MARYLAND. 



407 



the company " shall pay to the Treasurer of 

 Maryland, on the first Monday of January and 

 July, in each and every year, for the use of the 

 State, one-fifth of the whole amount which 

 may be received for the transportation of pas- 

 sengers on said railroad, by said company, 

 during six months last preceding." It is fur- 

 ther required that "the president shall exhibit, 

 on oath, to the General Assembly, on the first 

 day of January, or as soon thereafter as the 

 said Assembly shall convene, in each and every 

 year, an account showing the gross amount 

 received by said company for the transporta- 

 tion of passengers on said road, and the State's 

 proportion thereof." This amount has been 

 withheld from the State since the middle of 

 1868, and it is stated that the directors of the 

 Baltimore and Ohio road, at a meeting held in 

 December, resolved to refuse compliance with 

 the terms of the charter, for the following 

 reasons : 



1. The Baltimore and Ohio Company had, 

 by its charter, the right to build lateral roads, 

 and therefore the "Washington branch, without 

 the condition subsequently enacted by the 

 State in granting the charter of the "Washing- 

 ton road. 



2. The large returns made to the State had 

 compensated the State for the risk she took by 

 her aid. 



3. That the decision of the Supreme Court 

 of the United States, in the case of Crandall 

 vs. the State of Nevada, would exempt the 

 company from an enforced payment. 



4. The building of the Baltimore and Poto- 

 mac road, which would be a competing road 

 for travel between Baltimore and Wash- 

 ington. 



If the company succeeds in maintaining the 

 position its officers have taken, it will cut off 

 one important source of revenue to the State, 

 and compel the Legislature to provide for the 

 deficiency by increased general taxation. 



Among the public works of the State yet in 

 course of construction is the Western Mary- 

 land Railroad. Its importance to the western 

 portion of the State, and to the city of Balti- 

 more, can scarcely be exaggerated. It will, 

 when completed, develop one of the most pro- 

 ductive, yet hitherto one of the most inacces- 

 sible, parts of the State ; will regain a valuable 

 trade which legitimately appertains to the city 

 of Baltimore, but which has been wrested from 

 it by the superior energy of its Pennsylvania 

 neighbors, and win contribute very largely to 

 increase the facilities for moving coal and other 

 minerals, especially iron ore, which abounds 

 in great quantities on and near the line of this 

 road. The grading of the road to Hagerstown 

 is, to a great extent, finished, and but com- 

 paratively little remains to be done to com- 

 plete the work and lay the rails, and the Ches- 

 apeake and Ohio Canal can be reached at Wil- 

 liamsport by a short route, with easy grades. 

 The unprecedented high prices of materials 

 and. labor, however, and other unforeseen 



causes, have brought upon the company seri- 

 ous embarrassments, and it can look only to 

 the mayor and City Council of Baltimore for 

 extrication. That city has already become a 

 subscriber to $2,000,000 of the stock of the 

 company, and has indorsed its bonds to the 

 extent of $500,000 more. The mayor and 

 City Council, appreciating the importance of 

 prompt assistance in the unfinished and ex- 

 posed condition of the road, and desirous of 

 avoiding the necessity of waiting for the 

 session of the General Assembly, in June, 

 passed an ordinance providing that the sum 

 of $1,000,000 should be raised by the hy- 

 pothecation of a sufficient amount of the Bal- 

 timore and Ohio Railroad stock belonging to 

 the city, and invested in bonds to be issued 

 by the company. The constitutional validity 

 of the ordinance was tested by certain tax- 

 payers of the city, because it was believed by 

 them to create a debt within the sense of the 

 constitution, without the previous requisites 

 of an act of Assembly and vote of the people, 

 and the Court of Appeals, without expressing 

 any views adverse to the sound policy of the 

 measure, arrived at the conclusion that the 

 ordinance was in that form unconstitutional. 

 The mayor and City Council, appreciating the 

 renewed importance of immediate action, again 

 moved in the matter, and an ordinance was 

 reported in the Councils by which the aid can 

 be given in accordance with the views ex- 

 pressed by the Court. 



The Legislature which was to meet January 

 5, 1870, will probably perfect the necessary 

 legislation for its submission to a popular vote. 



The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad is rap- 

 idly progressing. Forty miles of it were graded 

 during the last year ; the rest of the grading is 

 already under contract or will be immediately. 

 Much heavy bridging has been constructed; 

 many cross-ties have been purchased and de- 

 livered along the line ; and the completion of 

 the whole road from Baltimore to the Potomac 

 River, in Charles County, within two years, is 

 confidently predicted. The importance of this 

 road to the State, opening, as it does, another 

 communication between the capital of the 

 country and the great commercial metropolis 

 of the State, and establishing direct railway, 

 and the shortest connection between Baltimore 

 and the South and Southwest, cannot be over- 

 estimated. 



The Metropolitan Road has been commenced. 

 The Southern Maryland Railroad has been 

 surveyed, its Board of Directors organized, and 

 it is said the road will soon be placed under 

 contract ; the Drum Point road has also been 

 surveyed and favorably reported on ; and the 

 Maryland Central road is in active and inter- 

 ested hands. The work on the Frederick and 

 Pennsylvania Line Railroad is progressing 

 finely, and according to the terms of the con- 

 tracts must be finished by May 1, 1870. The 

 work on the Parkton and Manchester Railroad 

 was commenced about the middle of October, 



