with the increment of the sinking fund, I
would merely suggest the conversion of the
funds into the United States five-twenties,
which will keep it always at par with the
currency at all events. There is no necessity
I think just now, to take that money to buy
sterling bonds. Times will change—we hope
they will. When they do, they can be availed
of at discretion, to convert them into sterling
bonds.
The argument the gentleman makes that
the canal is a dead loss and might therefore
very well be disposed of, is not the argument
of the friends of that work, or those inter-
ested in that work, by reason of its locality.
I myself believe that it is a dead loss, and
unproductive to the State, and injurious in
many respects. I think it ought to be sold,
and can be sold advantageously, and con-
verted into an increment of the sinking fund,
The gentleman says as a question of public
policy, that it is not for the interest of the
State to part with the control of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad. I beg him to re-
member that she has a mere nominal control
in that work; and contrasting that work,
over which she has a merely nominal control,
with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, over
which she has absolute control, the gentle-
man will see that the individual control of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company has
made it prosper and inured to the public
benefit, while the canal has become a dead
loss under the control of the State interest.
Mr. MILLER. Will the gentleman tell me
how many directors there are in the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company ?
Mr. SCHLEY. I do not know how many
under the increase of directors. There were
ten when I was Commissioner of Public
Works, a few years ago; and the city of Bal-
timore had eight. The two combined would
have a controlling influence; but the difficulty
was that you never could combine the State's
agents with the directors of the city of Balti-
more. They never would agree upon the
same line of policy; and it is very probable
that if at any time there had been such a
combination upon the part of the directors of
the city of Baltimore with the policy laid
down by the Commissioners of Public Works,
that would have crippled the railroad com-
pany as effectually as it has crippled the
canal. The State's supposed control over
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is one rea-
son, I apprehend, why its stock is not quoted
in Wall street. I think that № a. very good
reason. The speculators, the dabblers in
stocks have no confidence in a company
which is under the influence of the State;
and they will not, therefore deal in the stock
as freely as in other stocks. I presume, and
it is the opinion of many financial gentlemen.
well informed upon this subject, that if the
State were to offer to sell her interest in this
work, it would then become an object of |
speculation among the Wall street men, and
the stock would immediately rise; because it
is now depressed and kept out of the market
for that reason.
1 do not see, therefore, in the gentleman's
argument any good reason for the conclusion
he arrives at. As a question of public policy,
it only concerns the State as to the value of
the investment. The control of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad is a nullity; and the con-
trol over the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has
destroyed it. If she can dispose of these in-
terests, I think eh" can dispose of the invest-
ment advantageously, as I have already sug-
gested, by converting them into United States
bonds. I think it is manifestly her interest to
do so, because the proceeds of the five-twenty
bonds being paid in gold, will at all times
enable the State to pay her interest on the
sterling bonds. I think that the policy is a
wise one to sell and get rid of the interest
of the State in works of internal improve-
ment.
Mr. MILLER. Some of the remarks made
by the gentleman from Frederick (Mr. Schley)
have some force in them. Still it strikes me
that he has admitted in his argument that
which is a good reason why the State should
not part with its interest in those works. If
the fact that the State holds a large amount
of interest in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
has prevented its stock from becoming a mat-
ter of speculation in Wall street, and coming
before the stock board there, I think it is
working and will continue to work a great
good to the State. What will be the result
of selling that interest? As soon as the
State parts with its interest in that road, you
will find the entire capital stock of this com-
pany bought up by the speculators of New
York, and controlled by New York capital
and New York capitalists, and they will then
have the entire management and direction of
the road, and can operate it, not for the in-
terest of the city of Baltimore or of the
State of Maryland, but for the interest of the
other routes and corporations, in which they
perhaps have a greater interest, and for the
benefit of New York city, rather than of the
State of Maryland. That has been the great
and forcible argument urged against all at-
tempts made to induce the Legislature, even
under our present Constitution, to part with
that property. I think that the very fact
that the State has that interest should induce
us to keep it and hold on to it, to prevent
this stock from becoming a fancy stock trans-
ferred to New York city instead of being held
in the State of Maryland.
The gentleman has said that we can in-
vest the proceeds of this sale in five-twenty
bonds, the interest of which is payable in
gold, and can pay oar sterling interest in that
way. The gentleman forgets that even at
the last Congress a proposition was made to
change the payment of those five-twenty |
