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754 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 9,
Two series of claims were made by the State against the
Company, which have been adjudicated, and are known re-
spectively as the "Capitation Tax" case and the "Gold
Case/'
The result of the litigation, upon the points presented for
adjudication, is well known, and has been officially furnished
to your Honorable Body in the Message of his Excellency,
the late Governor of the State.
The "Capitation Tax" case was a suit brought by the State
to recover one-fifth of the whole amount received for the
transportation of passengers on the Washington Branch
Road, and between the Relay House and Baltimore, on travel
between Baltimore and Washington.
On May 3d, 1875, the Supreme Court of the United States
affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals of Maryland,
sustaining the constitutionality of that provision of the Act
of 1832, chapter 175, which requires this Company to pay
semi-annually, into the State Treasury, one-fifth of the gross
receipts from passenger fares on the Washington Branch. In
this suit, the decisions of the highest judicial tribunals have,
therefore, been in favor of the State, and, promptly upon the
announcement of the opinion of the Supreme Court, the
Company paid to the State Treasurer the sum of $424,229.81,
the amount of the judgment and interest.
The other suit, the "Gold Case," was instituted by the
State to recover from the Company the difference between the
value of currency and gold on the amount of dividends on
the State's Preferred Stock, from July 1st, 1865, to January
1st, 1870.
The State claimed that the six per cent, dividend on this
preferred stack must be paid in gold—the Company that it
was payable in currency. In this case, the decision of the
Court of Appeals of Maryland, and of the Supreme Court of
the United States, were adverse to the State.
Upon the principle now conclusively determined, the Com-
pany had based its counter-claim against the State for the
sum of $289,529.65, for moneys advanced by the Company to
pay the interest on the State's sterling debt in London. The
Company was only required to pay six per cent, in currency—
in the language of the law creating the obligation, "a per-
petual dividend of six per cent, per anuum out of the profits
of the work, as declared from time to time."
At the urgent request of the State authorities, during the
period of very serious financial embarrassment, which re-
sulted from the war, when the premium of gold was high,
the Company advanced the additional sum beyond this six
per cent, dividend, which was needed by the State to
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