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SEC. 4. That the said corporation hereby created shall be bound to keep said tracks, and a space of two feet beyond the outer rails thereof, and also the space between the tracks, at all times well paved and in good order, in such manner and with such material as may be directed by the board of commissioners of the District of Columbia, and if there be at any time no such board, then by the Secretary of War, without expense to the United States or the said city.

Paving of track.

SEC. 5. That nothing in this act shall prevent the Government, or the Right to alter proper authorities of the District of Columbia, at any time, at its option, grade of streets, from altering the grade, or otherwise improving all avenues and streets &c., reserved. occupied by said road, or the said District, from so altering and improving such streets and avenues, and the sewerage thereof, as may be under their respective authority and control; and in such event it shall be the duty of said company, at its own expense, to change their said railway so as to conform to such grade and pavement.

SEC. 6. That this act may at any time be altered, amended, or repealed by the Congress of the United States.

Company to conform to altered grade.

Right of repeal, .

&c.

Issue of currency

SEC. 7. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to authorize said body corporate to issue any note, token or device, scrip, or other not authorized. evidence of debt, to be used as currency.

Capital stock,

SEC. 8. That the capital stock of said company shall not be less than two hundred thousand dollars nor more than five hundred thousand shares. dollars, and that the stock shall be divided into shares of fifty dollars each, and shall be deemed personal property, transferable in such manner as the by-laws of said company may direct.

Cars.

Hours of run

SEC. 9. That the said company shall place first class cars on said railway, with all the modern improvements, for the convenience and comfort of passengers, and shall run cars thereon during the day, and as ning. late at night as eleven o'clock, and as often as every ten minutes.

Passenger rooms, depots, &c.

Rails to connect stables, &c., with main track.

SEC. 10. That the said company shall provide such passenger rooms, offices, stables, and depots at such points as the business of the road and the convenience of the public may require; and said company is hereby authorized to lay such rails through transverse streets or avenues as may be necessary not exceeding one block in distance in any one place, for connecting the said stables, depots, and offices with the main tracks; and the said company is hereby authorized to purchase or lease such lands or buildings as may be necessary for the passenger rooms, lands. ticket offices, stables, and depots above named, and not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars in value.

Purchase, &c., of

Record of arti

SEC. 11. That all articles of value that may be left in any of the cars or other vehicles of said company shall be taken to its principal depot cles left in cars. and entered in a book of record of unclaimed goods; which book shall be open to the inspection of the public at all reasonable hours.

SEC. 12. That within thirty days after the passage and approval of Opening books of subscription. this act, the corporators named in the first section, or a majority of them, or, if any refuse to act, then a majority of the remainder, shall cause books of subscription to the capital stock of said company to be opened, and kept open, in some convenient and accessible place or places in the city of Washington, for a period, to be fixed by said corporators, not less than two days; and said corporators shall give public notice, by advertisement in not less than two daily papers published in the city of Washington, of the time when and place where said books shall be opened, and subscribers upon said books to the capital stock of the company shall be held to be stockholders: Provided, That no one individual shall be allowed to subscribe for more than two hundred shares of scription. said stock: Provided further, That every subscriber shall pay, at the time of subscribing, ten per centum of the amount by him subscribed to the treasurer of said company, or his subscription shall be null and

Notice of open

ing books.
Limit of sub-

Payment on subscribing.

loaned.

or

void; and said payment shall in no case be withdrawn or loaned to any be withdrawn Payment not to member of said company. And when the books of subscription to the capital stock of said company shall be closed, the corporators named in the first section, or a majority of them, and, in case any of them refuse

choose directors.

to act, then a majority of the remainder, shall, within ten days thereFirst meeting of after, call the first meeting of the stockholders of said company, to meet stockholders to within ten days thereafter, for the choice of seven directors, of which public notice shall be given for three days, in not less than two newspapers published daily in the city of Washington, or by written or printed personal notice to each stockholder by the secretary or clerk of the said corporation. And in all meetings of the stockholders each Voting of stock share shall entitle the holder to one vote, to be given in person or by proxy.

holders

Board of directors, term.

Quorum.

urer.

board.

Vacancy in board.

