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973, 677; the value of the farming implements in the
State in the year 1850 was about $2, 463, 000, and in 1860,
$4, 010, 00. In 1850 the wheat raised was 4, 494, 000 bush-
els, and in 1860 6, 103, 000 bushels. The increase in the
production of corn and rye was as great. The population
in 1850 was 583, 000, in 1860 628, 000, and must now
reach 700, 000. The population and the material prosper-
ity of the State having so much increased, the duties of
the judiciary were increased, and the State was able and
should pay higher salaries.
Mr. Howard asked the lawyers of this Convention to
beware before they increased these salaries, as the people
would not consent to it. The Convention of 1864, which
had done little to entitle it to praise in this Convention,
had stopped at an increase of salaries, and this Conven-
tion would do well to profit by its example. As to high
salaries, adding to the dignity of the judge, there was
nothing in it. The dignity of every man rested with him-
self, not with the amount of salary which he received.
Mr. Stoddert said these were not the times to be putting
up salaries. The statistics which the gentleman from
Baltimore had quoted from were when the State was in
the midst of prosperity, but the statistics of today would
show a very different tale. An eminent financial writer
of the North had said that since the war the value of
property north of the Potomac had decreased one-half,
and they all knew how much it had decreased south of the
Potomac. How many of them had incomes now equal to
what they were before the war? His income, as an agri-
culturist, was not one-third as much, and he knew this
was the experience of others. In these days of depression
and despondency it would not do to raise the salaries, so
that judges might be clothed in fine linen and fare sump-
tuously. The people were now groaning under taxation;
he saw by the prints of Baltimore that there was constant
complaint in that city about the taxes. In addition to the
State and local taxation, they had now the onerous and
oppressive United States taxes to pay, and the burden
must not be increased. They should look to the bar of
Maryland for sacrifices at this time. He was sorry if no
member of the profession would give his time for the sake
of undying fame and to live in the memory of the people,
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