1874.] OF THE SENATE. 157

ning parallel and competing lines of road through different
parts of Baltimore city, have rendered it now impossible for
this Company, or any other, in the city of Baltimore, to con-
tinue to run, and meet just and reasonable expectations of
the public in affording suitable accommodations and dispatch,
unless relieved from some of the burthens imposed by the
provisions of their original charter and its supplements.

There is no Street Railway Company in any part of the
United States, receiving as little compensation for the same
services performed, as those in the city of Baltimore, nor is
there any road operated at as heavy an expense growing out
of the excessive grades of our streets.

And while your memorialists have refrained, up to this
time, from asking legislative relief from the burthens and re-
strictions placed upon them by the provisions of their charter
and its supplements, for the reasons above set forth, they now
find that it has become an absolute necessity for them to
make this appeal, if they are to continue the running of their
road in a manner suitable to the public wants and necessities.

The tracks and roadbed of the Baltimore City Passenger
Railway Company have now been in constant service for a
period of fifteen years, and much of the same has become ab-
solutely worn out, many of the cars are almost in a condition
ot delapidation, and the entire appliances and running-gear
of the road are not such as the public are entitled to expect.

But what are your memorialists to do in the premises?

It lias already required them to strain every energy and
exhaust every resource to keep up the road, even in its pres-
ent condition, and pay the very heavy taxes incumbent upon
them by the provisions of their charter. The reorganisation
of the road, the relaying of the tracks, and the building of
new cars, have now become an absolute necessity, if this Com-
pany is to continue to run.

But your memorialists are utterly powerless lo the accom-
plishment of this, unless they have some relaxation from the
Legislature, of the stringent provisions of their charter, re-
quiring them to pay one-fifth of their entire gross receipts to
the Park tax of the city of Baltimore, and at the same time
be limited to a charge of a six cent fare.

That certain, of the Companies now running in the streets
of the city of Baltimore, have a right to charge and collect,
under the provisions of their charter, seven cents fare for each
passenger, while your memorialists are restricted to six cents.

All of which is an unjust discrimination against your mem-
orialists, and ought to be remedied in a manner calculated to
relieve them from their present enbarrassment.