REPORT

OF THE

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY

OF THE

STATE OF MARYLAND.

COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Annapollis, January 7th, 1880.
To the Honorable the General Assembly of Maryland:

I respectfully submit my report for the last fiscal year,
ended September 30th, 1879.

In my previous report, made to the Governor on the second
clay of January last, I gave a brief and general view and
detailed exhibits of the condition of'the State Treasury dar-
ing and at the end of the fiscal year 1878. This report and
that comprehend all the operations .of the Treasury Depart-
ment and afford a full statement of the financial proceedings
which have taken place, since the report of my predecessor to
the last Legislature.

In my report to the Governor is fully set forth the practice
that prevails in the Treasury Department in the indiscrimi-
nate use of its special funds for the general needs of the
Treasury. Tbig practice has the prestige of being old and
time honored, and I know of no fault that has been found
with it by a discriminating public sentiment. It is a neces-
sity in administration and conduces to economy in taxation.
It ought, therefore, to have the sanction of positive law for
its justification, but there is no such authority for it any
where in the financial legislation of the State. On the con-