and if it had not been for the rebel raid the
receipts of the canal would probably have
amounted to $50,000 more.
Mr. NEGLEY resumed: Even take it at that
the amount of its earnings above its expendi-
tures is nothing in comparison to the immen-
sity of the coat of the work. The State of
Maryland has $5,000,000 of stock and
$2,000,000 of bonds, amounting to $7,000,000
in that canal. Will she ever get any interest
upon that? It is utterly impossible. Under
the present management of that canal, the
State of Maryland, if it continues for ten
thousand years, will never get one cent in
exchange for the money she has therein
invested.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE, I wish to ask the gen-
tleman a question for information. What
proportion of the entire value of that canal is
held by the State, and what proportion by
private stockholders?
Mr. NEGLEY. I see that the State holds
$5,000,000 of stock and $2,000,000 in bonds;
and that more than $9,000,000 of interest are
due by the canal to the State of Maryland, I
presume upon this stock and these bonds.
Can the State of Maryland ever hope, under
any management of the work, if the canal
were to float half the navies of the world, to
get back even the interest of the money we
have invested in it? We never can get acent
from that canal. It is the true and sound
policy to sell our interest in that, and liqui-
date an equal amount of the public debt upon
which we are paying interest continually.
Suppose we sell the State's interest in the
canal for $1,500,000, is it not better to do
that, and realize the money, and stop the
interest of the State upon $1,500,000 of the
public debt? if that had been done twelve
years ago, at compound interest, the State of
Maryland might have realized $3,000,000 out
of that. It is high time for the State of Mary-
land to part with her interest in that work,
and stop this eternal payment of interest
upon the debt of the State, and non-realiza-
tion of anything for the money she has invest-
ed in this work.
I am in favor of the sale—in favor of sell-
ing out entirely the interest of the State of
Maryland in its stock. I do not believe it is
right and proper for any government to be a
stock-jobber. I believe it is the foundation
of corruption. There never was an instance
yet in which a State or government had its
fingers in any such corporation in which she
was not cheated on all hands, and made an
instrument of corruption on all hands. It is
infinitely better for a government or a State
to keep its hands entirely clear of any stock
operation. If we must have taxation, let us
have direct taxation. If we must raise a
revenue, let us raise it in some special way,
where there are no means of corruption. But
let us sell out our interest in these public
works. Every State north of us which has |
sold out its interests in its public works has
done well. We are to look to the interest of
the State, and the interest of the people of the
State.
lathe case of Pennsylvania, have the inter-
ests of the people of Pennsylvania suffered by
the sale of the public stock? No man will
say so. No man can say so. The public
works of Pennsylvania, in which the State
had an interest, are infinitely better managed
now than ever before. The people along the
line of public works have greater facilities of
transportation than they ever had belore.
The argument of the gentleman from Balti-
more city (Mr. Thomas,) is first, that if yon
sell the State's interest in the Baltimore and
and Ohio Railroad and in the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, then some foreign capitalist will
get hold of it and work it to the detriment of
the State of Maryland and the people of Balti-
more city. The next argument is, that if Balti-
more city sells her interest in it, some people
of Maryland who own that stock will work
it to the detriment of the city of Baltimore.
The argument leads to this, that the State
must hold on to the works of internal im-
provement, and that the city of Baltimore
must bold on to its works of internal im-
provement.
How can we get at the practical working
of the sale by the city and State of its inter-
est in these public works? Only by the
operation of similar sales in other States.
Looking at it in this view, there is every
inducement for the people of Maryland to
dispose of all their interest in all their public
works. The first thing to be looked at is
this. I would be in favor of selling the inters
est of the State in the unproductive stocks
first and foremost. Let all her unproductive
stocks be sold. Let the money obtained
there from be invested, or be used in taking up
an equal amount of the State indebtedness.
The State gets rid of paying so much interest
on her debt. She now must pay this inter-
est, and realizes nothing from her unproduc-
tive stocks.
After yon have done that, sell your pro-
ductive stocks as fast as you can wipe out
the State's indebtedness; and keep on until
the entire indebtedness of the State is wiped
out, and the State is entirely free from any
interest in the public works.
I think this is a subject of very great im-
portance; and I think the convention would
better refer the entire matter to a select com-
mittee of five, who shall take it into their
serious consideration, and report. The con-
vention ought to be careful how it acts upon
a matter of so much importance. These mat-
ters of finance ought not to be hurried over.
They are subjects of calculation and reflec-
tion. I think it would be infinitely better to
raise a committee of five or three competent
men, who are familiar with these subjects,
and let them report to the convention, and |
