10,898

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constitution at this time is this, that the Baltimore

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and Ohio Railroad has agreed to merge with the Chesapeake

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and Ohio Railroad. The very act of merger, we believe,

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will be enough to force the B&0 Railroad to relinquish

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its tax exemption, Despite the fact that the B&0-C&0

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have agreed to merge, they have not done a thing, and the

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Maryland Port Authority at the present time has petitioned

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the Interstate Commerce Commission to force the merger.

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If that takes place under the language we have

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before you and which exists presently in Article III,

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Section 48 of the Constitution, that will amount to taking

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advantage of one of the corporate prerogatives granted by

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the State of Maryland and will be conclusively presumed

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to be a surrender of the B&0 exemption.

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Under all these circumstances, therefore, we

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believe that we have to continue the language just the way

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it exists, except we have dropped one reference out to

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municipal corporations, because we don't feel that we want

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to take the chance that in monkeying with the language

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or in failing to put it in the constitution the State of

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Maryland will jeopardize the opportunity to eliminate the