1418 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [Ch. 790]

wife-beating or the keeping of or inmate of a disorderly house,
sentence such person to hard work on the streets of said town
for a period not exceeding twenty days, or to confinement in
the Maryland House of Correction for a period not to exceed
six months, or less than two months. (21) The council shall
have the power to levy a tax and impose a license upon all
gas companies, electric light companies, water companies, tele-
phone companies, brokers; real estate and insurance agencies,
pool rooms, billiard rooms, bowling alleys, located in or doing
business in said town, merry-go-rounds, and all mechanical
inventions of leisure operated in said town. (22) The council
shall have the power to provide for the codification of all ordi-
nances which may hereafter be passed. (23) The council
shall have the power to remove or cause to be removed, or to
render secure any house or houses, buildings or other objects
that may be dangerous to property, health or to the life or
to the limbs of persons entering said house or building or
passing along or over, any of the highways of said town or
residing in the neighborhood thereof. (24) The council shall
have the power to suppress vagrancy and gambling within the
limits of said town. (25) The council shall have the power
to provide for rigid enforcement of the Sabbath law by pre-
venting all bodily labor on the Sabbath day, except acts of
necessity and charity. (26) The council shall have the power
to purchase, receive and hold such real and personal property
as may be necessary or proper for the town. (27) The council
shall have the power to grant for a period not exceeding
forty years, upon such terms, rates, fares and charges and
conditions as may be presented by ordinance, specific franchise
or rights in or relating to any of the public property or places,
as the right to use any highway, avenue, street, lane or alley,
either on, above or below the surface of the same, and in or
along its water front and wharf property; every such grant
shall specifically set forth and define the nature, extent and
duration of the franchise or right; shall make provision by
the way of forfeiture or otherwise of the grant for the purpose
of compelling compliance with the terms of the grant, and to
secure efficiency of public service at reasonable rates and main-
tenance of the property in good condition throughout the full
term of the grant; and for the purpose of carrying out all
the aforegoing powers they may pass all ordinances from time
to time as they deem necessary, and all ordinances and reso-
lutions now in force shall remain in force until repealed or
altered by competent authority; no provisions of this act shall
affect any right, lien or liability existing at the date of its