led to the creation of the Board of Pubic Works. One of the factors that figured into the creation of the Board was the General Assembly’s desire for the state to discover new ways of encouraging, increasingly through state funds, an increase in the “works of internal improvement”. Such works included a network of roads, canals, and river improvements designed to open efficient trade routes to the West. (1) Additionally, the General Assembly wanted to continue operating the state without funds provided by direct taxation. Funds were to be raised through state investments in internal improvement companies. In 1828, the General Assembly dismantled the Board and, “proceeded to open the state’s pocketbook to the demands of the voracious entities it had created.” (18) By 1841, state finances were in a state necessitating a property tax. This tax did not cover the costs associated with the state involvement in the internal improvement companies so in 1846 a Stamp Tax was introduced to help deal with the situation.

   At the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, a new state constitution was adopted. This ushered in an era where the state’s public works were overseen by a committee of commissioners representing four regions of Maryland. Wilner labeled 1857-1864, “The Reign of the Commissioners.” The Board during this era served two roles. One was to see that the internal improvement companies “operated efficiently in order to maximize the return to the state on its invested capital,” and two was to, “use all legal means to adjust tolls to promote the agriculture of the state”. (41)

   Another Constitutional Convention convened in 1864. This convention resulted in the first constitutionally created Board of Public Works. The Board of Public Works was to be comprised of the Governor, Treasurer, and the Comptroller. The duties of this Board did not differ from that of the Board during the “reign of the commissioners”. Wilner illustrated how, until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the Board mainly concerned itself with the internal improvement of the state. Most of its time was spent on issues dealing with the management of Maryland’s railroad and canal systems. The Board’s involvement with these internal improvements amounted to the appointment of directors to companies (i.e. the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company) dealing with internal improvement. With industrialization the state faced new demands as its citizens looked to the state for more services including education and pubic safety. “It was not long before the General Assembly looked to this unique body (the Board of Public Works) to superintend the provision of these new services and the raising of capital necessary to put them into place.” (62) Wilner described some of the changes to the Board brought about by its new responsibilities. For example, 1878 witnessed the creation of two new offices: the office of the Tax Commissioner, and the office of the Insurance Commissioner. Adding to its responsibility, the Board was charged with the responsibility to superintend the issuance, management and redemption of public debt. Wilner labeled the era 1920-60 as, “The Modern Board”. The legislature’s view of what “public works” encompassed widened during these years. New Deal programs to deal with the Depression introduced an era where government programs touched the lives of most Americans on an unprecedented level. With the government playing an increased and active role in public and private life, the responsibilities of the Board of Public Works increased. According to Wilner, by the end of the 1930s, the Board of Public Works emerged as one of the most powerful units of state government. He also pointed out that, as the definition of “public works” and the areas of responsibility of the Board of Public Works expanded, its staff did not. This leads into the Board’s final era covered in this work, “The Overburdened Board”.

   The “Overburdened Board” covered the years 1960-83. According to Wilner, the legislature increased the responsibilities of the Board. “The last two decades have seen the board of Public Works become, in truth, a microcosm of state government itself. Its expanded role has mirrored the expanded role of the larger entity.” (103) Concerns stemming from Affirmative Action concerns complicated the running of the Board during these years. Wilner discussed how a number of consultants and groups called for a retraction in the duties and areas of responsibilities of the Board. Despite these calls the legislature continued to increase the responsibilities of the Board.

   This books is useful for anyone who desires to learn more about the history, development, and responsibilities of the Maryland Board of Public Works. I must admit that, before reading this book, I had only vague notion of what a Comptroller is and what constitute public works. All I knew was that the Comptroller normally deals with issues regarding taxes and money. After reading this I have a better idea of what is done by the Board of Public Works and the development of this entity in the state of Maryland. It is clearly written and logically laid out and provides us with a good foundation for the writing of the public history of the comptroller’s office. According to Wilner, the Board of Public Works in Maryland is unlike public works groups in other states. Unfortunately, I really have very little basis for comparison. As stated, my knowledge on public works and/or comptrollers in general is rather vague. I would have found brief coverage of the differences between Maryland’s Board and the boards’ of other states helpful. Nevertheless I think this book prove useful in our mission for this course. A glimpse into the historical development of this Board will, no doubt, prove vital in the writing of the public history of the Comptroller’s office.
   

2001/04/15

2001/03/29

I was having enormous trouble with my aol connection over the past week and a half so I hope this is readable.

My impressions of publichistory.org

Overall, a very useful introductory source to public history. The most important aspect of the website was the working definition of "public history". The website includes important information for those interested in public history--once its defined, there is evolution chronology of public history, institutions offering courses and degrees in it and then jobs in the field. The website also offers a valuable service by providing links to online resources as well as evaluating some of the ever-growing crop of public history websites.

What are some of the most effective parts of the site?

What I found particulary useful was,not only the working definition of public history, but the "reports from the field." The reports from professional public historians showed the different arenas that are in need of public historians as well as how each business/location uses public history. This part of the site takes public history outside its purely academic (institutional) context and shows how it is a burgeoning field.

Which components of the website are the weakest or least effective?

Although as a whole, I think the website is well-designed, I don't believe it is very reader friendly. For example, in the homepage, a bullet style format showing all the links would not only an easier read, but also easier for returning users to link directly to what they are looking for without having to read the script. The new and newsworthy section uses this type of bullet-style format which I believe is much more effective in increasing interest and traffic to the website and its various links. Additionally, I would take another look at the color scheme, particulary in the lower part of the webpage where the site is separated into the 3 distinct parts (general info, public history, publications). While blue on black looks dramatic and nice, I think its too hard to read. Also, while the pictures are visually nice, I don't really understand its connection to the specific page (ie. the picture on the syllabi page).

2001/03/25

2001/03/19 Spent 2 hours at the archives searching through the gov files. nothing found.

2001/03/15 Got all news articles by the baltimore news american on gordy. sifting through them now.

Spent some time searching through the Maryland Room. They have a photograph collection of the Baltimore News American and I found multiple pictures of Gordy--his kickoff campaign for Governor, a few more pictures of him, as well as a picture of Mrs. Gordy. The staff at the Maryland Room was very helpful. They are going to go through their archives to see if they have any newspaper clippings regarding Gordy.

2001/02/28

Research is coming along much faster now, after hitting some dead ends within the Maryland library system. So far, have found more information on Gordy as a public figure, as well as his picture. The Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post both had obits, but the Washington Star did not.

2001/2/11

I'd like to research Comptroller William S. Gordy, Jr. I'd like to focus on him because he was Comptroller during the mid 1920s to late 30s. I particulary find this time fascinating because of the economic/political ramifications stemming from the Progressives of the 20s to the Depression of the 1930s and the government's reaction to social policy and the Board's crucial role in that.

Review of Wilner

Wilner, Alan M. The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History. (Hall of Records Commission: Annapolis, MD) Wilner 1984.

The Maryland Board of Public Works, in all its many forms, has been for the most part a mysterious and not so well known aspect of the mechanism of daily state government. Yet, in The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History author Alan M. Wilner takes on the awesome responsibility of not only explaining the current Board and all of its responsibilities, but also the evolution of the Board, one that is intertwined with the social and political history of the state itself.

Wilner understands the complexity of his undertaking; one that he hopes will provide a “complete and definitive history of the board” (ix). His main method presents the story of the board within a grand narrative of the political history of Maryland. Wilner also manages to present the history in an interesting fashion, using documentation of specific transactions within the earlier years of the board and using more general interpretations for the modern board. This presentation lends itself to a much smoother read for the audience, one where the progression of the board’s responsibilities is seen as a natural evolution within the state’s political and social history.

Wilner introduces the state’s first board and the political climate surrounding its creation in the early-19th century. This board, a mere glimmer of what it will become in modern days, was in more ways a venture capital firm, where its role was to seek out new opportunities the state could finance to not only enhance the infrastructure within the state, but could also supplement the state’s coffers. Wilner investigates this early board; one developed in an era of what he refers to as a “mania for eternal improvements.” Through Assembly records, Wilner re-creates the configuration, actions and deliberations of not only the board, but also of the changes undergoing within the state dealing with transportation, regional interests, political interests, economic expansion and tax law.

Wilner’s treatment of the board continues in similar fashion as he explains the board’s re-emergence, as it were, in the State’s newly configured Constitution enacted in 1851. Under this new Constitution, elected members took their positions in the Commissioners of Public Works. The Commissioners were to represent state interests’ in public works. To achieve that end, the now elected Commissioners represented the 4 sections of the state and were elected in staggered terms. The Commissioners would not last for very long however, as a national and state crisis forced legislators to once again reconsider the State’s Constitution. The Constitutional Convention of 1864 created a new Board of Public Works, one that, unlike its predecessors, would be more interested in divesting the state of its sponsorship of various companies and investments. This new Board would consist of 3 members—the Governor, the Treasurer and the Comptroller. This new board would also be responsible for the “public works” delegated to it by the General Assembly. The very general nature of the term “public works” would mean that this board would increasingly take on more responsibility as the state’s needs and commitments to the public expanded. The economic crisis of the 1930s further expanded the role of government’s involvement in social programs and, in turn, further expanded the role of the Board. While the necessity of its existence may have come into question briefly in 1921 under the Griffenhagen report, the Board nonetheless marched forward as the state and nation were forced to deal with extraordinary events such as the Depression, the War, the Post War Boom, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Throughout the work, Wilner documents the actions and possible motivation of the Board and the General Assembly with meticulous detail. When it is possible and prudent, Wilner looks at how individual personalities affected the work of the Board and how that may have, in turn, affected the political landscape of the state. The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History is truly a valuable work. It goes a long way to explain and historicize the work of a very crucial and unique organization within the Maryland State Government.

Ratified in the 18th century, the new American Constitution would be embraced in the 19th century. For as George Washington’s Farewell Address was to mark the unselfish role of anti-partyism and "deference" as a republican virtue, the Age of Jackson with its pro-active suffrage and partisan voting was to mark the age of a new culture of liberal reform, social egalitarianism and modern democracy. Raised in an environment where daughters of the revolution were to instruct their sons in the “principles of patriotism”, William Pinkney was tutored by R. M. McNally, who had been Napoleon Bonaparte’s private secretary. At age 18 he was employed by Peabody, Riggs and Co. as a clerk, and by age 20, he was working for the law offices of Brown and Brune in Baltimore where he stayed for a year before entering Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar when he returned two years later to study under Judge John Glenn, former director of the collapsed Bank of Maryland

In 1847, barely 23 years old and newly married to Louisa D. Hollingsworth, daughter of a well known Baltimore merchant, William Pinkney Whyte was elected as a Democrat to a seat in the House of Delegates from Baltimore City where he served for one term before returning to his law practice in 1851. There, his hopes for a dignified private life as a lawyer were notto be realized.

The Democratic Party nominated him for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which was only narrowly lost. In 1853 they nominated him as their candidate for Comptroller of the Treasury, and he won the election.

The 1850s found Maryland amid a transition from agriculture to manufacture; from slave to free, from southern charm to northern determinism. Mineral wealth and resources from the West were needed for industry on the Atlantic seaboard, and huge investments in internal improvements were made by the State to connect the state by canal, road and rail. Some of the richest deposits of bituminous coal lay between the Pennsylvania boarder and the Potomac's north branch, an area twenty-five miles deep by five miles wide. As soon as the General Assembly chartered the B&O and the C&O, corporate management organized itself to mine Maryland coal.

In October 1850 the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal reached Cumberland. By 1852, rails linked the Chesapeake Bay and Ohio River with the help of financing by George Peabody, a New Englander with London banking ties. Financing also came from Johns Hopkins, a Quaker merchant with interest in developing the B&O. Other railroads followed to cross the state.

Because of its industrial labor market,however, Baltimore was attracting immigrants from free-states and northern states alike, but mostly from Europe. By 1850, the city reached a population of 170,000. It would shape the politics of Maryland.

The nation was changing from a rural community to one in which more than half of all Americans lived in cities. Millions of immigrants were flooding into America searching for opportunities and freedom such that modern historians are yet to analyze the full metamorphosis that occurred in the cities of the 19th century. For one historian, A. Jacobson, the overarching struggle of the era was the ongoing struggle between America’s dynamic industrial capitalism and the needs of the nation’s republican institutions: American industry needed markets for its output, raw materials to keep its engines running, and cheap labor to man those engines. Further, intellectuals, statesmen, and many in the public at large also believed that their country’s democracy - its republican “virtues” (espoused by George Washington) needed protection from foreign immigrants, or “barbarians”. In Baltimore, it was this polarity of interests that caused tension.

Far from a city of “barbarians”, Baltimore was populated predominantly by hard working Irish immigrants who filled the ranks of the industrial workforce. They constituted the popular majority who supported the Democratic party and the tenets of egalitarianism . William Pinkney Whyte’s paternal grandfather, Dr. John Campbell White, had come to America as a physician in 1798 following the Irish rebellion in which he had taken part.

