Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/117

 scribed by this city [Baltimore] alone, is four millions one hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollars, divided amongst twenty-two thousand names Each name will be entitled but to 7-10ths of a share which will be further reduced by the subscriptions in Frederick and Hagerstown, which are not yet ascertained, but are supposed to amount to two thousand shares. It is believed that of this subscription, which outruns so largely the fund contemplated to be raised, but a comparatively small part has been made with a view to speculation. There is, therefore, every reason to think, that the stock is principally in the hands of persons who intend and are able to hold it."

The question of stock subscription brings up one of the points of conflict between the canal and the road—a government subscription to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. We have seen that the government had subscribed for ten thousand shares, or one million dollars, in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company stocks. Accordingly, the Board of Directors, headed by Charles