518 



MARYLAND. 



empt therefrom public property and the property of 

 religious, charitable, benevolent, literary, or educa- 

 tional institutions. All other property may be taxed 

 and the incomes of citizens may be taxed "by general 

 laws. 4. Amending section 1 of Article VII so that 

 county commissioners instead of being elected every 

 two years in November may be elected at such times 

 in such numbers and for such periods, not exceeding 

 six years, as may be prescribed by law. 5. Author- 

 izing the Board of Public Works to sell, subject to 

 such regulations as the General Assembly may pre- 

 scribe, the interest of the State, whether as stock- 

 holder or creditor, in all works of internal improve- 

 ment and in any banking corporation, receiving in 

 payment the bonds or registered debt of the State. 

 6. 'Authorizing the General Assembly to enact laws 

 taxing mortgages upon property in the State and the 

 debts secured thereby in the county or city where 

 such property is situated. 



Other acts of the session were as follow : 



To punish any person who with intent to extort 

 money or procure other profit shall falsely accuse or 

 threaten to accuse another of any crime or of any- 

 thing which, if true, would tend to bring hmi into 

 contempt or disrepute. 



To punish any one who instigates, engages in, or 

 in any way furthers any act of cruelty to any animal 

 or any act tending to produce such cruelty, or who 

 by any act or neglect willfully causes or permits any 

 anima'l to undergo torture or cruelty. 



Empowering the directors of the Maryland Peni- 

 tentiary to purchase or condemn land and improve- 

 ments for the purpose of enlarging said penitentiary 

 in the city of Baltimore, and appropriating $250,000 

 for land so acquired. 



To punish persons engaged in betting, gambling, 

 bookmaking, or pool selling at any race, cocking- 

 main, base-ball match, or contest of any kind, and to 

 punish the owners or occupiers of land, buildings, or 

 vessels who permit such betting, etc. ; but this act 

 shall not apply to horse races at agricultural fairs or 

 upon any race course or driving park in the State. 



Adding the 30th day of May, known as Decoration 

 Day, to the list of legal holidays. 



To prohibit foreign life-insurance companies doing 

 business in the State from making any discrimina- 

 tion between persons of the same class in the rate of 

 premium charged for life or endowment insurance. 



Prescribing the contents and dimensions of a stand- 

 ard barrel for measuring green pease and beans in the 

 hull and other like farm products, and requiring 

 every such barrel to be stamped by tfee inspector of 

 weights and measures in Baltimore. 

 t Extending for one or, at the latest, two years, the 

 time when the heating of passenger cars by stoves 

 must be abolished. 



Eaising the age of consent in females from ten to 

 fourteen years. 



. Making it unlawful for any railroad company to 

 withhold from any of its employe's any part of the 

 wages of said employes for relief or insurance pur- 

 poses. 



To punish any person under twenty-one years of 

 age who shall obtain any spirituous' or fermented 

 liquors by knowingly and willfully misrepresenting 

 his age. 



To punish the carrying of concealed weapons in the 

 city of Baltimore. 



To prohibit the sale of adulterated articles of food 

 and drink unless the nature of the adulteration is 

 plainly stamped or printed on each package or the 

 purchaser is informed by the seller of its true nature, 

 and to prohibit the sale of diseased, corrupted, or un- 

 wholesome flesh, fruits, vegetables, or other provis- 

 ions. 



Increasing the jurisdiction of justices of the peace. 



Requiring notice of the death of any person from a 

 contagious disease to be at once given to the Secre- 

 tary of the State Board of Health. 



The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The 



wreck of this canal by the freshets of May and 

 June, 1889, brought before the General Assembly 

 the imperative necessity of devising some means 

 to save the interest of the State therein from total 

 loss. At the beginning of the session the lia- 

 bilities of the canal company having priority of 

 the claims of the State aggregated about $4,250,- 

 000, comprising the following items : For repair 

 bonds issued in 1878, $500,000 and interest ac- 

 crued thereon $90,000 ; for labor and repairs upon 

 the canal about $70,000 ; for a judgment upon 

 the wharf property at Cumberland, upon which 

 execution might be issued at any moment $30,- 

 000; for preferred construction bonds of 1844, 

 $1,699,500, and for interest thereon since Jan. 

 1865 about $1,860,500. During several months 

 prior to the session, the State Board of Public 

 Works sought to obtain proposals for a lease of 

 the property without success, and the General 

 Assembly, in January, passed a resolution direct- 

 ing the board to advertise for such proposals, 

 the bids to be opened on Feb. 4. 



As a result of these efforts, a proposition was 

 received from the Washington and Cumberland 

 Railroad Company, which was deemed by the Gov- 

 ernor to be advantageous to the State, and an act 

 was passed in accordance therewith. This act 

 provides that the canal company may lease the 

 canal to the railroad company for ninety-nine 

 years, renewable forever, on the undertaking of 

 said railroad company to construct upon the tow- 

 path or bed of the canal, or lands adjacent, a line 

 of railroad from Cumberland to the city of Wash- 

 ington, and to operate the same. For such lease 

 the railroad company shall pay to the State 

 Treasurer, within six months of its execution, a 

 sum equal to the principal and accrued interest 

 of the repair bonds of 1878, also $70,000 to meet 

 the existing claims for labor and repairs, and also 

 a sum equal to the judgment of about $30,000 

 outstanding against the canal company. These 

 sums the Treasurer shall apply to the purchase 

 of said bonds, claims, and judgment and the State 

 shall be subrogated to the rights of the former 

 holders thereof. Within the same period the 

 railroad company shall pay to the State Treas- 

 urer a sum equal to 25 per cent, of the principal 

 of the preferred construction bonds of 1844, out 

 of which he shall pay to the holders of said bonds 

 one fourth of the principal of their bonds upon 

 condition that they surrender them to the State. 

 The lessee shall further pay to the State the sum 

 of $15,000 annually from the time its road is 

 completed from Cumberland to Williamsport, but 

 said annuity may be compounded at any time by 

 the payment of $300,000. There were numerous 

 other provisions regulating the powers and duties 

 of the railroad company. 



In consequence of the prolonged debates aris- 

 ing upon this measure its passage was delayed 

 until near the close of the session. Meanwhile, 

 legal proceedings instituted by the bondholders 

 against the canal company had reached an ad- 

 vanced stage in the courts. The holders of the 

 repair bonds of 1878 had petitioned the Court of 

 the District of Columbia, and also the Maryland 

 Supreme Court, to decree a foreclosure sale of 

 the property and the holders of the construction 

 bonds of 1844 had appealed to the same tribunals 

 to appoint receivers to take charge of the prop- 



