10,893

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not take the chance of leaving it out, and if you will permit

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me the liberty of a slight historical excursion, I would

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like to tell you something about the Baltimore and Ohio

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Railroad and like corporations.

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In 1826, the Maryland General Assembly passed

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a charter creating the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It

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anticipated in that charter that the State of Maryland

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and the City of Baltimore would subscribe at least to half

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of the stock which would be available.

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As a result of that, Section 18 of the charter

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conferred what amounted to an exemption from taxation upon

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the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

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Now, under the decisions of the Supreme Court,

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a charter passed by a state conferred upon a corporate body

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is considered to be a contract between the two and is subject

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to all the protections of a contract, so that consequently

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once the charter has been conferred by the General Assembly

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the state could not alter or repeal it, and had to live

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within the terms of that charter, so that you may say

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that all the exemptions granted to the B&O Railroad by

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virtue of Chapter 112 of the Act of 1826 were irremovable.