ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 671

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act is an
emergency law and necessary for the immediate preservation
of the public health and safety, and having been passed by a
yea and nay vote, supported by three-fifths of all the members
elected to each of the two Houses of the General Assembly,
the same shall take effect from the date of its passage.

Approved April 13th, 1922.

CHAPTER 299.

AN ACT to purchase from Mrs. George W. Hodges ten thou-
sand marriage references prior to the year 1777, and to de-
posit same in the Land Office of Maryland in card form.

WHEREAS, Mrs. George W. Hodges has accumulated a large
number of marriage references, which have been extracted from
the early records of the Land Office and of various counties;
and

WHEREAS, The State of Maryland has never compiled such
records nor subscribed in any way for such compilation; and

WHEREAS, The value to the State of Maryland of such a
compilation would be inestimable in saving the original rec-
ords from the effects of constant handling and in prolonging
their usefulness to the public; and

WHEREAS, Greater facilities would be afforded thereby in
the study of Maryland history on genealogical lines, not only
to resident Marylanders, but to residents in every State in the
LTnion, inasmuch as Maryland lineage exists throughout the
United States either directly or collaterally; therefore,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That the Commissioner of the Land Office of Maryland
be and he is hereby authorized and directed to purchase in the
name of the State ten thousand marriage references prior to
the year 1777, collected by and now in possession of Mrs.
George W. Hodges. And it shall be the duty of the said Com-
missioner of the Land Office to receive said marriage refer-
ences, when the same shall have been indexed in card form,
arranged in alphabetical order to the second letter, and written
in black letter ink with their proper references, and each mar-
riage reference shall be cross-indexed; and the Commissioner