Also in Baltimore was a large population of Germans who contributed largely to the scientific and "objective imperative" of mechanization and specialization that would reform conventional moral disciplines. New disciplines and enlightened educational institutions were created like Johns Hopkins, Clark, and Chicago.

Baltimore city was also home to a population of nearly seven thousand Jews who had settled there by mid-century, amongst them leading bankers like the Cohens who added to the economic health of the community. The city was vibrant with merchants and clothiers like Ettings, Friedenwalds, Hutzlers, Hamburgers, Levys, and Sonneborns.

Absent from the politics of Maryland during the administration of a scandalous Governor Philip Thomas, William Pinkney Whyte would step into his role as Comptroller during the Administration of Governor Enoch Louis Lowe (1850-1853) whose two predecessors, Governors Pratt, and Thomas (Francis, cousin of former Phillip Thomas) had attempted to retire the State’s debt and institute reform that produced the newly ratified state constitution. Maryland was in need of modernization.

Social reform pervaded the city as it would the nation, and many new measures were approved by an electoral majority in Maryland. One change came by appeal to the General Assembly for the “obliteration of ancient barbarism - imprisonment for debt” and funds for the mentally ill.

During his terms of office as Comptroller, (1853 to 1855) William Pinkney Whyte implemented a system quoted in the General Assembly as

“One of admirable character, and that the details of the office have been so simplified that mistakes or confusion hereafter in the official business of the Comptroller’s office is almost impossible. The careful arrangement of the official vouchers and the uniform precision in all the details of the office evince not only the wisdom of the Constitution in providing the safeguard to the Treasury, but also show the successful manner in which the objects of the Constitution and the several acts of Assembly referring to the department have been observed by Mr. Whyte, the late incumbent.”

By the end of his term of office in 1855, William Pinkney Whyte did not seek re-election. Two years later, the Democratic Party again nominated him for Congress. He was defeated and protested the corruption of an election system clearly out of control, but the U.S. House of Representatives refused to concur with a report submitted by the Committee on Elections recommending that he be seated. His protest however, would help reform future elections. By 1857, Whyte retired from public life, and for good reason. In 1858, civil law and order was so threatened by mob protest that prominent Baltimore business and professional men including clerks and skilled workers formed a City Reform Association led by slavery opponent George William Brown.

The Governor of Maryland was a democrat, Thomas Watkins Ligion: He attempted to reform elections. In the General Assembly, he faced a coalition of Whigs and American Party men, rooted in habits of the past.

Since the 1830s, private groups of elite planters and traditionalists, whose agricultural economies had sustained the state for a century and a half, met to discuss the threat to old ways that accompanied the influx of immigrants. Confused, mistaken by change and an impending civil war, they asked themselves what had happened to the former influence of the native born. Secretive about their meetings at their lodges, these nativists answered all questions with “I know nothing”: As in the nation, Maryland would have internal conflicts of interest.

The “know Nothings” were a product of a fast moving industrialized world in which the telegraph changed the contours of time and space. In Baltimore, the new faces of immigrants, race and religion displaced their security, if not subvert their moral and religious impulse into reform impulse such as abolitionism and temperance which was entered wholesale into the political theater. Such political expressions of egalitarianism threatened deferential republicanism, many of who came from rural regions where their economic and social stability was still slave and labor intensive. The Whigs and Know-Nothings merged to become the American Party, and often included in their ranks, the elite industrialists of the north.

Indeed partisanship seemed essential to man’s identity, as it did for W Pinkney Whyte. But in these times of chaos, "participatory democracy" spilled from the parlors to saloon brawls and street riots, such that politics tarnished the social respectability of patriotic civic participation, and many good men withdrew from the republican political process, including William Pinkney Whyte, who devoted the Civil War years to his law practice and his family.

As Union troops made their way through Baltimore amid street rioting and uncertainty, Maryland entered the civil war divided and with much acrimony.

After the war, Maryland was faced with a Reconstruction program reserved for secessionist states. Disenfranchised, divided and developing haltingly for a modern world, it elected a Democratic “machinery” that produced leaders like Gorman, and Raisin whose brand of "lodge democracy" played a central role in party organization. During these years William Pinkney Whyte remained out of politics, wondering perhaps as he witnessed the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus; the doing and undoing of state constitutions and mob riots of one-party rule, if the new republic would survive.

In 1868 William Pinkney Whyte nominated Horatio Seymour for President as delegate to the Democratic National Convention. On July 14th, upon the invitation by Governor Swan, Whyte was sworn in to complete the term of office in the United States Senate vacated by Reverdy Johnson who resigned for an appointment as Minister to the Court of St. James.. He made left his mark in the highly contentious Congress in December when President Andrew Johnson sent his annual message to Congress to be read. The civil war was over, but the wounds were still raw. Congress, differing from the President over Reconstruction issues, and following an unsuccessful attempt by Radicals to impeach him, made a motion to dispense with further reading of the President's address. As biographer Frank F. White, Jr. describes

"Whyte rose to defend Johnson, calmly and fearlessly pointing out to his colleagues that the President of the United States was doing his constitutional duty and that Congress had no other alternative except to listen to him. Johnson's detractor withdrew his motion so that his message was read without further incident."

. By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Maryland was being overtaken by industrial growth, labor reorganization, professional development and consumerism. The pressure for reform was inevitable.

In 1871 The Democrats nominated him for Governor, and he won the election by 15,000 votes. He was sworn inaugurated on January 10, 1872 and served for slightly more than two years.

Governor Whyte was evidently the first Governor to enjoy the newly built mansion since the old had been sold to the Naval Academy. During his tenure as Governor, the Board of Public Works, reorganized under a Constitutional Convention three years previously in which a standing Committee on Public Works was created to handle all affairs of internal improvements, began to receive offers for the exchange of state bonds for B & O preferred stock. According to biographer Alan Wilbur, "These offers to exchange bonds for railroad stock continued sporadically into 1876, and sizable amount of preferred stock of the B & O was sold in this manner - most of it to Robert Garrett and Company. Minutes of meetings show exchanges amounting to over $430,000 being approved in May 1971 alone. Shortly thereafter, the County of Allegheny was redistricted to become Garrett County. The board also appointed railroad and canal directors. His administration is noted for comments that he made about agriculture to be in "competition with the agriculturists of the West, and…. to turn our lands to other and more remunerative culture".

The South's postwar economic transformation profoundly affected the course of Reconstruction politics and its ultimate collapse, for as the "Black Code's illustrated, state governments could play a critical role in defining property rights and restricting the bargaining power of planters and laborers. However, Whyte supported the Colored Normal School for the education of freemen even though the state differed with the Federal government over black suffrage. Further, he conceived of a Board of Immigration. And established the State Board of Health and a House of Correction. His term however, was the last of an era of state autonomy, for in the Civil Rights Law of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment, the federal government had established a national principle of equality before the law, investing itself with the authority to enforce the civil rights of citizens against violations by their states.

In Baltimore, where industrialization, characterized by modern historians as the defense of the family and community against the force of industrial growth, was causing massive dislocations, frequent depressions and widespread unemployment, as it was nationwide. These conditions were experienced by diverse, often "antagonistic groups with unequal capacities for shaping public choices."

The continuous theater of politics allowed men to vote as a method of engaging in this conflict between public and private values with reform movements, torchlight parades, party politics, and crusades. Labor unrest was manifested in class conflicts, ethnicity and religion. Industrial production absorbed laborers - and produced consumers - who now became enfranchised with public interests as individuals, separate from traditional ties, producing the Gilded Age suffragists. Moreover, the character of forming "organizations" ultimately produced a centralized national economy. As overseas markets developed, Maryland became a leading industrial state, especially in shipbuilding.

The Legislature of 1874, according to Elihu Riley in his History of the General Assembly of Maryland, elected William Pinkney Whyte to the be United States Senator from Maryland, "restoring Maryland.to the dignity it once held." His term began in 1875, but before taking his seat, he would successfully defend the State's claim to a boundary dispute with Virginia as counsel to the Commission to resolve a boundary dispute.

William Pinkney Whyte served for six years in the Senate of the United States Congress: 1875 to 1881. Whyte early took the position to speak on the stability of the currency. (Footnote here the online reference made for Number 5 Re the Ohio Patent dispute).

Whyte opposed the creation of the Electoral Commission of 1876. The following year, he served as a member of the commission which prepared the bill under which the District of Columbia would be governed for nearly one hundred years. Remarkably, Whyte opposed the "Roach Subsidy Scheme" in 1879 which would have subsidized shipbuilders with government funds. Whyte objected to the proposal on constitutional and economic grounds and protested against the inequity of the entire subsidy principle.

Whyte did not seek reelection in 1880. His wife became ill, and his disagreements with Maryland's other Senator Arthur Pue Gorman was patent. The following year, he was voted Mayor of the City of Baltimore without opposition. He served two terms and retired in 1883 to return to his law practice, during which time his wife Louisa died. In 1887 the Democratic State Convention nominated him for the position of Attorney General which he won over a Republican candidate by 10,000 votes. He held the office until 1891, arguing new points of criminal law that reflected a half a century of changes in American society.

In 1892 he remarried Mary McDonald Thomas, and in 1898 Baltimore Mayor William T. Malster appointed Whyte to be a member of the commission to revise the City's Charter. At the turn of the century, he was named City Solicitor, a post he held for three years during which time he guided Baltimore through the steps by which it would dispose of its interest in the Western Maryland Railroad.

He thought he could retire from public life in 1903, but when Pue Gorman died in June 1906, Governor Warfield appointed Whyte to fill the vacancy in the Senate of the United States Congress left by Gorman.

When the Democratic State convention met in 1907 to adopt the primary system of conduction election, Whyte was enlisted. Thus until his death in 1908, William Pinkney Whyte, grandson to one the first Vice Presidents of America, served in politics less to promote special interests as to develop constitutional frameworks and stable foundations.

According to regional and national newspapers, William Pinkney Whyte was known as "Maryland's Grand Old Man", and was regarded with deep personal affection in the State, and was remembered nationally as sympathetic with the South, having served honorably in public office for sixty-two years. He was buried in the Emmanuel Protestant Episcopal Church.

Bibliography 1 Glen C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin Rude Republic: Americans and their politics in the Nineteenth Century, Princeton University Press, 2000. (P16). 2 See Also Richard P. McCormick, The Second Party System: Party Formation in the Jacksonian Era (Chapel Hill, N.C. 1966); and William E. Gienapp, “Politics Seem to Enter into Everything: Political Culture in the North, 1840-1860” in Stephen E. Maizlish and John J. Kushma, eds., Essays on American Antebellum Politics, 1840-1860, (College Station, Tex., 1982); and, Gienapp, The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (New York, 1987). See also, Jean H. Baker, Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Ithaca, N.Y., 1983) 3 Mary Beth Norton, Liberty’s Daughters, Cornell University Press, 1980. (p287) 4 See Frank F. White, Jr., The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970 (Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission, 1970), 179-183. 5 Robert J. Brugger, Maryland: A Middle Temperament 1634-1980, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988 (p230) 6 historians like Michael L. Krenn, Alan Trachtenberg, Robert Wiebe, Richard Hofstadter, Walter LaFeber, Gabriel Kolko 7 Review by Michael L. Krenn of Matthew Frye Jacobson, Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and abroad. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000. 8 9 Peter Novick, That Noble Dream, Cambridge University Press, 1988. 10 James H. Fitzgerald Brewer, “Democracy to Mobocracy, 1835-1860” The Old Line State: A History of Maryland, Hall o f Records Commission State of Maryland, 1971.(p71) 11 Ibid., p (73) 12 Insert reference from website, next online… 13 Insert newspaper accounts that apply… 14 Altschusler and Blumin…(p9) 15 Frank F. White, Jr., The governors of Maryland 1777--1977 (Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission, 1970), 179-183 16 Alan M. Wilner, The Maryland Board of Public Works, Hall of Records Commission, Department of General Services, Annapolis, Md. 1984, (p62) 17 In that a comprehensive struggle over the shaping of a new labor system followed the civil war for economic survival in the south, new labor rules were set up to resume production : President Jackson in 1865 established a comprehensive system of vagrancy laws, criminal penalties for breach of contract and other measures known as the "Black Codes" 18 Eric Foner, "Slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction" The New American History, Temple University Press, Philadelphia 1997 (p100) 19 Richard L. McCormick, "Public Life in Industrial America" The New American History, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1977, (p108) Thank you Emily. (04/11/01) I am working on a final report for the history of the Comprtoller's activities up to, and including Whyte's term of office. It will be posted in a few days,but I'm offline and have to find a public place to insert a disk (which is hard to find!).

I'm not sure that I'm applying to a third category here though, since it is superimposed and improving upon the draft of White's official terms of office, with improvements on the first draft as per Professor Papenfus' suggestions of the last class. Further, I shall polish his biography, which is another category.

The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History by Alan M. Wilner is a remarkable account of the politics, economics and development of the State of Maryland. By describing the shaping of a Maryland’s Board of Public Works, her officers, function and finances, Wilner shows the history of a state growing from the early administrative tasks of managing limited infrastructure, or “internal improvements” to a modern state.

