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762 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 9,
The following statement was submitted:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company asked the
State of Maryland to release it from the payment into the
State Treasury of the charge imposed upon sums received
from passengers transported over the Washington Branch
Road since the tenth day of December, 1870, the period at
which it reduced its fare between Baltimore and Washington,
and on all fares on the Washington Branch Road, in conse-
quence of the judgment of the Superior Court of Baltimore
city, rendered upon that day.
As a consideration for this release, the Company agree to
reduce its maximum rate of fare under its charter, between
Baltimore and Washington, from the sum of $2.50, fixed by
the Act of 1832, (chapter CLXXV.,) to $1.50.
The Company further agree to pay at once into the Treas-
ury of the State the proportion of the passage money on the
Washington Branch Road claimed by the State, and ascer-
tained by judgment, to January 1st, 1870.
It also agreed to pay into the Treasury, before the 1st day
of July, 1872, the one-fifth of the receipts from passengers
on the Washington Branch Road, from January 1st, 1870,
to January 1st, 1871.
It also agreed to pay into the Treasury twenty-five thou-
sand dollars, in lieu of the charge upon passenger receipts
for the year ending January 1st, 1872.
It also agreed to pay, in perpetuity, out of the gross re-
ceipts of the Washington Branch Road, in each and every
year after January 1st, 1872, the annual sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars.
Although of the opinion that the details of this proposed
settlement should be included in one bill, it expressed its
willingness that these propositions should be embodied in
reselutions reported by the Joint Committee—being satisfied,
if the resolutions passed by a sufficient majority to show that
the Senate and House would give effect to them by proper
legislation, to pay into the Treasury the principal sum
claimed to January 1st, 1870, with interest due thereon. It
was content to rely upon the justice of the General Assem-
bly, for the liquidation of its counter-claims against the
State.
The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars a year was sug-
gested as a reasonable and ample equivalent, because it is
more than the State could claim by way of taxation, if the
entire common stock and preferred stock of the main stem,
and the entire stock of the Washington Branch Road,
excepting only the stock belonging to the State of Mary-
land, and to the City of Baltimore, were subjected to State
taxation.
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