at was that they should be sold for an amount
Of the public debt equal to the amount of the
State's interest in the works. If the State has
$500,000 interest in any public work, and
should sell that whole interest for $250,000,
and with the $250,000 should buy $250,000
in State bonds, this section would be satisfied,
because the proceeds of the sale are invested
In an equal amount of State stock. The
proposition of the gentleman from Kent (Mr.
Chambers) was free from this difficulty, for
it provided that it should be "sold or ex-
changed for not less than an equal amount of
the present public or stock debt of this State.''
Bat here it is only that the proceeds of the
sales shall be exchanged for an equal amount,
no matter how much they are sold for. I
really cannot we how any other construction
can be put upon it.
Mr. MILLER. The gentleman from Baltimore
city puts a perfectly correct interpretation
upon the section. That was 'he reason that I
voted for it. It means that if the State can
sell its interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal for $2,000,000, for instance, that sale
Shall not take place unless the two million
dollars which the State receive for it can be
immediately converted into two million dollars
in the State debt. So in reference to the
sale of any other public work.
Mr. STIRLING. That has only reference to
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company,
It does not refer lo the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal. That is left entirely free from the
operation of this clause.
Mr. MILLER. The latter part of the propo-
sition is that they may be sold for the best
terms that can be obtained for them.
Mr. STIRLING. If they are sold for $50,000,
of $100,000, yon cannot buy a like amount of
State stock.
Mr. MILLER. That was the only object I
had in voting for the amendment. If there
is anything in the latter clause in conflict
with it, it does not meet with my approba-
tion. My idea was that you must sell the
State's interest in all these works of internal
improvement for what you could obtain for
them. For instance, if you should Bell the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stock: at fifteen
per cent. above par, the State might sell it for
one hundred and fifteen, but should not sell
unless she could get one hundred and fifteen
dollars of the stock of the public debt. So in
reference to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
company, if she could sell her interest for less
than the par value of the stock, she should
not sell that interest until she could convert
the proceeds of the sale of that interest, two
million dollars, or whatever it might be sold
for, into a like amount of the public debt.—
In order to carry outfully the power of sale,
I propose to perfect the section by adding the
words " exchanged for," so that it shall read
"can be converted into or exchanged fora
like amount of the public debt." I shall also |
propose to make the section applicable to the
now existing public debt of the State, and
not to any debt which the legislature may
hereafter create. With these two amend-
ments I think the proposition is as nearly
perfect as any one we could get with refer-
ence to our works of internal improvement.
I do not wish to confine the comptroller or
governor in the sale of these works to selling
them at their pair value. That was not my
intention, and I do not think it was the in-
tention of the mover of this section. I do
not think he intended that the concluding
part of it should be go considered.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I shall vote for the recon-
sideration for the additional reason that it
contains a provision, in my humble judg-
ment, which this body have neither law nor
justice to sustain; voting that the property
of other persons, held by the State in trust,
the interest in the banks, which belong in
fact—
Mr. MILLER, Will the gentleman allow me
to make an explanation and correction with
regard to that? The other morning speak-
ing of the bank stocks held by the State, as
shown by the comptroller's report, I said that
the amount was about $400,000, of which
$300,000 was held for the school fund. I
find that I was in error, and that the $300,000
held for the school fund are entirely exclusive
of the $400,000 held by the State in its own
right. I suppose that under this section the
comptroller and governor have no authority
to sell anything except the stock the State
holds in its own right, and would have no
power to dispose of that held in trust for the
school fund.
Mr. CHAMBERS resumed. I think the gen-
tleman labors under a mistake. The school
fund is held by the State as trustee, in the
name of the State. The clause at present
directs the sale of "the State's interest in
any banking corporation." It includes not
only bank stocks in which the State has the
interest of ownership, but those which it
holds as trustee, if you will introduce any
words to prevent that, I am content. If you
will say the interest which belongs to the
State, although I do not think it advisable to
sell even that, I am perfectly willing to acqui-
esce; but I hold it to be utterly iniquitous
and unjust to sell the interest in the name of
the State that belongs to other people; such an
interest as the courts of law would prevent a
trustee from selling. You have just as much
power to sell my stock as the stock of the
public schools. The State is the trustee; al-
though the stock stands in the name of the
State. Let it be made certain, so that we
may not hereafter have any difficulty on the
subject.
Mr. RIDGELY, The fund referred to by
the gentleman from Kent, consisting of the
distributive share of the State of Maryland in
the surplus revenue of the United States, for |