Beginning with the General Assemblies who directed the Board of Public Works, Wilner examines the proceedings from the General Assembly that relate to the Board of Public Works. He describes the various officers, their functions and delegated tasks, elected regions, special interests and responsibilities as they met their obligations of their era. His method makes for a clear progression of development analysis.

By focusing on the evolution of the Board of Public works, Wilner sheds light on early government grappling with public and private ownership, investments, private and public interest, collective tax, conflicting and regional differences, elective processes, war, debt, industry, demographic expansion and geography. Moreover, Wilner not only describes the people put in the position of trust and management, (as well as the debate, effort, professional conflicts and personal inflections) but their success and failures that propelled Maryland through its early history.

Emerging from the Revolutionary war in which an existing debt which had been mainly contracted by the Provisional Convention the state issued bills of credit to be legal tender in Maryland, as were bills issued by the Continental Congress. Although such tender was customary for the early colonies, in Maryland the process to refinance, raise revenue, retire debt fell upon the early Board of Public Works right up to the 1980s where a modern Board had official oversight over a vast array of fiscal planning for a large and complex state government. Thus it was in the management of monies that the Board of Public Works were brought to oversee the development projects of the state.

The first wave of internal improvements called for a transportation systems that would link demographic expansion of the West across to the State’s navigable waterways, hence they invested in an east west network of transportation modes that included the building of railroads, turnpikes, and canals. In order to accommodate each region, an equitable arrangement for each geographic region was included. The General Assembly directed that a group of elected officers act as a Board of Public Works to represent the state’s interests in these projects, expecting high returns. Since they were financed by capital stock the Board had oversight of the projects, variously and together, with the private companies building these facilities who also had their own interests to support.

At first, it was aspired that revenue raised from such ventures, (rather than from taxes imposed on the population), would pay for other state systems, such as public education. But as the investments failed to yield the desired returns the state was forced to divest and reduce debt. The problems were caused by a procession of internal disagreements including the onset of the war, changing economies, demographic shifting, technological advances and industrialization. Thus the structure of the Board of Public Works evolved from appointments of Commissioners for terms of office who tried both to meet the demands of the General Assembly and that of projects management to an official Board of Public Works to include the Governor, and Treasurer and the Comptroller who in 1864 were to exercise “diligent and faithful supervision of all public works in which the State may be interested as stockholder or creditor” (p52). During those difficult times, Wilner points out that in the Constitution adopted by the Constitutional Convention not only was the first Board of Public Works officially created, but slavery abolished in Maryland.

By 1867, a standing Committee on Public Worlds was created, and during the industrial age, the Board was not only appointed to take care of increasing institutional demands by the State, such as education, public safety and regulation, but financing for the attendant bureaucracy and structures. Wilner gives some enduring accounts of the various agencies that must have tried the patience of the board, such as the activities of the Fisheries Force; the building of a Correctional building, and the development of public schooling and colleges. Other measures were less concrete, such as a budget of $4 million in state bonds for the discharge of Maryland obligation for bounties paid to soldiers who had enlisted in the Union army. (p72). The management of the early State invested projects were mettlesome and costly. Debt reduction and state interests were an ever increasing pressure on the Board. It was not until the turn of the century that the State was able to divest itself of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, followed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and finally the Western Branch when its stock eventually sold in 1909. While it had a hard time, according to Wilner, of disposing of other major bank and railroad securities owned by the state, its functions had been expanded to take on construction, supervision, acquisition, management, beautification, and regulation. By1902, the legislature created the position of a state auditor for the purpose of examining the books, and authorized it to streamline all state financial bookkeeping. This power was enlarged in 1916, when the General Assembly extended the jurisdiction of the state auditor to include all state offices, departments, boards, commissions, or institutions as “the Board of Public Works may direct."

Wilner shows that the Modern Board of the early twentieth century, which began with a limited function, had grown into a major policy-making entity “exercising a pervasive jurisdiction and influence over the administration of the state government.” (p79) Moreover, the board’s function continued to expand with the growth of the state, along with increasing budgets which were often in debate various political factions dictating their ideology through the “administrative apparatus,” that managed state expenditures. Here Wilner does a commendable job of showing how politics shaped the Board of Public Works.

By1922 a Reorganization Commission placed the board under a division called the Finance Department. The board was now responsible for State Employment and Registration, which controlled the various licensing and commissions of the state in addition to their physical plants and budgets which came under their jurisdiction. Wilner says that during the 1930s, when the Great Depression hit, the board not only dealt with the tasks of management, but fiscal survival, followed later by economic planning to ensure a healthier future economy, adding projectionism to its daily chores. Other responsibilities continued to pile on including state Employment and Compensation budgets and administered as well as insurance management.

Following WWII, the board took control over the state bureaucracy and personnel, including state personnel matters and setting state taxes. Wilner points out that by then the board, with increasing demands by a more sophisticated and complex state, was clearly overburdened: It was selling bonds, overseeing agency regulations, constructing and supervising contracts, approving leases, allocating emergency funds, approving budgets, selling real estate, repairing public buildings (including schools), managing debts, dispensing financial assistance, paying employees, and selecting state investments!

In 1965, Governor Tawes appointed a commission that recommended that the comptroller and the treasurer (and the attorney general) be appointed by the governor, thus losing their coveted independent political base. But as the responsibilities continued to pile up, the board, acting as an arm of the state, was intruding increasingly in traditionally local concern and, as Wilner explains, “the task of enforcing social policy by means of state contracting created a new range of vexing problems for the board.” (p102) Not until allegations of misappropriation, mismanagement and inequities erupted that a task force had to seriously re-evaluate the tasks and function of the board that had grown into the role of virtually administering a state.

Wilner’s history is comprehensive and detailed, including names of the treasurers and officials who added their perspectives to the tasks at hand. But clearly, considering the exponential growth of a complex and diverse state with so many differing demands, he described a government shaping itself, and being shaped by a new nation. To read this account is to watch a political body in action; a private corporate interest develop; a society organize itself; a culture take shape; a people form a community; and a geography balance industry with beauty. There is little Wilner’s work that remains uncovered, and plenty to debate about from his foundational work. Throughout the development of board, however, is the underlying assumption that it was led by thoughtful individuals who did the best they could, and to add biographies and characters of the various Comptrollers will surely enrich an already fascinating odyssey.

2001/05

Writing the two genres--institutional history and biography--hasn't been easy, even though the information overlaps significantly. I suppose I've been more comfortable with the institutional history, as it is closer to other histories I've written, and because I've had more information to work with.

Turner's biography has been frustrating. I was unable to find any personal papers at the Talbot County Historical Society or the Maryland Historical Society, so most of the particular information I was able to gather came from other secondary sources (e.g., Arthur Pue Gorman) or scattered newspaper articles, including Turner's obituary. Although I generally enjoy newspaper research because it gives one a real flavor of the times, I was thwarted in this project by the hit-or-miss nature of the research. The articles I found in the Sun were extremely cursory concerning Turner or the Comptroller's office during his tenure. I went through a few reels of the Evening Capital without finding anything of substance on either the man or the office, perhaps because that newspaper was in its infancy in 1884 when Turner took office. And although I found a few good pieces on the 1887 campaign and election in the Easton Democrat, none of the Easton papers held in the MSA covered the first two decades of the 20th century, when Turner ran for and lost office twice. Unfortunately, the Sun for that period doesn't dwell on the races Turner entered, perhaps because they weren't hard-fought or big enough for Baltimore City attention.

Nonetheless, I've found the practice illuminating and hope to continue in this vein in some way in my future career.

2001/04/28

About three more hours logged at the McKeldin microfilm readers. By pulling together information from Lambert's biography of Arthur Pue Gorman and the Sun's reporting of the 1887 election (when Victor Baughman replaced Turner as Comptroller), I think I've figured out why Turner "retired" from the office. Nothing titillating, just a story of good old-fashioned politics and patronage in the late 19th century. But again, this is an educated guess. I really wouldn't expect the Comptroller's office to object to publishing this information/assumption, as long as it is presented as a conclusion based on the evidence available, rather than as an indisputable fact. But it makes me wonder if institutions generally prefer to withhold such unflattering conclusions because they aren't fact--thus keeping the "official" history tepid but without controversy--or publish such conclusions on the theory that they make the histories more interesting, believable and readable. (Understand that I'm not talking about inflamatory or libelous statements.) The latter approach would make more sense to me, both in the spirit of "open government" and to hold the interest of the readers. But, of course, it all depends on the institution's purpose in writing the history; is it to be unabashedly celebratory, or more of an evolution of the office and government. Just some general musings.

2001/04/24

I've spent a few hours--often in short spurts here and there--looking over the histories presented by Nasim, Joanne, Linda and Gloria. (By the bye, I've had problems on several occasions over the past week getting into our "ecpclio" site, getting a message saying "the server is down." Is this happening to anyone else?) I'm grateful for the guidance given by Dr. Papenfuse in his answer to Joanne's question about the different approaches we should take in presenting the biography and the institutional history, which is helping me assemble my material for presentation in these two public history genres.

I've been frustrated in my biographical research. I haven't found much about Turner's tenure as Comptroller specifically; he didn't seem to have had a significant impact on the office. I'm finding it necessary to draw conclusions/educated guesses about his service as Comptroller by extrapolating from certain events and/or general conditions in Maryland government, politics and economy during the 1884-1888 period.

2001/04/07

I spent about four hours in McKeldin reviewing microfilm of the Baltimore Sun for the 1883 and 1885 elections for Comptroller, which Turner won. (In the days leading up to and just after the elections, political reporting steals some of the ink from the Sun's agressive reporting of murders and suicides, the more gruesome the better.) Even taking into account the newspaper's bias in favor of the Old Guard democrats, this source gives a great deal of information about the political climate of Maryland--and especially Baltimore--during the mid-1880s. I am finding a much more varied and competitive picture of the political scene than I had been led to believe from reading the general histories we have used.

2001/03/31

I spent two to three hours at the state archives reviewing the Evening Capital for the years 1884-1888 for information on the work of the Comptroller during this time. Without specific events or dates to work with (Turner didn't seem to make any earthshattering decisions or create any great controvery during his term of office), the exercise was largely frustrating. The Capital only began publication in 1884, and many of the early issues are missing and/or were never microfilmed. In addition, there is precious little of what we would consider "news" in these early issues. While I found only one or two specific (and very minor) references to the Comptroller himself or the office, I did get some information on the general financial climate in the state during the period, which were enlightening.

2001/03/26

Review of www.publichistory.org

1.Describe your overall impressions of the PHRC site.

I was very impressed with both the ambitions and the accomplishments of the students who created this site. I believe the essay on the background of the site explains the purpose of the site and the intentions of its creators very well. I found the site well-structured--working from the broad/general to the narrow/specific--and relatively easy to navigate. I especially appreciated the links to other sites dealing with general website evaluations, and thought the PHRC's public history website evaluation criteria well thought out and practical. Overall, I believe that this site has the potential to add a great deal to professionals' understanding of the practice of public history on the web, but the creators must build upon their impressive work here if they are to realize the ambitious goal they have set for themselves.

2. Which components of the site are strongest?

I found the navigational/searching aids to be very useful, especially the Site Map and the Index. The Site Map proved to be an excellent "Table of Contents," and I appreciated the Advanced Search function of the Index. The Page Headings (and Endings) were also good both as identification and as avenues to other areas. Finally, I enjoyed the links to other sites--not only are they interesting and informative, but they also demonstrate the diversity of the public history field.

3. Which components of the site are weakest?

Ironically, I thought the Home Page one of the weakest elements of the site. In an attempt to highlight particular aspects of the site or newly-added elements, the creators have downplayed the overall depth and breadth of the site. In addition, I wondered if the webmasters were breaking one of their own rules by failing to maintain the currency of the information on the site. I found several nonworking links (i.e., the UCLA website evaluation link, the State Historical Society of Iowa), and it appeared that several of the online resources had not been reviewed since May 1999 (i.e., PUBHIST), although I couldn't tell whether the list hadn't been visited at all since May 1999, or simply that the creators felt the weaknesses listed in the May 1999 review were still valid. Knowing how frequently online resources change, I think it essential that these reviews be frequently updated. Finally, without disparaging the thoughtful and well-written essays of the creators, I think the site needs more "expert" content to give it more diversity and authority.

4. Suggestions for improvements in these areas.

As mentioned above, I believe more frequent updating of material/reviews and checking of links are necessary, and that a greater variety of contributors (especially persons considered "experts" in the field) would lend balance and authority to the site. Also, because I found the Site Map so helpful, I think a specific reference and link to it should be made more prominent on the Home Page to point users to an overview of the site's offerings that can also serve as a home base for navigating through it.

5. Additions to the site.

I've always been extremely impressed with Terry Abrahams' University of Idaho Library/Special Collections Website (www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/), both as a gateway to other archival sites and for its featured digital exhibits, and I think it might be a nice addition to the PHRC site.

