10,913

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impact of this constitutional provision operating upon any

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charter Modification. It has also refrained thus far from

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carrying out a contract obligation -- that is to say,

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merger with the C&0 Railroad --which would undoubtedly

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bring it within the four corners of this constitutional

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section.

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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Clagett.

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DELEGATE CLAGETT: I don't believe you under-

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stood my question. My question really is what study

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was made by the Committee to determine the ability of

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the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to pay any such taxes if

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and when this protection went out of the constitution

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and they were required to pay it?

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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.

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DELEGATE GALLAGHER: We did not inquire into

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that. In addition to Judge Henderson, however, there

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was another member of the Ross Commission, Mr. Walter

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Lewis, who is quite familiar with this section, and it was

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his estimate that the impact of the exemption was worth

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several million dollars. We did not feel it was

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incumbent upon us to look into the ability of the railroad