The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-11-23

Owners of the Havre de Grace
Perryyille bridge across the Susque
hanna river played SOo-to-1 sHo'
whom thew took over the bridge from
the. PENNSYLVANIA and they won Wheh
thew concluded negotiations with the
Bridge Commission appointed by tae
State to acquire the bridge.
The commission composed OF POM
n. Mackall, chairman of the etate
Roads Commission; Alexander Arm
strong. Attorney General, and VIII
liam M. Maloy, agreed to purcnase
the bridge for S585,OOO. Al thal'
the State saved 100000 by entrusl-
ing the negotiations Tor the purchase
Of the bridge to commission lnsteau
of buying it at a fixed price estao-
lished by the Legislature.
The owners of the bridge gos II
for nothing Their original capital
was $500. which was paid for purpos-
es OF organization. the Pelnsyi-
yania Railroad Company gave item
the bridge and even converted II my
q highway bridge for them. IL nao
previously offered the bridge TO tne
State. and when the State refused To
accent it offered it to the counties OF
Hartford and Cecil, jointly and sepa-
ratelv. if they would agree to main
tain il as a highway bridge. ne
counties, too, turned down the ohel'
Unless he railroad could get some
one 10 accept it and maintain IL DIS
highway bridge it would have oeen
under the necessity of removing IL
which would have cost large sum VI
,,onay II would have gwen the
bridge to any man or set of men Whc
could give a guarantee that 1t Woulo
no maintained as highway bridge.
Finally, in 1910, company com
nosed of the late Murray Vandiver
the late C. H. Pussy, Mlchael n
Fahrey; Omar D. Crothers. Inoma:
II. Robinson and two or three others
over the bridge and, operated 1t as
highway toll bridge. For the HIS
two or-thee years the bridge did no
earn enough to pay operating ane
maintenance charges; after that /
began to pay a small return anu d.
the use of the automobile became
general it's returns were larger. more
and more people used the bridge ever
though it was ID toll bridge, fatnel
than use the State bridge at como"
lingo, about 10 miles further up lh'
river During the war there was
big boom in the receipts OF the com
pany and these receipts continued y
he large after the war Last yea
the gross returns were about Sl0O,
600. while the operating an oman
tenance expenses were S55,oou
These expenses have remained falrls
constant eyr since the company toof
over the bridge.
1t is estimated that the gross rev
enue of the bridge company nave
averaged about 100000 a year fol
the II years it has owned the
bridge, or s72O,000. Operating ex
penses and maintenance during this
period have been in the ne1gnDo'
hood of s35O,O0O which means the
owners have collected in DIVIDENDS
something in the neighborhood O.
$4,000. In addition to this, the!
have sold the bridge to the state 1oi
s585.OOO. Next year the compai!
expected to earn $4,000 gross.
Some years ago the toll charges
the company made were the suDJec
of an attack before the Public Ser
vice Commission, and the commission
made a severe cut in them on the
ground that they were excessive
when compared with the price the
property had cost the owners. The
bridge company took the case to the
Court of Appeals, which decided the
Public Service Commission had nj