Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/841



prints as they, or a majority of them, may think proper, and such of the said subscribers as shall be present at the said meeting, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered and required to elect a president and six directors, for conducting the said undertaking, and managing all the said company’s business and concerns, for, and during such time, not exceeding three years, as the said subscribers, or a majority of them, shall think fit; and, in counting the votes of all general meetings of the said company, each member shall be allowed one vote for every share, as far as ten shares, and one vote for every five shares above ten, by him or her held at the time, in the stock of the said company; and any proprietor, by writing, under his or her hand, executed before two witnesses, may depute any other member or proprietor, to vote and act as proxy for him or her, at any general meeting: Provided, also, That no officer or director of said company shall, under any circumstances, be allowed to vote on any stock but his own.

4. And be it further enacted, That the said president and directors, and their successors, or a majority of them, assembled, shall have full power and authority to appoint, and, at their pleasure, dismiss such engineer or engineers, and agent or agents, as they may deem expedient, and to fix their compensation; and to agree with any person or persons, on behalf of the said company, to cut canals, erect dams, open feeders, construct locks, and perform such other works, as they shall judge necessary or expedient, for completing the canal hereinbefore mentioned and described; and, out of the money arising from the subscriptions and tolls and other aids, hereinafter given, to pay for the same, and to repair and keep in order the said canals, locks, and other works necessary thereto, and to defray all incidental charges; and also to appoint a treasurer, clerk, and other officers, toll-gatherers, managers, and servants, as they shall judge requisite, and to agree for, and settle their respective wages or allowances; and to settle, pass, and sign their accounts; and also to make and establish rules of proceeding, and to transact all other business and concerns of the said company, in and during the intervals between the general meetings of the same; and they shall be allowed as a compensation for their trouble therein, such sum of money as shall, by a general meeting of the stockholders, be determined: Provided always, That the treasurer shall give bond, in such penalty and with such security, as the said president and directors, or a majority of them, shall direct, for the true and faithful discharge of the trust reposed in him, and that the allowance to be made him for his services, shall not exceed three dollars in the hundred for the disbursements by him made; and that no officer in the company shall have any vote in the settlement or passing of his own account.

5. And be it further enacted, That, on all subscriptions which shall not be paid, as hereinbefore provided, in certificates of the stock or debts of the present Potowmac Company, there shall be paid, at the time of subscription, on each share one dollar; and thereafter, when the company shall be formed, the stock subscribed shall be paid on such instalments, and at such times, as the president and directors shall, from time to time, require, as the work advances: Provided, That not more than one-third part shall be demanded within any year, from the commencement of the work: nor any payment demanded within any year from the commencement of the work: nor any payment demanded, until at least sixty days’ public notice thereof shall have been given, in such public newspapers as the said president and directors shall direct such notices to be published in; and, whenever any subscriber shall fail to pay any instalment called for by the company, it shall and may be lawful for the company, upon motion to be made in any court of record, after ten days’ notice, to obtain judgment against the subscriber so failing to pay; or the said company, at their option, may, after giving sixty days’ notice, in such public newspaper, printed within the District of Columbia, as they may judge proper, sell the stock of such subscriber; and, if the proceeds of any such sale shall exceed the sum demanded, the surplus, after paying the expenses of such sale, shall be paid to the subscriber so failing, or to his legal representatives; and the purchaser, at such sale, shall become a stockholder, and be subject to the same rules and regulations, and entitled to the same privileges, rights and emoluments, as original subscribers under this act.

6. And to continue the succession of the said president and directors, and to keep up the same number: Be it enacted, That, from time to time, upon the expiration of the said term for which the said president and directors were appointed, the stockholders of the said company, at the next general meeting,