6. Future directions for "Views from the Field" and "How to Practice Public History."

I liked the "Views from the Field" selections. In particular, I thought Tom Connors' article was not only an excellent snapshop from the archivists' viewpoint, but also very revealing of the crossover and the blurring of distinctions between disciplines/occupations in the public history field. I would be interested in seeing contributions from professors of public history and museum curators. I think the "How to Practice" section needs to be broadened to include other types of researchers, i.e., those in corporate history/archives; those researching municipal/county/state history for special events or anniversaries; representatives of the National Park Service, or someone who has worked at Colonial Williamsburg or the Smithsonian. I would very much like to see an essay/article on archival research done in connection with the Nazi Gold scandal, or perhaps someone at the National Gallery could write about the return of art work stolen by the Nazis. I think these types of highly-publicized cases can really bring home to the public the importance of archives/historical sources and their preservation for future generations, as well as serving as instructive case-studies for professionals in the field.

2001/03/24

Spent 2 hours at the State Archives. I reviewed the Annual Reports filed by Turner during his tenure as Comptroller. As I had suspected, significant portions of each of the reports are devoted to explaining expenditures in support of the State's "Oyster Navy" and the continuing woes of the State's "Unproductive Investments," primarily the C&O Canal. Turner also seemed intensely interested in lowering the State's debt to the point that direct taxes on citizens could be eliminated. I also reviewed newspapers on microfilm looking for additional obituaries, and the Talbot County Wills Index and Inventories Indes for information on Turner's personal financial status at the time of his death.

2001/03/17

I spent three and one-half hours reviewing and making notes on the PHRC website, which I found very impressive and very promising (see review).

2001/03/05

I met with Emily Squires for about one and one-half hours to discuss biographical research at the MSA and other repositories throughout the state. After our meeting, I reviewed the Biographic File on J. Frank Turner, as I had been unable to open the Turner tiff files on my computer at home. The Denton Journal obituary in the file was particularly helpful, not only giving a synopsis of Turner's career but also indicating that another obituary had appeared in the Easton Ledger. I have begun to peruse newspapers for other obituaries. In addition, I have contacted the Talbot County Historical Society to request information on its holdings on Turner, as he was probably a better known figure in Talbot County than statewide.

The review with Emily was invaluable, and I believe I have a good handle on which sources are most likely to provide information for both my Turner biography and the institutional history.

2001/03/02

I spent about four to five hours reviewing various sources to develop the historical context for Turner's tenure as Comptroller, including the relevant sections of Wilner's history of the Board of Public Works, The Old Line State (Radoff, ed.), Maryland: A History (Walsh and Fox, eds.), and Maryland, A Middle Temperament (Brugger). Each source provided insights into different aspects of the state's history during the 1880s, and putting them together has given me a pretty well-rounded snapshot of the 'state of the state' at that time. On the one hand, my job hasn't been made easy by finding any specific fiscal emergency or government scandal during Turner's term as Comptroller; on the contrary, his term seems to have been placid and without any great controversy. However, knowing the demographic, economic and political changes taking place during the 1880s and the upheaval of the 1890s allows me to ferret out some of the issues Turner would have faced in his role as Comptroller of Maryland.

2001/02/14

For my biographical history assignment, I would like to profile either Comptroller J. Frank Turner (1884-1888) or L. Victor Baughman (1888-1892), as I am doing some research in another capacity that involves financial conditions in the U.S. during this period.

Review of The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History, by Alan M. Wilner.

I found Wilner's history both readable and informative, characteristics that are essential to any public history if one's purpose is to present one's "case" to the public. Despite being a native of Maryland, I had only the vaguest idea of the function and duties of the Board of Public Works ("BPW") before reading this book. The author takes the reader from the creation of the first BPW by the General Assembly in 1825 to oversee the state's involvement in "works of internal improvements," to the modern BPW of the 1980s with broad powers over state fiscal affairs and the management of state property. Along the way, he reveals the natural evolution of this agency, including the often surprising and unintended consequences of the expansion of the Board's powers and scope of operations.

In this sense, Wilner has rendered a great service to readers in providing the context for the creation and development of the BPW. Considering that Maryland is the only state to have such a body (at least as of 1984), Wilner sets out a convincing argument that the agency that was created for the purpose of overseeing the state's financial interests in canals and railroads still serves a legitimate purpose 150 years later in safeguarding the public's interest in state public works and the management of public property. Wilner makes perhaps one of the strongest arguments in favor of continuing the Board in his Epilogue, where he cites the public decision-making carried out by the BPW, that might be much more hidden if handled by the governor alone.

Unfortunately, while Wilner gives a detailed account of the context of the creation of the Board within Maryland, the reader has little if any idea of other methods for handling such decision-making in other states. If this history was written in the course of a debate over whether or not to continue the BPW, it would be most helpful to know how the other 49 states have managed their fiscal matters and the management of their public property. I can understand that such a work might have been well outside the scope of Wilner's responsibilities to the 1976 Task Force (as well as beyond his available time allotment), but the information would have been very helpful in determining the need for the BPW and in comparing Maryland's record with that of other states in performing its fiscal duties and obligations to the public.

I learned little about the Comptroller's office specifically from this work, although, of course, that was not the author's purpose in writing. Obliquely, I now realize that the Comptroller's office in Maryland may be a more open and public office than it is in other states, simply because of the Comptroller's position on the BPW and his need to articluate his reasoning for stances on certain "hot" or controversial issues.

In conclusion, Wilner has presented a detailed history of the impetus for and subsequent development of the BPW. His writing is careful and deliberate, as any work of public history must be to take into account the multiple viewpoints on his subject. Ultimately, he provides a solid justification for the continuation of the body. It is a fascinating lesson in the myriad events and impulses that lead to the growth of governmental authority in ways that were never contemplated by those who originally set the machine in motion. As Wilner puts it, "The delegates to the 1864 Constitutional Convention accidentally stumbled onto something worthwhile" (p. 124).

2001/5/10 through 2001/5/17

I don't know if I can begin accounting for my hours spent on this the last week, it's been a blur. I think it is as follows:
5/11-3 hours archives
5/12-5 hours archives
5/14-3 hours writing
5/15-1 and 12/ hours archives; 2 hours writing
5/16--writing, hours and hours
5/17-proofreading/revising 4 hours

I think this class has been valuable for me as someone who would like to pursue a career in archives. I've learned a lot of the difficulties and frustrations of doing research in archives, although I do feel I ultimately learned to navigate it. I found the Annual Reports and newspaper accounts to be the most valuable resources for writing this history. On the other hand, the letterbooks and correspondene were the least valuable because of the difficulty of reading them and more importantly just the volume of information contained...unless you are searching for something specific it's difficult to find anything useful. The most interesting observation I have about public history is that I did feel it altered how I approached this topic. I initially started out looking for controversy and scandal. However, as I got into the project and also began realizing that this was for the comptroller's Office anniversary my direction changed. I began looking for an understanding of the long-term impact of Keating's tenure and looking for the roots of the modern office. I also noticed a tendency on my part to want to focus on the more positive (which was a switch from where I had started) and I may have ended up swinging too much to that side,but I came out liking Keating and thinking he was a pretty good guy!

2001/4/28/29/30/ and 2001/5/1/2/3

I spent the weekend going over the Annual Reports with a fine tooth comb. Trying to analysis what happened during Keating's term. Total time on annual reports over 3 days: 7 hours". I went to the archives on the first and looked over the letterbooks again and read somore newspapers for about an hour and a half. I spent the 2 and 3rd trying to put together where I wanted to take this section of the paper; what I thought was most important etc. Unfortunately, it's not the rough draft I hoped for. I just couldn't get it finished up due to time constraints and being a bit under the weather. However, i feel like I know exactly the issues I'm going to be looking at; how I want to approach it. At this point it's just an issue of ironing out some unresolved questions and getting it into a final format.

on another note. I couldn't get into ecpclio.net from home. It seems to be fine from school.

I spent about 2 hours each day in the archives (one day at Maryland) reading the Centreville Record. I also checked into land records without success, still trying to track down what happened to Keating's land when he died.The paper has been pretty useful for Biographical information on Keating particulary pre-comptroller. Suprisingly, it's been a lot less informative for his time during the years he was in office.I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the basic biography with the exception of understanding his last years...primarily the debt problem and also some allusion to neglect in office of the tax commission. I found a reference to this in the Baltimore Sun and then no further information. The other area still unclear to me is whether he decided to run again in 1884 or was not nominated by the party. I also found a reference in one article that he ran unsucessfully for Senate that year but can find no other corroboration. If this is the case then this would be additional insight into his character (ie. larger aspirations that state office. For the biography to be complete I feel I would really need to confirm elsewhere (other than obit) that he did make a run for Senate and why he was unsucessful.

I spent 2 and 1/2 hours each day in the archives. I spent almost all this time reading newspapers, primarly the Centreville Record. I've found that the Annapolis Capital (Evening Capital and it's variations) was not in operation until 1884. The preceding paper the Maryland Gazette was in operation 1874-1884 however it is not held at the Archives. Howeve, I have found the Centreville Record has excellent coverage of events in Annapolis and focuses on Keating (to the point even of saying when he arrives in town and when he departs). I also started looking into land record, trying once again to track down who keating left his land to upon his death

On another note, I found a problem with the annual reports online. The report for 1883 (vol 247) is a duplicate of the 1881 report (vol 245). I emailed this from the annual report page

I spent about 4 hours over 3 days reading the annual reports online. I've only gotten through three years thus far. However, they get easier to read the more I do. They are very helpful for pinpointing timeperiods to look at in the correspondence and letterbooks, as well as the newspaper.

Following is my review of publichistory.org in paragraph format but roughly following the order of questions.

Overall, publichistory.org is an excellent introduction for the novice to the field of public history. I especially liked that most of it's information was of very practical and relevant nature with resources on programs of study and where to practice. I found it's layout easy to navigate and the presentation, although a little dull in black and white, simple and effective. The strongest components are, as I mentioned the great links to schools and other resources. Also the internal links at the bottom of the page allow the user to jump easily to whatever they are interested in within in the site. On the other hand, I would like to see this navigation information at the top of the page so I don't need to scroll down to find it. This should be immediately evident on the home page. I would also like to see this website develop a more exhaustive list of job resources/sites. It would be great if this could become a true resource for job searching (but I realize this section is still new as of now). Finally, I would like to see a discussion of where public history fits in the broader field of history and address some of the issues we discussed in class that are often used to attack public history. Overall, it is an excellent site, one I'm sure I will visit again.

I spent approx an hour at UMBC reading through the Baltimore Sun and 2 hours at the archives but didn't have a very fruitful time at either place. I found some info on the 1875 democratic convention at which Keating played a significant role. However, i found it frustrating to search through the paper as it require looking through each day's paper on microfilm. Is there a better way to search the newspapers? Otherwise I feel I will never glean much from them as keating was in office for 6 years and my eyes will never take reading 6 years worth of newspapers!

The time in the hours I looked at the letterbook for the comptroller's office for 1878. It was difficult to read and I didn't find too much of interest. Mainly I was using this time to get acquainted with these particular records. Also found a problem in the archives with Comptroller records. I requested the correspondence for this time frame and instead received the bounty papers. The archivist investigated and found that it is mislabelled and not only that but he can't find a major portion of the comptroller's papers. He was going to look into this so hopefully it will be resolved the next I'm back.

Spent 2 and 1/2 hours at the archives today. I'm intriqued by the Denton journal article citing that Keating was deep in debt when he died but have not been able to find anything to back this up. There is no indication in the archives of any probate records for Keating. With Emily's help I've check the Wills Index, Estate Dockets, Inventories, Administration Accounts Index, and Account of Sales Index with no success. I've found another obituary for Keating in the Centreville Record (June 4, 1898). There were several mentions of Keatings close friendship with Gorman and Rasin, as well as the previous comptroller Wolford.

I also began reading the annual reports. Ther first and second reports seem to indicate that the largest problem facing the treasury was a lack of funds in the form of taxes. Primarily, Keating felt this was due to the general hard times but also the manner in which funds were allocated to the treasury by the legislature. In 1878 it seemed the treasury was continually getting loans to pay the principal and interest on other loans. My next step is to finish the rest of the reports in order to gain a better idea of the issues of the day from Keating's point of view.

2001/3/4

I am not used to keeping this as a running journal. Next time I will write as I go along. I guess I still like paper and pen for my notes!

Time spent: 1 and ½ hours Feb 28 with Emily for orientation at archives. Wow, a lot of information and overwhelming at first. However, after looking through the list of suggested resources I see that I won’t need to tackle all of them. My initial feeling is that this comptroller is more important for the changes in the office rather than his own personality thus I will probably need to focus more on files relating to the comptroller’s office. After following up some basic biographical info on Keating (wills, newspapers) I will start by looking at the Annual Reports, Comptroller Correspondence, and Letterbooks.

