xii REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.

cent per bushel on Oysters, and suggest that the subject be con-
sidered with a view of making such change as in your judgment,
will render this part of the law more efficient.

ASSETS.

The State's Capital and Credits, as of September 30, 1901, are
shown in statement "I." The stock of the Washington Branch
of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, amounting to $550,-
000, and the $1,500,000 mortgage of the Northern Central
Railway Company are still continued in the productive column
notwithstanding the fact that dividends have been passed on the
former since 1896. In my judgment this is a most valuable secur-
ity and under the authority contained in Joint Resolution No. 10,
of 1900, the Attorney-General has taken "such proceedings as
shall be adequate and proper for the fullest assertion and protec-
tion of all rights of the State." The mortgage of the Northern
Central Railway Company has already been fully alluded to in
these remarks.

STATE DEBT.

The funded debt of the State at the close of the fiscal year, as
shown in statement "J" is, $6,509,326.13, an increase of $200,-
000 over the year previous. This increase, has been fully ex-
plained in these remarks, by the issue of the remainder of the
$500,000 loan known as the "State Building and Improvement
Loan." The net debt of the State in said statement on Septem-
ber 30, 1901, is shown to be $2,662,344.29, which is an actual re-
duction since January 1, 1900, of $225,698.66, which reduction
would have been, during the same period, $725,698.66, except for
the issue of the $500,000 loan authorized by the Legislature of
1900 as per Chapter 607.

While in statement "J," the gross funded debt is $6,509,326.13,
the offset to this debt, consisting of stocks and bonds (at their
par value) together with cash standing to the credit of the sink-
ing funds, aggregates $3,846,981.84, leaving the net debt as above
stated, $2,662,344.29. The securities so held by the State are
highly valuable and, in my judgment, if a proper price were ob-
tained for them the tax of 4 1/2 cents on the $100 levied to pay the