St. Mary's beacon., 1858-09-09
From the Planters Advocate.
THE pT0MAC RAlL ROAD



eamea IN the Act Of 1858. ineornorasirv dis
BAAz4noRE AND PoToMAc RAalRoAn CerpaNy
designed 20 complete Reirect Railroad eenusrf,or
between Bassssaore ana Aqua Greek. assefoblel
~ this place on Thursdsy last. the 26sh uI, for
fRe larpose Of performing the duIies slevolytn~
ssn tnefe preparatory 20 an Organization OF the
company. 4he Commissioners preseat recra.
sented the four counties of ASrE A.rwn-,
PRIScE GEOReE's, CnAaLEs and Sr. M.pv,.
snd many citizens from the same counties were
'1sse an attendance, attracted by the aReves,;nv
character OF ihe proceedings
About noon, the Commissioners me, A The
Court House, and organized by the anno;ntmen,
- Cox John 8. SELEMAN, Of Anne Aruu-
AeL. n Chaarman. and Of JoHx w. Irrrws
ESQ, of Charles, ss Sect@aro. The IL, - ,h.
commissioners, as named in the Actnforesaid.
hav'ag been called over by the Secretary, the
iollowtRg were found to be in attendance
EDMUND J. PLOWDEN. of 81. Aervss
JOHN w. JENKINS, Of Charles,
FRANCIS THOMPSON, of Charles,
JOHN 8. SELLMAN, Of AHHe Aruisiel,
WALTER w. w. BOWIE, of Priace0ecrge's
WILLIAM X. BARKER, Of Prince Georges
THOMAS +. BOWIE, Of Prince Georges
WA. .PsNKNEY BROOKE, ofPrinca1 1eorge.s,
CtIARLESM lEJl-&s, eE Peins
The CHAIRsS1N stated that q feyaf dso4Sl.a CT
the Board being present, it was competent for II
TO organize aud to proceed 10 business. He
read the call under which they were assembled,
and remarked that their duties would be to inau-
gurate the enierprize, by taking measures for the
subscription OF such an amount of stock as would
esabit the Company itself 10 become speedily
organized. He hoped their deliberations would
lead to thss practical result, and announced tie
readiness of the CHAie TO receive any Preposr
tiOns that might be offered.
Hon. TuOMAs F. BowIE briefly addressed the
meeting, and read and explained some Of the
PreT.sleHs Of the charter. The functions of the
present meeting Inf Commissioners) were of
course merely temporary, and their powers limi-
ted. Ii was provided by the charter that so soon
as $50 600 Of the capital stock should be sub
scrabed for the subscribers were, by the Act of
assembly, Ps0 5acle created an incorporated
Company, aad @eWA have Immediate aatkoritv
10 choose President and Board OF Directors.
whose authority would supersede that of the
Commissioners. Consequently The deity Of the
latter appeared 90 be confined to the adoption OF
some plan by which the books might be opened
and subscriptions to at least ihe amount Of
$50 900 secured. He would propose that the
Secretary be directed to spread ut large upon the
records. the original Act of Incorporation (1S53,
chap. 1Si) aRa the .wo supplements thcreto
[Acts, 1854, chap. $50, and 1855, chap. 1927 y
aud also tha, the Secretary have authority to
pCOcWFe she necessary books for preserving re-
cords of their proceedings. Which propositions
were agreed TO.
Col. WALTER w. w. Bowiz said, that in
offering a suggestion as 10 the besi method TO be
pursued, with vie~ Of efecting the objects Of
the meeting, and of performing the duties ini-
posed upon them, by the law, he could have
wished 1t had proceeded from some one more
versed IN Railroad management than himself
de thought sOmehing definite was necessary to
be done in order 10 indicate that the Board was
IN earnest in their present action, and that pub
Ia h.
decisive action were adopted. He understood
this meeting to have been called for the purpose
Of enlisting this sympathy of the general public
IL had been suggested that general agent ought
To be appointed, to test the public feeling on the
enterprize, and to see how much would probably
be subscribed, in money, lasOr or maiernIs,' to-
wards the stock of the Comnany, and with -au-
thority to receive> such subscriptions
The CHAIRMAS[ [interrupting) remarked that
severcl routes bseig proposed for portions of the
road, there mGght be some difficulty made by
those who had Weir preferences ia the matter,
and who might be unwilling to subscribe as
much to one route as to another. -
Col. BowIE, resuming, said that the difficulty
might lie obviated by the Agent receiving sub
scnptions conditioned nPon the selection OF the
por,Icular route preferred by each subscriber.
Bur he did not think the difficulty would very
great in that behalf, there but little differ
encs in the advantages of the routes suggested.
IL seemed to him that the Board should proceed
10 suggest some course Of proceeding TO the gen
eral public meeting that was to follow. He fa-
vored the plan of an Agent, but would inquire
whether the Board had power to appoint one?
WuLAM X. BANKER, Esq. suggested II might
be better to invite the public into the meeting at
once.
Col Bowie said that the present was simply
a meeting Of the Commissioners, whose duty
il was to arrange all prelimnarIes, and then 70
suggest q course of proceeding TO the public. ii
they have power to appoint an Agent, they had
better suggest that Course to the public meeting,
so that he might be accredited wher appointed
Each subscriber, under the charter, was to pay
40 per share on subscribing, to provide for ex'
penses. If the Agency met with approval, then
all woud he willing to hand in their subscriptions
to the Agent, with the understanding that pos
sibly they would lose some portion OF the g.
ner share. ,f the enterprise should foil. Nobody
could be got to work for nothing, aud It was 'm
por:ant that al should be willing TO risk par
Of the small sum required to be raId IN.
Gen. BOWIE thought there could be no doub
Of the power to appoint an Agent as suggested
and cited sec 3 of the Act of 1853, chap. 194
as conclusive on the point.
Col. BOWIE, said he would then submit a def
mite proposition, and accordingly offered the fol
lowing order:
.'Oraered by the Commissioners that---b b
appointed as Agent to canvass for, and receiv'
subscriptions TO the capital stock of this ComPa
nv: and his compensation shall be one dollar PEI
share, to be paid ou; of the cash instalment o
two dollars, required by the Charter to be paie
at the time Of subscription, and such further sun
as may be agreed upon, not exceeding -Pe
cent upon the whole amount Of Subscription
which he may be instrumental in Obtaining"
Tie CHAIRMAN stated that the blanks in th'
order should be now filed, whereupon.
Col. PLowDES, of ST. Mary's, moved to Ill
the irst blank by inserting the name Of RosERl
Bowie, ESQ.,, Of Prince Georges, it beng tn
general opinion that he would be the best maj
for the place, if he wouIdpserve; and the motiOI
was unanimously adopted.
| The question being the filing OF the secont
blank, Col. Bowie said he learned that SOM
companies gave as high as 10 per cent in simila
circumstances but il seemed 10 him that 3 pc
cent would be q fair compensation.
! Col PLowDES was Of opinion that fre pc
cent would be found to be liberal and satisfacto
~ remuneration.
| 4 suggestion that committee Of three be ap
pointed TO consult with the Agent as TO the pc
centage having been concurred IN, the CHAIR aP
pointed Messrs Be- RkER, PLowDEN and HUI a
! such committee.
The Committee retired; and after an abstnnc
of some time rejoined the meeting. Its Chair