Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1873-12-18

energcsiaehd earnest action been sppa'
rent orcsinecd. Then. indeed. thecroud-
ing into Leonsrdtown and the hurryiae to
and fro OF the corps Of engineers and Of
contractors BY the dozen. aud xell.timed
notices" and pass from " eo~respen-
dents" Of Baltimore Sun" or ssme City
Of Washington paper. and thence duly
transferred to the columns Of our lower
county papers. give unmisssable no.
,ice 50 that the Dell has business on
hand" aud that raid on the Treasury ut
Annapolis BY Dir. President Smoot is in
serious and active contemplation. You
have not forgotten. sir. that the order Of
the Bird Of Feb, 1873. authorizing the
State Treasurer to pay over to this Com
Pany the sum Of eighty thousand dollars.
vas .he signal for an immediate and almost
total cessation Of work along the whole
line OF the road from Brandy vine to Char
lotte Hall. and that neither vitality or re-
nswed energy was displayed until on the
very ere Of the Norember elections, and Of
the presentation Of this petition for the
transfer to them Of the balance Of the in
'crnal improvement fund, Internationally
and at once.
Now. sir. what has this Company done
since the date of last order t3rd Feb
1873 } to enti,le their petition for $50. 900
additional to favorable consideration p
Why. sir. with the exception Of having
! placed some six miles Of road under con-
tract (and that very lately they have done
nothing. absolutely nothing. On the con-
trary. Us jus. now stated. total cessa-
ton Of work was the immediate result Of
the order Of the Sid OF Feb last. and OF
the 500 men whom they claimed to have
in their employ at that date. scarcely 80 re.
manned on their pay rolls in April and
May following.
In the absence Of any detailed and Of
fetal account Of the cost of the road DOW
graded CSC miles) an approximation OF it
(,he cost only can be made. and after
deduc,ing same aud expenses Of engineer
corps FROM the amount Of money that has
been paid into the treasury Of the s. NJ.
Co. (and about which there can be no mis-
take) the sum Of eighteen thousand dol
lars ought ut presen. moment be available
for prosecuting the road to completion.
As per sworn statement of Col. Smoot
there has been paid in
| By private stockholders, SI63, 900
| Received from State on its stock, $4,000
Gross. S2l3, 900
Deduct cost Of Sc miles Of
road n; S5Onc per mile. $4,000
| Exptns's Of engineer corps, $1,000
| Az ailable balance in hand, $4,000
In making the above estimate the amount
of money realized by the Company from
| sale Of its ''seven per cent. gold bearing
bonds" has not been taken into account.
In sooth to say, it is not probable that any
grea; sum has accrued thercfrom. although
a formal notice has been given Con the
eve by-the-bye Of the presentation Of this
pcti,ion) to all holders Of said bonds "to
walk up to the Company's Office and receive
interest on same" II sales to any con-
! siderable amount have been effected, the
proceeds would swell the above balance to
ninety or one hundred thousand dollars
perhaps. and in view Of such being the
fact. there is less excuse or Justification
for present hurried up application for the
Estate aid and bounty"
Bu. it may be asked what danger can
possibly be apprehcuded to the Interest. Of
the State and county from acceeding to
the prayer Of this petition. when doing so
is necessary to the continued prosecution
Of the road to ultimate completion This
very pertinent question admits of this re-
ply: lst. That in view Of an available
balance OF eighteen to ninety thousand
dollars being on hand. as per above state
mcnt. no such necessity for granting this
petition exists or ought to be pleaded;
and secondly. that there are good grounds
for apprchending the misapplica,ion of the
fund now prayed for TO other purposes
than building of the road. For il was stated
and confessed in presence Of the Commits
sioncrs las, Tuesday. by Mr.. Domer. tho
chief Of the engineer corps. that IS or 40
thousand dollars of the frst instal,ment
given on 3rd Feb. 1873. wa. expended
how? in paying for work on road COM
ple,ed or in contemplation No. not at
oil. but was spen. BY the President of the
s. Ne. Co. in paying certain Mr. Chris
tie for his interest in contract made by
him with the Company for building ,hi.
very road at the rate OF sscenty-serem thou
sand dollars a mile. and that said con-
tract so purchased by Mr.. Smoo,, has no,
only not been cancelled, out has been as
sigaed to and Is noae held BY tie latter gtn-
t'emaa, who. should he be so inclined.