1500 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

cises control, has for many years fixed and maintained a freight rate
on all the coal mined and transported from Allegany county, Maryland,
to the seaboard largely in excess of the freight rate fixed and main-
tained by the said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for the transportation
of coal from certain points and mines in the States of West Virginia
and Pennsylvania to the said seaboard, although the haul from the
said mines in said Allegany county to the seaboard is much shorter
than from the said points and mines in West Virginia and Pennsylva-
nia ; and

Whereas the said Western Maryland Railroad Company, at the in-
stance of the said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and in order
to make effective the said illegal and unjust freight rate so fixed and
maintained on the part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company,
also charges the same excessive freight rate on coal shipped from the
said mines in said Allegany county, Maryland; and

Whereas the maintenance of the said onjust freight rate by the
said railroad companies is a direct violation of the Act of Congress of
the United States to regulate commerce and Acts supplementary thereto,
and works great injustice to the mining and industrial interests of
the State of Maryland, aud particularly of Allegany county and
impedes and retards the development of the mining resources of the
State; and

Whereas The George's Creek Basin Coal Company of Allegany
county, a mining corporation of Allegany county, Maryland, has filed
its petition against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the
Western Maryland Railroad Company before the Interstate Commerce
Commission of the United States in order to secure an order from
the said Interstate Commerce Commission directing the said railroad
companies to remove the said discriminating freight rate and the said
cause is now pending before the said Interstate Commerce Commission;
therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Attorney
General of the State of Maryland be and he is hereby authorized and
directed to appear before the Interstate Commerce Commission of the
United States and take such steps as may be proper and necessary to
have the State of Maryland made a party complainant in the said
case of the George's Creek Basin Coal Company of Allegany county
vs. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and the Western Mary-
land Railroad Company and to take such steps as may be proper to
assist In prosecuting said complainant with effect, and to protect the
interests of the State of Maryland as the same may be involved in said
proceeding before said commission and with a view of bringing about a
cessation of any discriminating rate charged by said railroad com-
panies or either of them for the carriage of Maryland coal; and

Be it further resolved, That the said Attorney General of the State
of Maryland be and he Is hereby directed to take such other and
further steps by way of independent action, suit or proceeding in the
name of the State of Maryland or otherwise before the said Interstate
Commerce Commission or in any of the courts of the State or of the
United States as he may deem necessary to secure the cessation of said
discrimination; and

Be it further resolved, That this resolution shall take effect forth-
with upon its passage.

JOINT RESOLUTION No. 3.

Joint resolution by the General Assembly of Maryland, requesting the
Senators and Representatives of the State in the Congress of the