The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1879-11-28
The Baltimore and Delta Railway Co.

stockholders of the Baltimore and Delta Rail
way Company. From the notice itself it APP
pears that the chief items of business before
the meeting will be the reading of the annual
report of the board of directors and the cleo,
ton of Il new board to serve during the en-
suing year Although this is called the annual
report, we presume it will at the same time
cover the entire period from the organization
of the board of directors of the Baltimore
Towsontown, Dulaney's Valley and Delta
Narrow-Gauge Railway Company, ON the
gath of August, 1877 to the close of the pre-.
sent year.
Whilst it might he deemed mpertinent in
us to suggest to the directors what they
should say in their report, what it should EN-.
brace and what it should exclude, and whilst
ii would be rather hazardous undertaking
to discuss it before we know what il contains
we think we can safely say that portion of il
devoted TO the finances of the company will
be of most vital Importance. How much
money has been raised by subscription? How
much has been collected? How has that
money been expended, and how much money
must yet be raised to complete and equip the
road? These, we think, are the questions
that will be uppermost in the minds of sub.
scribers at the annual meeting
Doubtless every friend of the road is anx,
ious that the report be as encouraging as pos.
sible consistent with a strict adherence TO
truth. 1t will be scanned closely, not only by
subscribers, but by those who are expected to
help in the future and hence it is to the inter.
est of the company and to each member
of it that the board be able to make the best
possible showing. The question comes up,
what can the subscribers do to assist the
board in making such an exhibit at the an
nual meeting as will inspire Il greater degree
of confidence in the doubling and give new
courage to the many friends of the enterprise
who have worked bravely tor it from the
commencement.
Notwithstanding nearly one-half the road
is graded and the grading paid for, with the
exception of the fifteen per cent. held by the
company till the completion of the work, and
Notwithstanding the entire cost of canvassing
experimenting and engineering for over two
years has been promptly met, as well as all
incidental expenses; and Notwithstanding
the Scott-Leslie road has been nearly paid for,
there yet remains TO be collected of the UNI
conditional subscriptions nearly 100000
Now, what the subscribers can do and
what they should do without further delay,
is to pay up the balances due the company
before the close of the present year Were
they to do this it would give to the enterprise
mighty impetus. Nothing could possibly
sound better in the annual report than that
the stock subscriptions had all been paid up,
and that ample funds were on hand from that
source-as there would be-to pay for the
remaining grading and masonry.
The building of this road is becoming very
much matter Of business, and all the ethics
of business transactions among civilized and
Christian peoples apply to the transactions
between this company and its members, and
between individual members of the same cor
poration. 1t is evident that it was only upon
the presumption that subscriptions would be
paid promptly and without litigation that
men were willing to sign their names to the
subscription books of the company. They
presumed that their co-signers would pay
their subscriptions as funds were needed to
build the road; that they We're making obi
cations they intended to meet at the required
time, and upon the faith of these declarations
contained in the headings of the subscription
books and the rules of business generally,
those subscriptions were made, and about
one-third of them have been paid
Now, we do not believe that half dozen
persons of the entire nine hundred who sub
scribei to the stock of this road did SO TO
mislead others; did so without having any
intention of meeting their obligations to the
company. But we will all agree that when
no time is fixed in which an obligation is to
be met, reas0naj4 time most likely was in
the minds of those making the obligations
Nearly all those unconditional subscriptions
were taken in the spring and summer of 1877
over two years ago-and certainly the
steady development of the enterprise must
have convinced every one that in due time
the subscriptions would be called for.
We know that these subscriptions are hard
to pay in most cases, principally because
they bring no immc late available return (;
but we should not forget that this trial comes
but once in lifetime, whereas the great high
way we are constructing we are building for
celtuIics, to serve as Il handmade not only for
us bat for our children, and our childrens
children, and that long after we have passed
through the period OF Inconvenience and an
noyance occasioncd by the payment of our
necessary contributions to It's construction,
it will be actively engaged in contributing to
our prosperity and happiness giving new
life and new energy to our people, and open
ing TO us new avenues to success now entire
ly closed
Evidently the ordeal has come The task
OF building the road is upon our shoulders
Our subscriptions are due, and the board is
pressing for their payment, in order that the
credit of the company should he maintained
by meeting promptly its fast maturing obi
cations.
Did we expect less than this when we made
our subscriptions? Certainly not We fore.
saw it all and gaugel our subscriptions ac-
corlingly, and now that the day has come
let US as brave men stick together, make the
effort necessary to meet our obligations to the
company, feeling assured that with the aid of
a completed road we will soon be in cond
ton better than ever before to fight the bat
tie of life
The annual meeting of the Maryland
State Dairymcn's Association will be held at
Central Hall, N. w. corner of Baltimore and
Holiday streets, Baltimore, on Monday, De