Time spent: 2 hours on March 2 and 3, Searching for obituary in Baltimore Sun and searching for will at MD State Archives. I found the article in the sun fairly easily. It made me appreciate the clarity of sections in our newspapers today. I had a pretty unsuccessful search at the archives. It would be very helpful if the finding aids told users how the wills, indexes, inventories, and estate dockets were arranged once your in the microfilm. I was lost. I finally happened upon an entry for Keating in the wills index. At least I think it’s him, only problem is the date of probate said May 8, 1951 which seems a little late seing he died in 1898.

The rest of my time has been spent reading the relevant sections of the follwing books: The New Old Line State; Queen Anne’s County (Emory), Maryland A History (Walsh) and Maryland A Middle Temperament (Brugger). I spent about an hour with the Old Line State which didn’t contain very much relevant material to my time period. An hour with Queen Anne’s County (which is a very confusing book with lots of lists; and 2 hours each with Walsh and Brugger’s books which were the most helpful in understanding this time period. (see comptroller entries)

2001/02/11

I have selected as my Comptroller Thomas J. Keating (1878-1884), primarily because this period will encompass a critical time in the expansion of the powers of the office. I found Wilner’s description of the Board of Public Works’ role in operating the Fisheries Force fascinating and it is my hope that Keating’s tenure touches on this aspect of their work. If another student has already chosen this Comptroller I would also be happy to work on Marion DeKalb Smith (1892-1896).

Wilner’s book is a successful study of the historical evolution of the Board of Public Works, tracing the continuing expansion of the Board’s power from its inception until the early 1980’s. The study examines the state’s impetus for creating the first (rather inactive) board; namely the involvement of the state with "works of internal improvement” as a means for providing income without relying on taxes. Wilner describes the creation of the first Board as one intended to supervise the state’s involvement in these projects. He then delineates the financial events leading to the creation of the constitutional Commissioners of Public Works in 1851 and the political issues which established the Board of Public Works in 1864. The author shows that the Board underwent dramatic changes and modernization after 1864 in response to the increased role of state government and the Industrial Revolution. The last three chapters are spent describing the increasing responsibility given to the board by the legislature, illustrating the far-reaching power of the “modern” Board.

The work’s greatest strength lies in what it reveals about how and why the Board came to be one of the powerful agencies in the state. Wilner draws out when and how additional powers were conferred to the Board. For instance, he shows that the 1864 constitution primarily considered the role of the Board to manage the state’s interest in railroad, canal, and bridge companies. The 1867 constitution conferred the same mandate to the Board, however because of the advent of the post-war era and the Industrial Revolution the role of the state changed. In virtue of the power and knowledge of its three Board members the General Assembly saw the Board as a convenient agency for dealing with a wide variety of state issues from construction to budget to personnel. The most interesting revelation of the book is the haphazard manner in which the Board acquired power. Rather than a clear delineation of duties or as a result of a planning process, the Board of Public Works had responsibilities heaped upon it, as it became in many instances a catchall agency. Changing times and societal evolutions have meant the Board has had to fulfill different roles throughout its history, but overall Wilner convincingly illustrates that the Board has successfully met these challenges.

The greatest weakness of the work is its inability to give a focused analysis of the political role of the Board. He alludes to this consideration several times, for instance regarding the split on the board between Governor Hamilton and Comptroller Keating and Treasurer Compton, yet never clearly addresses the influence of politics on the Board. Moreover, Wilner’s depiction of the increased power of the Board makes it appear to be one that the Board never sought but rather placidly accepted. I wonder if this is truly the case. Would the Board have been happy to have more and more work (never mind their other duties) unless they were in some regard actually attempting to acquire more power? Although slightly outside the purview of the book I would also like to have seen a case made for the necessity of the board. Wilner is clearly an admirer of the board and there is no doubt that the Board of Pubic Works is an overall successful agency but the duties of the Board seem to me to be ones that are often connected to other agencies. In the epilogue he notes that Maryland is the only state to have a Board of Public Works. This statement made me curious as to how other states have handled the issues for which our Board of Public Works is responsible. I would like to have a seen a comparison to how other states delegate the power the Maryland Board has, thus providing a better analysis of whether the board is really necessary, or whether other agencies could fulfill it’s functions.

In terms of understanding the comptroller’s office I found that this book did not give me a better understanding of the role of that office. I understand the duties of the comptroller as regards the Board of Public Works but have no clearer understanding of the regular functions of the Comptroller or how they might coincide with his work on the Board of Public Works. Once again I find myself wondering about political considerations as regards the Comptroller. For instance, what were previous jobs, interests, investments etc of Comptrollers (as well as Treasurers and Governors) and how might that have influenced decisions made by the Board of Public Works. Although, I didn’t find this book particularly useful for understanding the duties of the comptroller I do think it is useful for our projects as it has certainly given me some ideas I am interested in exploring further in my research.

2001/04/16 Fifth Review Session-- Papers will be posted in draft form on the site by 5/3/01 with comments due by email by 5/10/01. Last class will be at 6 p.m. on May 17 at the Papenfuses in Baltimore, 206 Oakdale Road, 21210. Take the Baltimore Washington Parkway into Baltimore to Pratt Street. Be in the right lane, turn right on to Pratt and go to Calvert Street. Turn left on Calvert and take Calvert all the way past Memorial Hospital to University Parkway. Go left on University Parkway. Continue on University, past the Roland Park sign, until the light at Keswick Road. Turn right on Keswick. Follow Keswick through the light at Coldspring Lane (road narrows there). Continue on Keswick one very long block to the stop sign at Oakdale. Turn left on Oakdale and proceed up the hill. We are the third house on the left. If you pass Schenley Road you have gone too far. Brown shingle house with yellow trim. Sidewalk and porch lights will be on. See you at 6 p.m. Light refreshments.

2001/03/29 Fourth Review Session--

Reviewed publichistory.net web site, status of papers. Will meet next on Monday, April 16 with last class at the Papenfuses in Baltimore on May 17. Class to review the rough chronology posted on the web site.

2001/03/8 Third Review Session--

Our next review session will be on 3/29/01 in the Electronic Classroom. Please have your reviews of the publichistory.org web site posted in your journals by class time. The purpose of the meeting will be to visit the site and discuss your reviews as well as to review the status of your two public history projects due for presentation the last class.

2001/02/15 Second Review Session--

General intro to Wilner; discussed selection of comptroller and created working entries for biographical and agency history essays; asked each student to make an appointment to meet with Emily Squires to review, discuss sources; distributed copies of the Old Line State, and outlined background reading to be done before next class; asked for journal entries, draft essays on the background of the chosen time period as it related to the comptroller, and the start of a biography of the comptroller, all to be posted on the web per instructions by the Sunday before our next class. Class will meet in Annapolis on March 8, 2001.

Emily will post what biographical information we have on each comptroller in the biographical folders on the site.

Next class will begin with a discussion of background reading and Wilner. Note that there now is a searchable copy of Wilner on the web.

2001/02/01 First Session, Introduction--

Introduced ourselves; presented the objectives of the course; meaning of public history in the Maryland State Archives context. asked each student to create a journal within this series of her work/reflections on the class and containing summary of class assignments. NOTE: use the html coding for a page break to cause line breaks in your entries. You can see what I mean by editing this entry (please don't change my text). I will explain further the week after next.

Assignment for the week after next (class meets at the Archives), read and critique Wilner in a journal entry; select and post the name of the Comptroller and the period on which you wish to focus.

May 16, 2001: Biography of E. Brooke Lee Final

May 3, 2001: Biography of E. Brooke Lee (Linda Machado)

Comptroller 1920-1922

• Born in Blair House in Washington, D.C. on October 23, 1892.
• Born into historic Lee and Blair families:
  • His great-grandfather, Richard Henry Lee, and a great-uncle signed the Declaration of Independence.
  • His grandfather was the 3rd cousin of Robert E. Lee
  • His father was a senator
• He was a successful politician, real estate developer, and gentleman farmer.
• Attended Pomfert School in Connecticut from which he graduated in 1912
• Enlisted in U.S. Army, Maryland Infantry, 1912
• Married Elizabeth Somerville Wilson in 1914.
• Went to Princeton in 1916. He completed only one year. After that year, he went to work at his father's office (dad was a senator).
• Attended law school at night at George Washington University, graduated 1917 with LL.B.
• Served in World War I:
  • Joined the Army 29th Infantry Division.
  • Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (the Army's second highest award) and the French Croix de Guerre.
  • Earned rank of Lieutenant Colonel
• Began political career when elected Comptroller on Nov. 4, 1919. Served as Comptroller from 1920-22.
• Lee was actively involved in building and land development in Silver Spring during 1922.
• During 1922 he also worked as Secretary and Treasurer of the Silver Spring Building Supply Company.
• Campaigner and supporter of Governor Ritchie
• Appointed Maryland's Secretary of State in Sept. 1923 by Governor Ritchie.
• In 1926 elected to House of Delegates. Later in 26 he was elected House Speaker which he did until 1930.
• Chairman of the Maryland Democratic Central Committee during the mid 1920s.
• Member of the National Democratic Platform Committee in 1924 and 1932
• Served on the Maryland Park and Planning Commission from 1942 to 1948.
• Lee played a major role in the creation of public school, public safety and liquor distribution in Montgomery County.
• Latter part of life, he was a successful beeder of Polled Hereford beef cattle on his farm in Damascus. He became of the US's top breeder and inducted into the Polled Hereford Hall of Fame (yes, there is such a beast - I looked it up!).
• 1981 retired as president and CEO of Lee Development Group
• A member of both the Silver Spring and Montgomery Co. Chambers of Commerce.
• Lee died of pneumonia on September 21, 1984 in Damascus, MD.
• Also during the early 1920s he began a very lucrative career in real estate. Founded the North Washington Realty Company.

I've loaded the Bio in word format in the notes section. I hope that was the way to do it. I will bring the bio on disk tonight in case I need to fix this later. It seems like there should be a link from this page to the Bio?

2001/3/2 and 2001/3/3

The Denton Journal article available in Keating's bibliographic files indicated that Keating was in debt when he died. This seemed intrigueing so I spent an hour at UMBC looking for the Keating's obituary in the Baltimore Sun. I found an obituary and small article in the June 2, 1898 Baltimore Sun. The article gives a description of his personality saying he was a "strong character" with an "agressive, enterprising nature". It also said "He seemed to have a strong hold upon the people of his county, although he was opposed by many of the foremost citizen's of Queen Anne's county" interesting! The obituary was very useful because it listed all the offices he held (which are outlined below)

attended Centreville Academy

graduated Princeton 1848

studied law in office of Judge Carmichael, admitted to practice in 1851.

1857 purchased Centreville States Rights (newspaper), upheld the Southern view of political questions until 1864. An organization called the "homeguard" destroyed the office after he refused to apologize for sentiments published in the paper.
1860 elected state's attorney for Queen Anne's county (held until 1876).
1867 elected a member of the constitutional convention.
1874 ran for congress but defeated by Gov. Thomas
1875 chairman of State convention
1877 elected to comptroller
1884 became first presiden tof Queen Anne's National Bank
1894 elected tax commissioner
1893 chairman of county democratic central committee
left behind 5 children: Prof. Harry Keating, Dr. Frank Keating, Thomas J. Keating, Jr, Arthur Keating.

I decided I wanted to follow up on the Denton article that Keating was in debt and tried to locate his will at the Archives (1 hour). I ran into some difficulty navigating the records (not understanding how they were organized). Eventually using the Wills Index I located the following information for Keating:
Libre: EEc
No.1
Folio: 86
Testator: Keating, Thomas J.
Executor: Thomas J. Keating, Jr.
Date of Probate: May 8, 1951
The date of probate is throwing me because it's 53 years after he died. I was unable to locate the will because that particular microfilm was missing from the shelves. Other microfilms used (or to be used):
Estate Dockets: CR 8764
Wills Index: CR 8768
Inventories: Cr 882, 2nd half
Wills: CR57-3
I looked at the Iventories but couldn't figure out how they were organized.

(Working Draft)

J. Frank Turner: Maryland Comptroller, 1884-1888

J. Frank Turner was born at King's Creek, Talbot County, on November 2, 1844, the son of Joseph Turner, Jr., and his wife, Mary Clark. Turner's father died when he was two, and his mother when he was thirteen. As a youth, Turner worked on a farm during the busy season, and attended public school in the winter until he reached the age of eighteen. (The Biographical Cyclopedia of Representative Men of Maryland and District of Columbia (Baltimore: National Biographical Publishing Co., 1879), 268.)

At eighteen, Turner secured the position of Recorder in the office of Tilghman N. Chance, Register of Wills of Talbot County. In 1864, he became Recorder in the office of Samuel T. Hopkins, Clerk of the Court for Talbot County, and in 1867, he advanced to Chief Clerk and Deputy in the Clerk of Court's office. In 1873, he ran as the Democratic candidate and was elected to the position of Clerk of the Court of Talbot County. (Biographical Cyclopedia, 268.)

