6

still more to be used, and to modify and economise farm la-
bor. The elements of wind and water can also, in many sit-
uations, be turned to good account; and steam is being econ-
omically applied to too many uses, to doubt that at no distant
day, it will be made tributary to the toil and labor of the
husbandman.

Tour Committee having noticed the destruction of invol-
untary labor by sudden emancipation, its consequent demor-
alization and unreliability, and as pertinent, and necessary to
a due and proper consideration of the subject, of organizing
a system of voluntary labor to replace the involuntary sys-
tem bequethed to us by our forefathers; having considered
the nature of labor, its importance, its wants and duties, and
also the duty and interest of employers in dealing with em-
ployees, it now becomes necessary to inquire from whence a
supply of labor can be obtained.

If we for a moment consider the vastness of our common
country—the number of States and great variety of employ-
ments seeking and competing for labor—your Committee
must confess that this is a difficult and embarrassing ques-
tion. And yet, if we remember the character, energy and
enterprise of our people, the peculiarly advantageous position
of our State—near the sea-board—with our great commercial
emporium at the head of one of the noblest bays on the
globe, and our close proximity to the Capitol of this great
nation, we at once see that we have the strongest and most
encouraging motives for effort, and a strong probability of
success within our reach.

Probably the most fortunate circumstance for Maryland at
this time is the establishment of lines of steamers directly
from Baltimore to and from Liverpool, England, and Bre-
men in Holland. These steamers are calculated and expected
to bring into the port of Baltimore annually from 10 to
15,000 foreign emigrants. A large per-centage of these emi-
grants are farm laborers. They have heard of our free gov-
ernment—where freedom of religion, freedom of occupation,
and the pursuits and objects of life are before them and open
to all. They have also heard of our vast domain, and bound-
less Western praries—where farms are cheap, and labor
scarce and high—and the attractive West is presented to
them before leaving their fatherland by agents from Western
States, and large railroad corporations, as the land of
promise, and the goal of all their hopes and expectations,
so that when landed here no persuasion or inducement can
divert them from their original destination, and they hurry
off by our railroads for the great West, as fast as steam and
rail can carry them. To detain them here and induce them
to settle in Maryland we must pursue the same course which
has been so successful in attracting them to the West. The
Legislature of 1866 has wisely created the office of Commis-