the property of the State, This does not
direct the selling of State property, but
merely the selling of the State's interest in
works of internal improvement.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I hope that amendment
will not prevail. The property in banks is
very distinct and separate, very unlike the
interest in internal improvements. The
stocks of the banks have been productive,
and the proceeds available as a part of the
annual revenue of the State; and this has
been beneficial to the State. The interest
of the State in the stock of the banks has
been distributed for school funds, and for
various other purposes, which might bede-
ranged very seriously by a diversion at once
of the whole amount to a different object,
through the medium of a public sale. I
think it would be rather a dangerous experi-
ment. The money would be received, ex-
pended and gone. We now have the annual
interest, and the hanks pay a large interest.
No better investment can be made, and I
suppose no safer one. We have no reason to
apprebend danger, I think, at present, and I
do not think it would he expedient to resort
to such a sale without any particular cause.
I think it would better remain as it is.
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I desire to inquire
of the chairman of the committee whether
they have considered the effect this section
would have upon the capitation tax which the
State basin the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
and especially in the Washington branch of it?
That is an interest in a work of internal im-
provement; a very material one, and one
which I should be very reluctant to see the
State part with. I do not see how it can
be well disposed of; and I do not presume
that was intended.
Mr. SCHLEY. It was not.
Mr. STIRLING. I hardly see how it could be
sold.
Mr. JOSEF, of Somerset. Still it is an in-
terest in a railroad.
Mr. SCHLEY. I hope the amendment of the
gentleman from Allegany will not prevail,
It is a mere financial question, which I think
may well be left to the discretion of the
Legislature and the Comptroller of the
Treasury, who will be from thus the best
judges what provisions may be properly
made. The section refers to works of inter-
nal improvement which may have a political
character, and is entirely different from the
question respecting the banks. It may be
very advisable that the State shall sell all its
bank stocks, but I am not prepared to say
that it is, or to direct such a policy.
The amendment was rejected.
Mr. MILLER moved to strike out "shall"
and insert "may" in the first line; and also
to insert "any of" in line two, so as to read;
" The General Assembly may pass laws to
sell the State's interest in any of the works
of internal improvement," &c. |
Mr. MILLER said: It seems to me that we
are touching upon a matter of vast impor-
tance to the State, and we are doing it at a
time when the Convention is not sufficiently
full to give to it that consideration which its
importance demands It is proposed here,
by this section of the legislative article, to
make it the imperative duty of the Legisla-
ture to part with the State's interest in all
the great works of internal improvement in
the State. It imposes the obligation to
part with the State's interest, not only
in one of them, hut in all of them. The
State owns, as stockholder and creditor, a
vast interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca-
nal; in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, both
the main stem and the Washington branch;
in the Tide Water Canal; in several Eastern
Shore roads, and in the Annapolis and
Elkridge Railroad. Now, it is proposed in
regard to all these, to compel the Legislature
to sell the State's interest, without leaving it
at all to the discretion of the Legislature, at
its first session.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Will the gentleman allow
me to read the amendment I had proposed to
offer? I proposed to add: "At such time
and on such terms as may be calculated to
secure a fall and fair consideration to the
State."
Mr. MILLER. It is a grave question whether
the State ought at any time to part with its
interest in some of those great works of in-
ternal improvement. The money that is to
be derived from this sale is to he applied to
the payment of the public debt of the State.
When is that public debt due? A large pro-
portion of it is not due for twenty years yet.
We make the sale of our interest now, and
go into the market for the purpose of pur-
chasing up the State stork. We make the
State a stock broker, a stock jobber in the
market. It keeps up the price of the State
debt in foreign countries and in this country,
to such an extent that it would be almost im-
possible to purchase with the proceeds of
these sales, at any reasonable rate, the State
debt. Most that is due is payable in London
in sterling currency. We should have to
sell the State's interest in these works in our
own depreciated currency, and then buy ex-
change in order to get the State stock in
Europe, if we undertake to buy that stock,
and if the proceeds of our interest in these
works is to he applied in this way.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is a pay-
ing stock for the State. It is as good an invest-
ment for the State's money, until the debt
becomes due, as we can possibly have. It
pays its interest regularly on the State stock
in that company, and pays a better interest,
perhaps, than any investment the Treasurer
or the Comptroller would be able to make.
So far as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is
concerned, that is a dead loss to the State.
There has never been any return made to the |
