REPORT

OF THE

Comptroller of the Treasury

OF THE

State of Maryland

December 18th,1923.

To THE HONORABLE,
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND:

Section 9 of Article 19 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
directs the Comptroller to submit annually a statement of the
financial affairs of the State, and in accordance therewith I
herewith present my report for the fiscal year ended Septem-
ber 30th, 1923. In submitting this report, I take occasion to
bring before you matters which I believe are worthy of your
consideration.

I respectfully bring to your attention the inadequate
facilities provided in the Comptroller's office for the safekeep-
ing of valuable and important records of this office, and re-
commend the construction of a fireproof vault of sufficient
size to accomodate them.

As authorized by Chapter 516 of the Acts of 1922, there
has been operating from this office a License Inspector. The
results of his efforts have been entirely satisfactory, being pro-
ductive of approximately $40,000 additional revenue to the
State in the fiscal year just ended. I am convinced that this
is a step in the right direction. But one inspector is unable
to cover the entire State in a thorough manner, and I recom-
mend an amendment to the Act of 1922, that will give us one
Chief Inspector and three (3) assistants, believing that the
results of this work will produce approximately $120,000 per
annum legitimate revenue to which the State is entitled, but
which, through oversight or evasion, is not being collected.
The increase in revenue from this source, in our opinion, will
be considerably more than is needed to take care of the ex-
penses of administration of both branches of the Treasury
Department of the State.