The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-02-20
RAILROAD BILLS.
The II. and O.'s Additional StOck-The
Belt Railroad Charter

The b. and O.'s Additional stOcIt-The
Belt Railroad Charter.
The two bills before the House Of Dele
oates which are regarded as being of the
highest Importance, were brought into the
House by the ways and means committee
on Friday of last week The first Of these
is A bill directing the tax commissioner to
assess the ten millions Of dollars Of addi-
tional stock issued by the Baltimore " Ohio
Railroad Company November II, 1891,
and ratified by the stockholders five days
later, and to collect the State tax thereon,
and in case of the neglect or refusal by the
company to pay the taxes, then the attor-
ney- general is required to proceed to their
collection by process of law. The second
of the bills is an act TO amend the charter
of the Belt Railroad so as to make it I'M
lawful for the Baltimore 4 Ohio or the
Northern Central Railroad to use the tracks
of the Belt Road until those companies
have surrendered their exemptions from
taxation, under penalty of 500 for every
day the tracks shall be so used upon the
company so using, and 500 upon the Belt
Company for every day it shall permit the
use of its tracks without such surrender of
exemptions, with.a further penalty of for
fixture of their charters by all the roads
violating the law.
Accompanying the bill is a voluminous
paper giving the reasons for reporting the
bills and urging their passage. 1t is signed
by each member of the ways and means
committee. The paper sets forth that both
these bills were recommended by Governor
Jackson in his recent message 1t contends
that the B. & o. should not be exempt
from taxation beyond the strict letter of
its charter If the question were free from
the embarrassment of a decision of the
Court of Appeals rendered forty years ago,
and subsequently followed out as a prece-
dent. there is but little doubt that the orig
inal exemption would now be held uncon-
stitutional 1t was granted in the face of
an existing article in the Bill of Rights of
the constitution precisely similar to the
fifteenth article ofth present Declaration OF
Rights. In the cagerness to build the road
this provision was overlooked. Notwith-
standing that the exemption was repugnant
to the constitution, it was held by the
courts to be an irrepealable contract between
the State and the company, and then this
exemption was extended from the stock TO
the property of the company which it rep
resented. The decision did not satisfy the
popular intelligence and sense OF right.
They seemed to extend the original surrcn-
der of its sovereignty by the State beyond
what was believed to have been contem-
plated and created in the popular mind a
resolute purpose to restrict the surrender
as much as possible, and there is an opinion
that no further privileges should be granted
to this corporation unless it agrees to-sur-
render its exemptions. This public senti-
ment found expression in the adoption of
the amendment to the constitution OF the
State The purpose for which the Balti-
more and Ohio was Incorporated was long
since accomplished by its completion to the
Ohio river, and the object for which the
exemption was given has been achieved.
All capital stock now issued is plainly in
excess of and beyond the original under
standing, and no good reason can be given
why privilege originally limited should
be indefinitely extended, to the prejudice
of the people.
The committee propose, therefore, that
the ten millions of stock recently issued
should be assessed and valued by the tax
commissioner as the stock of other corpo-
rations is assessed, so that the question of
its liability to taxation shall be fairly sub
mitted to the courts for decision. With
regard to the bill amending the charter of
the Belt Railroad Company so as to pro-
hibit the use of its tracks by the b. Il o.
R. r. until that company shall surrender
its tax exemptions, the committee says the
right to pass this bill is undeniable, The
charter is by express provisions subject to
alteration or amendment at the pleasure of
the Legislature. When the charter was
granted, in 1890, an amendment was offered
embodying the substance of this bill, but
it was voted down. The expediency Of
passing the bill is plain. The Belt Road
is the connecting link through Baltimore
between the B. & o. and its Philadelphia
extension. 1t is built in the interest OF
that corporation, that it might obtain indi-
rectly franchises which it did not dare to
ask in its own name because it knew that
a forfeiture of its exemptions would be the
price for the privileges asked. There is
no injustice nor breach of faith in the pro
posed law 1t will simply deny it the use
of clever device to obtain concessions
without paying for them. If the use OF
the Belt Line is valuable to the Baltimore
& Ohio it should be willing to pay a fan
price for it, and in the opinion of the com
mittee the surrender of SITS exemptions is
fair and reasonable price for so great I
franchise. The opportunity to recover thu
right of taxation is too valuable to be lost
Equal justice requires similar restriction
as applied to the Northern Central, and il
addition to this the committee has unde
consideration Mr. Laird's bill to repea
chapter I6 of the laws of 1880, exemptin:
the Northern Central The practical re
suits of these proposed measures will be
large addition to the revenues of the State
THE WOOL BILL.