Turner held the Clerk of the Court office in Talbot County for the next ten years, rising to a position of prominence in the Talbot County Democratic Party. As a Democratic leader in Easton, then the largest city on the Eastern Shore, Turner undoubtedly came into contact with the state party leaders, and in 1883, he was tapped by Arthur Pue Gorman, Democratic Party boss of the state, to run for the state Comptroller's office, a position to which he was elected in November 1883.

Turner's two terms as state Comptroller, from 1884 to 1888, marked the height of his political career. By all reports, Turner discharged his duties as fiscal officer of the state faithfully and his tenure appears to have been without controversy. Like others who held the office before and after him, he struggled to disengage the state from its unproductive investments in "works of internal improvements," particularly the C & O and the Susquehanna and Tide-Water Canals. He took particular pride in his accomplishments in reducing the state debt and improving the financial viability of the sinking funds. His last Annual Report, submitted in 1887, contained a detailed, if self-serving, synopsis of his service in office, showing, by his own estimates, a reduction in the state debt over his four-year term of $1.6 million, at the same time the investments in the sinking funds were increased almost threefold, from $500,000 in 1884 to $1.42 million in 1887. (Comptroller of the Treasury. Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Treasury Department for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 1887 to the General Assembly of Maryland (Easton, MD: Easton Star Steam Press, 1888), 19-26.)

Despite his apparent financial acumen, however, Turner could not hold the Comptroller's position beyond 1887. In the preceding years, Arthur Pue Gorman's inner circle in the Democratic Party machinery had changed to include two new faces, Elihu Jackson of Wicomico County and L. Victor Baughman of Frederick County. Jackson, an Eastern Shore lumber businessman, gave both time and money to the state Democratic Party, and had entered the political arena in the 1880s, serving in the state legislature. Baughman, the publisher of the Frederick Citizen, had been involved in state politics since the 1870s and had become a great and faithful friend of Gorman. In 1887, Baughman sought to run for governor of the state, but was convinced by Gorman to step aside in favor of Jackson, who won the nomination and consequently the governorship. Baughman was rewarded, in turn, with the Comptroller's position, which he assumed upon Turner's "retirement." (Lambert, John R. Arthur Pue Gorman (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953), 120-122.)

Turner may have been the victim of a need to distribute prominent state offices to persons representing different sections of the state, he may not have mustered the Eastern Shore votes Gorman had hoped for, or he simply might not have risen high enough in Gorman's field of vision. The Easton Democrat, a staunchly Gormanite paper, offered another possible reason. Commenting in July 1887 on Turner's desire to retain the Comptrollership and the clash of interests this posed with Jackson--as the Governor's and the Comptroller's positions could not both be held by Eastern Shore natives--the Democrat opined that Turner was not reliable enough as a Gorman supporter: "...he is a Turner man first, and if it suits him he will do what the leaders desire; but many politicians fear that Turner cannot be counted as a "ring" man if the "ring" gets into a tight place." (Easton Democrat, July 2, 1887, p. 2.)

Upon leaving the Comptroller's office, Turner returned to Easton, was admitted to the bar despite lacking any formal training in law, and opened a law practice in partnership with ex-Governor Philip F. Thomas. ("Local News," Easton Democrat, August 13, 1887, p. 3.) For the next decade, he pursued his law practice and business and political interests. In 1890, he headed a group of businessmen who, believing Easton was ripe for tourism with the arrival of the Eastern Shore railroad, sought to build the largest hotel in town. The Hotel Avon opened in 1891, and soon monopolized local business. During the 1890s, Turner also entered the newspaper business, first as the editor and co-owner of the Easton Star, and in 1896, as the owner of the Easton Star-Democrat, created when he bought the Democrat and merged it with the Star. (Harrington, Norman. Easton Album (Easton, MD: Historical Society of Talbot County, 1986), 83, 44.)

Turner resumed political office twice after retiring from the Comptroller's office, both by appointment. In 1900, he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Appeals of Maryland to fill the unexpired term of J. Frank Ford. He ran as the Democratic candidate for the office at the next election, but was defeated by Republican Thomas Parran. In 1909, he was appointed State's Attorney for Talbot County to fill the unexpired term of Judge James Harry Covington, who had been elected to Congress. He ran for reelection as the Democratic candidate in 1912, but was defeated by his Republican opponent, Charles J. Butler. ("Death of J. Frank Turner," Denton Journal, May 13, 1916, p. 5.)

After retiring from public office, Turner devoted himself to his law practice. He died in his office on May 8, 1916, and was buried in Easton. He was survived by his wife, the former Sallie Powell Hopkins, whom he had married in 1871, and three children. ("Death of J. Frank Turner," Denton Journal.)

2001/03/02

Brief Life Chronology

November 2, 1844: Born at King's Creek, Talbot County
1850-1862: Educated in public schools, Talbot County
1862: At age 18, begins working at the office of the Register of Wills of Talbot County
1864: Appointed recorder in the office of Samuel T. Hopkins, Clerk of the Court for Talbot County
1867: Becomes Chief Clerk
1871: Marries Sallie Powell Hopkins
1873: Elected Clerk of the Court
November 1883: Elected Comptroller of Maryland; resigns Talbot County Clerkship to take state office
1884-1888: Serves as Comptroller
1888: Returns to Easton to practice law
1900: Appointed Clerk of the Court of Appeals of Maryland to fill the unexpired term of J. Frank Ford
1904: Runs for Clerk of the Court of Appeals as the Democratic candidate, but is defeated by Republican Thomas Parran
1909: Appointed by Judge Adkins as State's Attorney for Talbot County to fill the unexpired term of Judge James Harry Covington
1912: Runs for State's Attorney as Democratic candidate, but is defeated by Republican Charles J. Butler
May 8, 1916: Dies at Easton, Talbot County

Biography of William Pinkney Whyte (Gloria Chamberlin)

Tocqueville would note “This ceaseless agitation which democratic government has introduced into the political world, influences all social intercourse.” It was in this era that William Pinkney Whyte would help shape the “new civilization” with a long political career.

Ratified in the 18th century, the new American Constitution would be embraced in the 19th century. For as George Washington’s Farewell Address was to mark the unselfish role of anti-partyism and "deference" as a republican virtue, the Age of Jackson with its pro-active suffrage and partisan voting was to mark the age of a new culture of liberal reform as an expression of social egalitarianism and democracy.

In 1847, barely 23 years old and newly married to Louisa D. Hollingsworth, daughter of a well known Baltimore merchant, William Pinkney Whyte was elected as a Democrat to a seat in the House of Delegates from Baltimore City where he served for one term before returning to his law practice in 1851. There, his hopes for a dignified private life as a lawyer were not realized.

The 1850s found Maryland amid a transition from agriculture to manufacture; from slave to free, from southern charm to northern determinism. Mineral wealth and resources from the West were needed for industry on the Atlantic seaboard, and huge investments in internal improvements were made by the State to connect the state by canal, road and rail. Some of the richest deposits of bituminous coal lay between the Pennsylvania boarder and the Potomac's north branch, twenty-five miles deep by five miles wide. As soon as the General Assembly chartered the B&O and the C&O, corporations had formed to mine Maryland coal.

-----See his term functions here----------

By the end of his term of office in 1855, William Pinkney Whyte did not seek re-election.

"Whyte rose to defend Johnson, calmly and fearlessly pointing out to his colleagues that the President of the United States was doing his constitutional duty and that Congress had no other alternative except to listen to him. Johnson's detractor withdrew his motion so that his message was read without further incident."

When the Democratic State convention met in 1907 to adopt the primary system of conduction election, Whyte was enlisted. Thus until his death in 1908, William Pinkney Whyte, grandson to one the first Vice Presidents of America, served in politics less to promote special interests as to develop constitutional frameworks and stable foundations.

Biography of William Gordy, Jr. (Nasim Moalem)

Comptroller 1921-1939

2201/05/17

2001/05/03

Here is the lastest version of my working biography.

2001/04/15

This is part of my working biography of Gordy

2001/02/29

1922--Gordy has a very interesting inauguration. He was given the oath of the office of comptroller in the sickroom of the Governor's mansion. The Governor was in bed recovering from bronchitis. He sat in a chair will administering the oath to Gordy. It was the first time in history that had happened.

Contemporaries saw Gordy as running the Comptroller's office in a very business-like fashion. One of the very first things he did was to streamline the activities of the office (in 1922). He installed a double-entry system of book-keeping that reduced work and errors, so much so that the state collected 200,000 dollars more in corporation taxes and more than half a million more collected from state tax officers. The newspaper was quick to point out that these amounts were not additional income for the state, but prompter payments possible because of an improved system.

Also, that year, Gordy recommended and the legislature agreed to pass an act allowing the appointment of a state license inspector. This individual was responsible for making sure businesses took out licenses and took out licenses appropriate to their line of business. The estimated gain to the state from this position was anywhere from 35 to 50,000 dollars a year.

In 1924, Gordy's annual report to the Assembly emphasised the need for adequate facilities to safeguard important records. He recommended construction of a fireproof vault. In that report, he also indicated that the office of the license inspector helped bring the state 40,000 dollars in new revenue. At this point, he recommended the creation of a chief inspector position along with 3 assistants--indicating that the staff could bring in an estimated 120,000 dollars in revenue a year.

Gordy summed up his style like this, "'I am not inclined to be theoretical, but practical. To me government and business are in a sense the same thing.'"

**

2001/28/02

Found the obits of Gordy written by the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. I also found a picture of Gordy--although it's not very good quality. More interesting info about Gordy: He was a very successful banker by trade and made 2 failed bids for Governor--in 1926 and 1938. Apparently, he was also persuaded to run for Comptroller in 1921 through interesting circumstances. The Baltimore Sun reports that it was an "'off year' for Democrats" and no one wanted to run, so former Governor John W. Smith and Frank A. Furst convinced Gordy to enter the race. He was first regarded as a 'forlorn' hope for the race--but eventually won the seat. Gordy was described as "a forthright, convincing speaker" who took "a strong stand for better roads, effective conservation policies and economy in government."

2001/02/25

Gordy made a bid in the state democratic primary for Governor in 1938. Trying to find out more information on that. I think that may provide a good background resource for his biography

2001/5/17

2001/5/4/

I finally got into ecpclio. Don't know why I coudln't from home. Here is a very rough draft of the comptroller's report . Improvments Coming!

2001/4/16

Again, I've added the historical context in the notes section, should be available there. I think this still needs some filling out but I'm just not finding that much information on this specific time period. Aside from the political machinations of Rasin/Gorman it was a generally calm period in Maryland.

• Balance upon entering office of treasury $44,240.98.
• low funds were due mainly to the "loss to the Treasury from the failure of accustomed receipts"
• Keatting attacks the system of legislation in MD that requires special funds be raised and dedicated to special purposes and that the General Treasury is left to take care of itself. He believes this to be untenable financially as it means the either the credit of the state be disregarded by adhering to the system or the system be disregarded and special funds continually borrowed against.
• shows the treasury is in debt $344,299.84 to the oyster fund, public school tax, and bounty tax (after entire treasury balance would be used to pay, original indebtness is 548,465.72). Added to this problem is the need for a new loan every time an old loan comes due and a tax to pay for it.
• Bounty tax of 5 and 1/2 cents was set up to pay for the Maryland Defence Loan authorized by the Act of 1868 and falls due in 1883. Most of the principal had been paid except for $83,757.74,which has been borrowed by the General Treasury.
• The lack of accustomed receipts and increasing amounts of unproductive assets required a new loan be passed to meet the Treasury's needs. (Act of 1878 ch 238)
• Unproductive assets are listed as: the failure of the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal Companies to pay the interest on the mortgage due the State; the failure of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to pay any portion of the amount due the State from the one-fifth of the receipts from passengers on its Washington Branch and also from its failure to pay the accustomed dividends on the stock of the State in the Washington Branch.
• In 1877 the President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad wanted to pay interest in cash. The governor refused (due to a defect in the language) but the legislature agreed. In Dec of 1878, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was trying to get out of payment because a suit by one of the holders on a loan on the Susquehanna. It was the view of Keating that this suit did not have any bearing on his lease or their contract with the state.
• pressing a suit against tax collectors for monies in arrear for more than a year.
• calls for recall of the Bounty tax-in total state had paid $8,042,152,99.
• calls for repeal of state payment of Tobacco Inspectors.

