486 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

in the business of coal mining or clay mining in Allegany and
Garrett Counties, Maryland. The word "employee" as herein
used shall include miners, helpers, laborers, drivers, trappers,
roadmen, propmen, repairers, foremen, superintendents and
every employee engaged directly in or about the coal and clay
mine of an operator.

SEC. 3. There is hereby created for Allegany and Garrett
Counties, respectively, a fund for the relief and sustenance of
employees and their dependents, when said employees have
sustained injuries or disability in the discharge of their duty,
and for the relief and sustenance of the dependents of such
employees when death has resulted from such injuries; said
fund to be made up of the proceeds of the tax hereafter levied
and the increments from the investments thereof, as well as
such donations and legacies as may be made thereto. In order
to create and maintain said fund a tax is hereby levied and
imposed upon each operator and employee as follows: Upon
each employee in Allegany and Garrett Counties, a tax of
twenty-seven cents for each month or fraction of a month that
he is employed by any operator, and upon each operator a
like tax of twenty-seven cents for each month or fraction of a
month in respect of each employee paying the tax aforesaid,
and employed by said operator in Allegany and Garrett Coun-
ties. Such tax shall be due and payable monthly to the Treas-
urers of Allegany and Garrett Counties, respectively, in which
the mine is operated, and be payable on or before the twenty-
fifth day of the month next succeeding the month for which
such tax is payable. In order to secure the effectual payment
of such tax each operator is authorized and required to deduct
and retain from the wages of each employee employed by him,
on his pay rolls in Allegany and Garrett Counties, the sum
of twenty-seven cents per month or fraction of a month, if said
employee be employed for less than a month, and on or before
the fifteenth day of the month next succeeding the month for
which such deduction is made, shall make a report of the num-
ber of employees so employed, under oath, to the Treasurers
of Allegany or Garrett County, where the particular mine is
located, and on or before the twenty-fifth day of said succeed-
ing month shall pay over unto the Treasurers of Allegany or
Garrett County, as the case may be, the total amount so de-
ducted and retained from the wages of the employees for the
preceding month, together with a like amount to be paid by
the operator. It shall be the duty of the County Commission-
ers of Allegany and Garrett Counties, respectively, to enforce,
by appropriate remedies, the collection and payment of the
tax hereby levied; and to all taxes in default there shall be