REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY xi

to reduce or eliminate any item or items which, after investiga-
tion by them, may be deemed an unnecessary expenditure, and
that only such expenditures as are approved by the Board of
Control and Review shall be allowed for payment by the Comp-
troller of the Treasury of the State of Maryland, and that a cer-
tified copy of the requisitions approved by said Board shall ac-
company all bills presented by any Board, Commission, or Body
to the Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland, before he shall
cause a warrant to be issued from his office for the payment of
the expenses of said Boards, Commissions or Bodies.

It is apparent that in order to make the Budget System of the
State really effective that there should be a Board of Control and
Review, whose duty it is, in advance, to pass upon all expendi-
tures which, are to be made by the various Boards, Commissions
or Bodies of the State, to the end that all tendency to extrava-
gance or unnecessary expenditures may be prevented. This will
be accomplished, provided the requisition for the expenditures
are made the month preceding the time in which the debts are
to be contracted.

No matter how carefully the estimates may be made of ap-
propriations necessary to the Boards and Commissions of the
State, they cannot be made accurately; but where the expenses
are controlled in advance, as they will be under the plan sug-
gested, any excess of appropriation over 'and above the actual
needs of such Boards and Commissions will be saved and revert
to the general Treasury at the end of each fiscal year.

HOSPITALS, HOMES AND ASYLUMS OWNED AND OPERATED
BY THE STATE.

Under existing conditions, the General Assembly of Maryland
has made appropriations for the use of Hospitals, Asylums and
Homes, owned and conducted by the State. There are other
sources of revenue, or income to these institutions; namely,
amounts paid into them by the various counties of the State. A
third source of revenue is amounts received from private indi-
viduals for the care of the infirm and afflicted. A fourth source
of revenue is the value of products received from the farms con-
nected with some of these institutions. I respectfully suggest to
your Honorable Body that the following plan be adopted for the
future: That the State make a flat appropriation based upon a
per capita allowance of the average population during the past
two years for every institution of the State, and that revenues of