• Once again arguing for the need to allow by law the operation of the General Treasury of borrowing against special funds.
• reports the Maryland Defence Loan will fall due in 1883 and the General Assembly must make provision for its payment. The Treasury will not be in any position to make payment on this debt and is asking for a new loan to be authorized. The new loan interest rate should be reduced to 5% interest and if possible 4%. He also asks for as a better plan for the management of the revenue, a healing clause to the Constitution, extending a, general pardon for the non-observance of Sec. 34, Art 3 stating a constitutional prohibition against borrwoing is inpractical
• In the spring when monies were running low, the clerk of the court of common pleas (Rasin) anticipated his usual June payment and gave the use of $50,000 of license money.
• There will not be a large permanent surplus but large temporary balances are necessary. keating wants balance, for the swings to be reduced and for the treasury not to have to go elsewhere for temporary relief.
• Still over a million dollars in uncollected taxes.Too many agents or instrumentalities, to whom and through whom the State must look for this branch of its revenue. The plan of making the collection of the State tax independent of the collection of the municipal or county tax, and of assigning large districts to each collector, and of subjecting the collector to removal at the will of the Comptroller, and of imposing a fine to operate periodically upon the tardy tax payer, being the opposite of the present plan, might work opposite and more satisfactory results. submitted to the consideration of the General Assembly.
• Also suggests holding municipalities wholly responsible for collection and then payment to the treasury of taxes.
• state that corporations are unwilling contributors to the State's revenue. As a class they are the wealthy embodiment of non-taxpaying investments, and yield only to inquisitorial demands for their assessable assets. It is eminently proper, therefore, and in the interest of the State, that there shall be some one assigned to the cultivation and improvement of this source of revenue.
• Again asks for repeal of tobacco inspections as a burden to the state.
• request the bounty law be repealed-too costly for state.
• Costs of the oyster fund are more than its revenues. Oyestering is a imbedded Maryland wealth, the state should gain revenue from it. Tribute should be demanded. The oyster navy should be reconstructed so as to ensure to the State a licence for every dredge or scoop that is used in her waters; and those who use them should be, required and made to pay a remunerative sum for the privilege, under a heavy penalty for dredging or scooping for oysters without a licence. A steamer, or steamers if need be, fleet and well equipped, are necessary to this end and object
• Wants taxation extended and property and wealth alike subjected to the burden without exemptions.

• Treasury in best shape yet-enters with an ample balance and no extraordinary demands on it.
• tax of 1 and 1/2 cents going to payment of interst on the Treasury Relief Loan and the balance put in a sinking fund toward the principal. Investmensts were made in 5% sterling bonds (NOTE: a lot of confusing financial speak involved here: what are sinking funds anyway?
• improvement in years revenue due to increased receipts from the register of wills, railroads, tax collectors, insurance companies, and the clerks of court
• Bounty laws were repealed. Went into effect May 1, 1880
• Mortgage on Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal is still unproductive. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad on terms of lease is supposed to pay interest. However, no payment has been made
• office of the supervisor of Tobacco Warehouses abolished and salries for other employees reduced. Examination of accounts falls now to the Comptroller.Hopes that with careful supervison, warehouses will become self-sustaining

Historical Background: Maryland Between 1875-1885.
Sources Consulted:
Brugger, Robert J. Maryland, a Middle Temperament 1634-1980. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1988.
Radoff, Morris L (ed). The Old Line State. Annapolis: Hall of Records Commission, 1971.
Walsh, Richard and William Fox (eds). Maryland: a History, 1632-1974. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1974.

Political Aspects

The history of Maryland between 1875 and 1906 was marked by the political rule of two men: Arthur Pue Gorman and Isaac Freeman Rasin. Rasin was the political boss of Baltimore City and Gorman held various positions within the Maryland democratic party, eventually becoming an U.S. Senator. Rasin controlled the party machinery in Baltimore City while Gorman constructed a political federation in the counties. Together they had effective control over the General Assembly and the democratic party for almost 25 years.

Gorman controlled democratic strategy in the gubernatorial election in 1875 and was largely responsible for the election of John Lee Carroll as governor in 1875. However the convention and election in 1875 were widely accused of being corrupt and ultimately had far reaching consequences in Maryland’s political history. The controversies of the 1875 election, which ranged from repeat-voting and the stuffing of ballot-boxes to violence, created a group of independent and reform-minded Democrats who, along with the Republicans, were committed to opposing the Gorman-Rasin machine. The opposition focused on the organization’s power and how it was used. However, most voters during the 1870’s and 80’s were extremely partisan and did not sway from the Democratic party.

Gorman’s own political aspirations included the U.S. Senate which he obtained in 1880. However, before running he allowed a rival, William T. Hamilton, to be elected in 1880 as governor to avoid a power vacuum at home. Gorman feared losing control of the party machinery and did not want anyone in the governorship who could threaten his position of control. Ultimately, there was little threat from Hamilton’s governorship because of the election of officials loyal to Gorman including the comptroller, Thomas J. Keating.

The Gorman/Rasin leadership dominated Maryland politics for 25 years and its primary aim was to maintain and expand their power, to serve their constituency, ranging from farmers to businessmen, and lastly to promote the general welfare and prestige of the state. These divergent interests often led to ineffective legislation on the part of the government for fear of alienating one sector of their support. For instance, there were frequent instances of attempts to appease labor by creating factory safety codes and on the other hand serve business interests by creating large loopholes in those same codes.

The difficulties of governing Baltimore during this time period revealed the limitations of the state’s rule. Like many American cities, Baltimore saw unprecedented growth due to industrialization after the Civil War. However, the Gorman/Rasin machine believed that that manufacturers would not go where the taxes were excessive. Therefore, Baltimore had to make do with low city budgets and debt floating capital improvement loans. Schools, sanitations systems and other urban ills were thus largely neglected. This in combination with the cronyism, bribery and corruption of the Gorman-Rasin rule led to contributed to the rise of the progressive movement. The Baltimore Reform League was organized in 1885 with the goal exposing corruption, winning support for change, and throwing the Gorman/Rasin politicians out of office.

Economic Aspects

The 1870’s saw a major agricultural depression in Maryland. After the civil war Maryland agriculture lost its national significance and the state experienced increasing industrialization, particularly in the manufacturing sector. 1877 saw a major economic depression in the state. Many companies were at the edge of bankruptcy in 1877 due to competition and rivalries that had gotten out of control. There were also widespread management and labor conflicts in the mining and railroad industries revolving part around wage reductions. There were large railroad labor strike in July of 1877 against the B& O railroad. The government took the side of the railroad, sending the Maryland militia against strikers in Cumberland and rioters in Baltimore,

Legislative, Social and Other Aspects

The Old Line State states there were little political issues of note after 1880 (and the political maneuverings of Gorman from 1875-1880). State and local government were primarily concerned with matters of legislative and administrative routine (113). However, items of interest are listed below:

1878-The B&O was forced to relinquish the tax-exemption provision of their charter in exchange for legislative concessions regard the percentage the state received from tolls.

Political lobbying began around in 1882 and had increasingly power effect on the legislators. Hamilton spoke out against lobbyists in the same year.

The labor unions had a couple of successes, primarily the passage of the Mine Safety act in 1876 and the establishment of the Bureau of Statistics and Information in 1884.

The General Assembly established an Insurance Bureau in Comptroller’s office in 1872 . It became a separate agency in 1878.

Oyster harvesting (by dredging) took off after 1865. There was a record 15 million bushels harvested in 1884. The oyster police force was founded in 1868 but by the early 1880’s it was completely ineffective and had become a job for Democrats who earned a spot on the payroll.

MD and VA nearly went to war over Chesapeake boundaries and rights to oysters on the bottom. 1877 commissioners redrew the boundaries. However, oystermen complained that the Virginian police did little to stop Virginians from crossing the line. In 1883 Marylanders shot at Virginians who came into their waters and raided their beds. The dispute over the oystering was not resolved until the 1890’s.

In 1915 the state of Maryland was in debt. There was no budget system and, "The budget, such as it was, was balanced with borrowed funds" (Wilner, 80) The very next year the Goodnow Commission  was created to investigate and make recommendations regarding a budget system for the state. The board recommended that the governor should have responsibility for setting the budget.

On November 4, 1919 Albert C. Ritchie was elected governor (by a very slim margin) and E. Brooke Lee elected Comptroller. I looked at the Baltimore Sun for this time and important issues (the ones commanding a lot of newspaper coverage) included the War in Europe, Prohibition, and an ongoing Coal Strike. Like Ritchie, Lee was a "wet" meaning he was against Prohibition.

In 1920 the central purchasing bureau reformed state expenditures and the merit system replaced many politically filled positions in state government.

In the annual report for 1921, Lee discussed a program introduced by the Governor to completely reorganize, coordinate, and strengthen the departments of Maryland's government. Governor Ritchie hired "experts" to survey the departments and also appointed individuals to the Reorganization Commission of Maryland. One of the commission's recommendations was the abolishment of the Board of Public Works

Lee was appointed to the Reorganization Commission and then selected to be a member of the Executive Committee and a member of the Subcommittee on State Reorganization. The Comptroller's involvement in the reorganization reflects Wilner's assertion that, during this era, the areas of involvement for the Board of Public Works expanded.

As member of the subcommittee, he recommended that the General Assembly grant state auditors required funds in order to carrry out the annual audits of every State department. He claimed that previously, the State Auditor was not provided sufficient funds to carry out this function.

Lee also proposed a Budget Department to provide the incoming governor the data and detailed information needed for the preparation of his first budget. He added that this proposed department would provide detailed information and data regarding state revenues to members of the General Assembly.

Lee also recommended that the State Comptroller should be authorized to function as an "officer of review" regarding the actual needs of various agencies. The Comptroller would review various items provided for agencies in the budget, and then recommend to the governor whether some items shoudl be withheld in part or in whole and returned to the general treasury of the state. Despite the Commission's recommendation, the responsibilities of the Comptroller expanded during Lee's tenure.

2001/05/17

Final version uploaded above

2001/03/05

Here is a very rough working draft on the history of the Comptroller's Office from 1925-1940

2001/28/02

Finished readings background info for the political arena of the time period. Used several different sources, including the ones given in class.

1920s Era of Governor Albert C. Ritchie; He is re-elected to the post 4 times, and makes 3 unsuccessful bids for the Presidency. Callcott says that "for the first time since the American Revolution, executive power in Maryland exceeded legislative power" (55). During his terms, he wins approval for a state civil service system and develops a tight executive budget for state operations. But as the Depression hits, Maryland's services to the poor decline.

1930s In 1934, Republican Harry W. Nice is elected. Many local and state officials are relunctant and skeptical of New Deal policies. They cut back on state funding of relief programs, but fight for their share of federal funds. Maryland also cuts back on its own program of workmen's comp. Callcott says that "Briefly, in the 1930s and 1940s , national planning eclipsed state and local planning" (56).

2001/02/25

*1933 budget bill delegated new responsibility for BOW

*1935 the Depression hit Maryland hard--the state was close to insolvency, and was forced to borrow in anticipation of that year's tax revenues to meet debt payments

*the bill granted enormous power to the BOW by giving it supervision of all expenditures and reduce or eliminate the money to any department it deemed unnecessary. The Assembly also created two large emergency funds which would be in the control of the BOW. The Assembly also cut the salaries of state employees--the BOW was responsible with restoring those salaries. ** A new area of responsibility also arose as a result of the New Deal, especially in the form of matching grants for state and local facilities construction.

***The BOW also became responsible for Unemployment compensation, a new area because of the New Deal.

**The BOW became the 3rd most powerful unit of state government, next to the Assembly and the Governor. **One area that Wilner claims where the BOW dropped the ball was its relunctance of coming to grips with the state's educational discrimination of blacks, even after the case of University v. Murray.

A Decade of Transformation: Maryland, 1880-1890

By Julia K. Lehnert

The decade from 1880 to 1890 was a period of economic, political and social transformation in Maryland. These transformations were intimately interconnected, and changes or shifts in one area generally followed upon and/or sparked changes or shifts in another area.

Maryland's state government struggled--sometimes reluctantly and only in response to intense lobbying on the part of reformers--to respond to these changes, and, in turn, nearly all sectors of the state government were affected by them directly or indirectly. Specifically, during this decade the responsibilities of the Comptroller's Office continued to expand beyond those envisioned by the members of the Constitutional Convention of 1851 who established the office as a check on the power of the State Treasurer and a means to ensure wise spending by the state. (Karen Dunaway, "Why did the framers of Maryland's Constitution of 1851 establish the office of comptroller?," March 2001) This brief history will examine the wide-ranging changes that took place in Maryland's economy, political system and society during the 1880s, and the role of the Comptroller's Office in the state governmental apparatus during that decade, with specific focus on the tenure of Comptroller J. Frank Turner (1884-1888).

Economy

On the surface, the 1880s appeared to be a generally calm and prosperous time, sandwiched between the serious depressions of 1873 and 1893 and witnessing only a mild recession in 1882. Below the surface, however, significant economic shifts were taking place throughout the state that would affect nearly the entire citizenry of Maryland and the running of the state's government.

In the early 1880s, the state was still feeling the lingering effects of the depression of 1873. Suffering from the severe business decline, Maryland's two largest transportation lines, the B & O Railroad and the C & O Canal, had engaged in a vicious rate war from 1875 to 1878 as each desperately sought to control coal transportation from Western Maryland to market. The combination of national depression, drastic rate cuts and labor unrest--and in the case of the canal, natural disasters--had left both organizations in dire financial straits. Unfortunately, the Maryland State government was heavily invested in both entities, part of its earlier attempt to promote "works of internal improvement" in the state, and the ruinous competition between the two lines did not improve the state's financial holdings. In fact, the the state entered the 1880s mired in the running of these two entities, and would spend the next several decades struggling to extricate itself from these investments. (John R. Lambert, Arthur Pue Gorman, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953): 58-61.)

