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1580 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Apl. 3,
scription should be made by others before he would subscribe
in too name and behalf of the State.
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Was the proper proof required by the State Treasurer ?
It appears from the papers on file in the office of the Treas-
urer of the State, that an affidavit was filed with the Treasurer
on the 22nd day of October, 1872, dated October 19tb, 1872,
and sworn to by Samuel S. Smoot, President of the Southern
Maryland Railroad Company, to the effect "that 6ona fide
subscriptions to the capital stock of the Southern Maryland
Railroad Company equal in amount to the sum authorized
by said Act has been made in money, and that the said
Company is entitled to tie benefits of said Act as soon as
the recommendation of the Commissioners of St. Mary's
county to that effect, shall be filed in the office of the said
Treasurer." On the 30th day of January, 1873, the State
Treasurer subscribed for 1,630 shares of the capital stock of
the Southern Maryland Railroad Company of the par value
of $100 per share, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of
$163,000, upon the faith of this affidavit. No other proof
of any kind seems to have been required by the State Treas-
urer. The undersigned find that the officers of the Company
have failed to show that this affidavit was true, and are of
the candid opinion from the testimony taken before the Com-
mittee, that said affidavit was not true. The Committee
having refused to summon Mr. John W. Davis, (at the time
of the transaction, the Treasurer of the State,) the under-
signed are unable to say what representations, if any,
were made to him other than those contained in the
said affidavit: they feel it their duty, however, to say
that if any other proof was required, the Treasurer
either failed to exercise that careful supervision which the
magnitude of the transaction called for or else misconstrued
the Act of 1868, chapter 454.
In relation to the warrants issued by the Comptroller, and
the payments made by the Treasurer of the State to the va-
rious assignees of the Southern Maryland Railroad Company,
the undersigned must report that the provisions of the Act
oi 1868, chapter 454, are so plain as to leave no doubt in
their minds, but that said warrants have been issued and paid
without compliance with the provisions of said Act, either by
the Company or by the Comptroller of the Treasury. The
subscription having been made by the Treasurer of the State,
as above recited, the State became a stockholder in the Com-
pany with the obligations and the same rights as any other
stockholder, except that the Act of 1868, threw additional
safeguards around the State's subscription. The State could
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