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projects in this period."a Changes in the charter began soon
after the company had been incorporated. The size and width
of the canal locks were modified;- additional time for com-
pletion of the works was given,lal permission was given for the
company to clear the Shenandoah River (which empties into
the Potomac at Harper's Ferry),152 and restrictions on the
movements of slaves between Maryland and Virginia were re-
laxed. " Hardly a request of the company was ignored." 151 In
spite of the utmost assistance of both legislatures little more was
accomplished in the 'nineties.
Attracting sufficient capital to finish the works was the fun-
damental difficulty, and -here too the legislature encouraged
and assisted, although not always to the extent that the com-
pany desired. Following the English pattern, shareholders in
these early corporations were required to pay in only a portion
of the price of the stock when purchased and were subject to
future calls by- the president and directors as capital was
needed. When called for, capital was slow to come in, and
there were many delinquencies. In 1790 the legislature pro-
vided the company with speedier methods of recovering de-
linquent shares.l5' Laws were also passed permitting the com-
pany's capital to be enlarged, and during 1794 and 1795 Mary-
land purchased 100 shares of this issue. By an act of 1790, for-
eigners were allowed to buy Potomac Company stock; this was
probably to attract Dutch capital.'55
Reporting optimistically on the progress of the canal to the
legislature in 1796, Governor Stone said that " froth the best
information which I have been able to obtain, the works on
that river will be complete in twelve months." The governor
recommended that other internal improvements, such as the
Susquehanna Canal, should be aided from the dividend that
the Potomac Company would soon be paying on the state's
"s Davis, 11, 126.
1150 Md. Sess, 1785, c. 3, 1796 c. 19.
15l Ibid., 1790 c. 35, 1794 c. 29.
152 Ibid, 1792 Apr. c. 9, Davis, 11, 134; Maryland subscribed for sixty
shares
of this project.
""Davis, II, 133.
1°& Md. Sess, 1787 c. 25, 1790 c. 35, A. Md. Gaz., Mar. 5, 1789, p. 3,
calling for
delinquents to pay up or be prosecuted.
1r6 Md Sess., 1795 c. 51, 89, Davis, 11, 133; Md. Sess., 1790 c. 35.
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