The effects of the depression were also felt disproportionately by Maryland's farm community. Agriculture, which had been the primary sector of the economy historically, declined over the decade of the 1880s and the state's struggling farmers especially resented the continuing high tariffs on manufactured goods designed to promote domestic manufacturing. Meanwhile, the state experienced rapid industrialization, especially in Baltimore City. Manufacturing, both the growth of existing industries (e.g., canning, men's clothing) and the development of new ones (e.g., fertilizer, iron and steel), kept the state as a whole and Baltimore City particularly in close competition with the larger Eastern seaboard states and Northeastern cities. (Bruchey, Eleanor, "The Industrialization of Maryland, 1860-1914," in Walsh, Richard and William Lloyd Fox, eds., Maryland: A History (Annapolis, MD: Hall of Records Commission, 1983), 397-398, 402-405.)

Maryland's oyster industry in particular experienced a dramatic boom during the 1880s. The decade saw record oyster harvests on the Chesapeake Bay; during the peak year of 1884, 15 million bushels of oysters were harvested. Moreover, local prices for oysters skyrocketed with the tremendous demand created by the foreign market. Fantastic profits sparked keen and too often deadly competition among watermen; in the 1880s, an all-out "oyster war" broke out between Maryland and Virginia oystermen, particularly over the oyster beds of the Pocomoke and Tangier Sounds. Later in the decade, as the Bay's oyster beds became depleted by overharvesting and failure to reseed and oyster harvests declined, dredgers (both Maryland and Virginia pirates) began to invade the river waters reserved to the oyster tongers and the war flared up anew. The state's Oyster Navy, originally chartered by the General Assembly in 1868 but never adequately funded by that body, battled--with uneven effort and effectiveness--to bring law and order to bay waters during the decade. (Wennersten, John R., The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay, (Centreville, MD: Tidewater Publishers, 1981): 37-55, 137)

Political System

Politically, the 1880s proved to be the calm before the storm in Maryland. Although the "Old Guard" Democratic Party machine undoubtedly ruled the state during the decade, the 1880s were marked by the rise of the "Reformers" or "Fusionists," a group of Democrats who allied themselves with Republicans in an effort to release the state's (and Baltimore City's) government from the Old Guard's grip.

Building upon his position as President of the C & O Canal from 1872 to 1882, Arthur Pue Gorman rose to head the statewide Democratic Party machine in Maryland, in partnership with Baltimore City's Democratic Party boss, Isaac Freeman Rasin. In 1881, after serving more than ten years in the Maryland General Assembly, Gorman was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he devoted himself to the rebuilding of the national Democratic Party. Gorman reached perhaps the height of his power in 1884, when he successfully managed Grover Cleveland's presidential campaign, bringing the Democrats to the White House for the first time in thirty years and bringing higher visibility and a slice of federal patronage to Maryland for the first time in as many years.(Lambert, Arthur Pue Gorman, 364-369.)

The Gorman-Raisin machine maintained control in Maryland through shifting alliances with local Democratic leaders, liberal patronage for party regulars, and, when necessary, election fraud. While the "Old Guard" retained its political power through these tactics, this method of government failed to address the mounting problems of a state undergoing rapid change. Industrialization and its attendant ills, boom-bust business cycles, rapid population growth and a population shift from rural to urban areas starkly revealed the inadequate public services of the state. Industrialization and urbanization not only bred poverty, sweatshops, slums and child labor, but a need for paved roads, sewers, schools and hospitals. The Old Guard machine, geared to maintaining and expanding its sphere of influence, was ill-equipped to meet these changing needs of the state. (Crooks, James B., "Maryland Progressivism," in Walsh and Fox, eds., Maryland: A History, 591-592).

Foreshadowing the themes of the Progressive Age, a group of local reformers sought to wrest control of Maryland State and Baltimore City government from the Gorman-Raisin faction by campaigning on a platform of honesty and efficiency in government. Throughout the decade, the Reformers battled with the Old Guard in each election, waging a war of words on the campaign stump and in the newspapers and challenging Old Guard voter registration lists in the courts.(Brugger, Robert J., Maryland: A Middle Temperament (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988); 395-400.)

During the decade the commercial competition between the B & O and C & O spilled over into the political arena. Gorman used the legislative means at his disposal to wring concessions from the B & O management that gave the C & O a better competitive position. In return, John K. Cowen, the general counsel of the B & O, battled the Old Guard machine by bringing the railroad into the political fray in support of the Reformers.(Lambert, Arthur Pue Gorman, 56-63.)

Helped by the relative prosperity of the time, the entrenched Gorman-Raisin machine managed to keep a lid on the simmering discontent during the 1880s, but the reform forces could not be contained indefinitely. Initially, the Reformers enjoyed only modest electoral victories, primarily the Baltimore City Sheriff and several Baltimore City Council positions. But their momentum eventually grew into a full-fleged upset during the 1890s that brought many changes to state politics.

Society

The economic and political transformations discussed above reverberated throughout Maryland's social structure. Maryland experienced a dramatic increase in population over the decade of the 1880s as a result of both natural increase and immigration. Demographically, the population shifted from a primarily rural one in 1880 to a majority urban one in 1890, as a labor force displaced by the decline of agriculture and supplemented by foreign immigration followed the demand for workers to support the state's burgeoning manufacturing and industrial sectors.(Bruchey, "Industrialization of Maryland," in Walsh and Fox, eds., Maryland: A History, 396-397.)

With the rise of industry, the affluent moved away from the cities and their places were taken by factory workers. Unskilled and often uneducated workers crowded into inner city slums and tenement housing or factory barracks near processing plants, living in squalor and risking their lives with brutal machinery. In the aftermath of the B & O strike and riots of the late 1870s, workers continued their organizing attempts, and the Knights of Labor made significant gains early in the decade among the factory workers of Baltimore and the coal miners of Western Maryland. But the increased hiring of women and children at the lowest wages and the use of immigrants as strike-breakers undermined the K of L, and the use of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act against unions kept labor organizations weak and disorganized during these formative years. In rural areas, farmers struggling to make a profit in the changing economy joined forces in the National Grange, which was especially strong on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The organizing activities of the laborers and farmers provided ample evidence of the strong undercurrents of social and economic discontent in Maryland during the 1880s, and eventually exploded into the populist movements of the 1890s that brought significant reforms to the state.(Brugger, Maryland: A Middle Temperament, 345-348.)

Meanwhile, the oyster boom sparked a mad scramble for crews to work the dredgers, which was difficult, back-breaking work. As the word spread among local workers and labor became scarce, dredger captains and their agents took to combing the docks of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York for newly-arrived immigrants to man the boats, promising high wages and fine working conditions. In times of desperation, agents simply kidnapped potential crewmen. On board ship, the crew members suffered from exposure and severe overwork, were generally held captive during the dredging season to prevent them from jumping ship, and were often cheated out of their season's wages before finally being released. Many died or were murdered, their bodies dumped overboard or buried in shallow graves along the shore. The gruesome murder of a German immigrant in 1884 brought these shameful conditions to public awareness, and brought the Maryland German Society and Baltimore's Hibernian Society into a prolonged stuggle with oystermen to protect German and Irish immigrants on the Bay.(Wennersten, Oyster Wars, 55-61.)

The Comptroller's Office

Although slow to respond to Maryland's economic, political and societal changes, the state's governmental apparatus eventually did lumber into action to meet the new circumstances. Because it was one of the highest ranking positions in the state government, the Comptroller's office found its role and responsibilities expanding to meet new challenges and opportunities.

The Annual Reports of the Comptroller's Office for the 1880s show a decade-long struggle to extricate the state from its ill-fated investments in "works of internal improvements." Of particular concern were the state's unproductive investments in canal operations, namely, the C & O Canal and the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal. In 1884, the year Comptroller Turner took office, the State's claims (including bonds and unpaid interest) against the C & O Canal totalled more than $24.5 million, with another $1.4 million against the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal. (Comptroller of the Treasury, Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Treasury Department for the Fiscal year Ended September 30, 1884 to the Governor of Maryland (Annapolis, MD: "Maryland Republican" Steam Press, 1884), 11.) Although Comptroller Turner tried to put the best possible face on the situation--welcoming the "active and energetic" new president of the C & O and hoping that the Pennsylvania and Reading Rail Road (the lessee of the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal) would soon rebound from its financial difficulties--he did not foresee a speedy return to profitability for either entity. In fact, Turner struggled with the fate of both canals throughout his tenure as Comptroller, having to fend off the attempts of frustrated bondholders to force a sale of the C & O and engaging in ultimately fruitless negotiations with the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad to try to reach a settlement on defaulted interest payments on the Susquehanna and Tide Water. (Comptroller of the Treasury, Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Treasury Department for the Fiscal year Ended September 30, 1887 to the General Assembly of Maryland (Easton, MD: Easton Star Steam Press, 1888), p. 7-10.)

Turner and his fellow Comptrollers of the 1880s had much greater success in reducing the state's indebtedness during the decade. In particular, Turner worked diligently throughout his four-year tenure to refinance the debt by retiring maturing state bonds that carried a 6 percent interest and reissuing in their place bonds carrying a 3 1/2 percent interest, and he invested the additional funds in the Treasury in the state's general Sinking Funds. By reducing the debt and shoring up the sinking funds, Turner hoped to pave the way for the eventual elimination of direct taxes that had been levied on Maryland citizens specifically to pay the state's debts. (Comptroller of the Treasury, Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Treasury Department for the Fiscal year Ended September 30, 1886 to the Governor of Maryland (Annapolis, MD: Daily and Weekly Republican Steam Press, 1887), 20-21.) In another move that may have been politically as well as financially motivated, Turner, who was politically allied with Gorman, urged the General Assembly in his 1885 Annual Report to raise the tax rate on railroad property in the state to place a more proportionate tax burden on the railroads. Of the $46,489.76 in state taxes paid by the railroads that year, more than half was paid by the B & O Railroad, Gorman's staunch opponent and the entity that would shoulder the bulk of the tax burden if Turner's suggestion had been enacted.(Comptroller of the Treasury, Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Treasury Department for the Fiscal year Ended September 30, 1885 to the Governor of Maryland (Annapolis, MD: "Maryland Republican" Steam Press, 1885), 14-15, 31.)

The Comptroller also became embroiled in the Oyster Wars of the 1880s both in his role as the state's fiscal officer and as a member of the Board of Public Works having supervision over the state's Fisheries Fleet. As Commissioners of the State Fishery Force, members of the Board of Public Works had responsibility for maintaining the fleet, including authorizing repairs as necessary, writing contracts for new boats, ordering equipment for the boats, selling old boats, and periodically inspecting the fleet. Their responsibilities also extended to personnel actions including appointing a commander and deputy commanders, hearing charges brought against officers, and hiring men to guard seized oyster boats. (Wilner, Alan M. The Maryland Board of Public Works: A History (Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission, 1984), 66-68.) As Comptroller, Turner oversaw the necessary expenditures to carry out the state's duties, including the purchase of two new schooners for the fleet in 1884 and the annual payment of the officers and crew. (Comptroller, Annual Reports, 1884-1887.)

The Board's personnel responsibilities did not go unnoticed by the Democratic party bosses, and the Oyster Navy soon became a patronage plum. By the mid-1880s, a good many of the oyster police were interested only in the pay; many captains simply retreated when confronted by oyster pirates. With an ineffectual police force, the Bay's waters were largely left to the warring watermen until the Oyster Navy was revitalized by General Joseph Seth in 1888. (Wennersten, Oyster Wars, 50-51, 70.) Meanwhile, the cost of the police force was straining the state treasury. An act passed by the 1884 session of the General Assembly requiring the purchase of licenses for carrying oysters over state waters had contributed enough money to defray the costs of the Oyster Navy, but when that act was declared unconstitutional by the courts and license fees had to be refunded, the chronic underfunding of the Navy by the legislature began to show. Comptroller Turner repeatedly called for the legislature either to reduce the expensive police force or provide increased funds to pay for it. In response, the 1886 legislature passed a new Oyster Law retaining the previous police force but providing even lower revenues than under the old law, which Turner estimated would result in a shortfall of at least $20,000 per year. The Comptroller could only hope that "...the Board of Public Works will devise some plan by which the expenditures for the fiscal year 1887 shall be kept within current revenues from this source." (Comptroller, Annual Report 1886, 8.)

Thus the decade of the 1880s saw increasing fiscal responsibility and professionalism within the Comptroller's office at the same time the state's financial activities were becoming increasingly complex. In an uncertain economy, the Comptroller managed to reduce the state's debt, exchanging high-interest bearing state bonds for lower-interest bearing ones while increasing investments in the sinking funds designed to pay for the debt. As a member of the Board of Public Works, the Comptroller exercised increasing responsibility in the management of state properties and in the hiring and management of state personnel. While undoubtedly caught up in the political maneuverings of the period, the individuals holding the office during the 1880s appeared to discharge their duties with integrity and in the best interests of the state.