ors

Power of direct

SEC. 13. That the government and direction of the affairs of the company shall be vested in a board of directors, seven in number, who shall be stockholders, and who shall hold their office for one year, or until others are duly elected and qualified to take their places as directors. And the said directors (a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum) President of shall elect one of their number to be president of the board, and who board and comshall also be president of the company; and they shall also choose a pany. Bond of treas- treasurer, who shall be a stockholder, and who shall give bonds, with security, to said company, in such sum as the said directors may require, for the faithful discharge of his trust; and said board shall also elect Secretary of a secretary, who shall also be a stockholder, and who shall perform such duties as usually pertain to said office. In case of a vacancy in the board of directors, by death resignation, or otherwise, of any director, the vacancy occasioned thereby shall be filled by the remaining directors. SEC. 14. That the directors shall have full power to make and prescribe such by-laws, rules, and regulations as they shall deem needful and proper respecting the disposition and management of the stock, property, estate, and effects of the company, not contrary to the charter or the laws of the United States or of the District of Columbia: Provided, That the directors of said company shall have power to require the subscribers to the capital stock to pay the amount by them respectively subscribed, at such time, (after the first installment,) in such manner, and in such amounts as they may deem proper; and if any stockholder shall refuse or neglect to pay any installment as required by a resoluDefault of pay- tion of the board of directors, after reasonable notice of the same, the said board of directors may sell at public auction, to the highest bidder, so many shares of his said stock as shall pay said installment, (and the highest bidder shall be taken to be the person who offers to purchase Collection of as- the least number of shares for the assessment due,) under such general sessments by suit. regulations as may be adopted in the by-laws of said company; or said body corporate may sue and collect the same from any delinquent subCapital not to be scriber in any court of competent jurisdiction; and no part of the capi tal paid in shall at any time be withdrawn by said company or any

to make by laws, &c., for management of property.

Power of directors to regulate pay ments of subscrip

tions.

ment, sale of stock.

withdrawn.

Meeting for choice of directors.

member thereof.

SEC. 15. That there shall be an annual meeting of the stockholders for choice of directors, to be holden at such time and place, under such conditions, and upon such notice as the said company, in their by-laws, Annual report of may prescribe; and said directors shall annually make a report of their doings to the stockholders in general meeting.

directors.

Obstruction

of

passage of cars, injuring property.

SEC. 16. That if any person or persons shall willfully and unneces sarily obstruct or impede the passage of the cars of said railway, or destroy or injure the cars, depot, stations, or other property belonging to said railway, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay for each such offense the sum of ten dollars to said company, to be recovered and disposed of as other fines and penalties in said District, and shall remain liable, in addition to said penalty, for any loss or damLimitation of age occasioned by his, her, or their act as aforesaid; but no suit shall be brought unless commenced within sixty days after such offense shall have been committed.

suit.

Limit of time for construction.

SEC. 17. That unless said corporation shall commence to lay the said track within four months and complete their said railway within sixteen months after the passage of this act, then this act shall be null and void, and no rights whatever shall be acquired under it.

SEC. 18. That no person shall be prohibited the right to travel on any part of said road, or ejected from the cars thereof, for any other cause than that of being drunk, disorderly, unclean, contagiously diseased, refusing to pay the legal fare exacted, or to comply with the lawful general regulations of the company.

Exclusion from

cars.

Individual lia

SEC. 19. That each of the stockholders in the said railway company shall be liable individually for all the debts and liabilities of the said bility. company to an amount equal to the amount of stock held by such stockholder.

SEC. 20. That all the provisions of the act incorporating the Columbia Act incorporatRailway Company, requiring reports of expenditures, earnings, and ing Columbia Railotherwise, shall be applicable to the company herein incorporated, which way Company applied. shall make reports as in said act required. Approved, March 3, 1875.

CHAP. 162.-An act for the support of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and for other purposes.

March 3, 1875.

Tax on real and in D. C.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the support of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June personal property thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, there shall be levied, upon all real and personal property in said District, excepting only the real and personal property of the United States and that hereinafter stated, a tax of one dollar and fifty cents on each one hundred dollars.

Apportionment

Advertisement of

SEC. 2. That the amount collected under the provisions of this act shall be distributed for the purposes required under the various acts in of taxes collected. force in the District of Columbia, upon a just and fair apportionment to be made by the commissioners of the District of Columbia, or their successors in office: Provided, That before any of said fund shall be expended, said apportionment shall be established and published by apportionment. said commissioners at least six times, consecutively, in a daily newspaper of the District of Columbia; and said published apportionment shall stand as the law for the distribution of the funds herein mentioned: Provided further, That deficiencies in any of said funds enumerated in Deficiency of one said apportionment may be supplied from any surplus in either of said fund supplied from funds so apportioned; but, unless a surplus exists, the revenues belong. suplus of another. ing to one fund shall not be applied to the purposes of any other fund. SEC. 3. That one-half of the tax levied by this act upon real and personal property shall become due and payable on the first day of tax; when due. October, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and the other one-half of such tax shall become due and payable on the first day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-six; and in every case where the tax levied by this act shall be paid in instalments as herein authorized, each of said payments shall be deemed to have been made on the several funds installments to and for the different purposes indicated in the second section of this act; and an equal pro rata proportion of the payments so made shall be carried to the credit of the respective funds.

Installments of

Distribution of several funds.

SEC. 4. That if one-half of the tax herein levied upon the real and Delinquent inpersonal property taxed by this act shall not be paid on or before the stallments to sevfirst day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, said instalment eral funds. shall thereupon be in arrears and delinquent; and there shall be added, to be collected with such taxes, a penalty of two per centum upon the amount thereof on the first day of each succeeding month until payment of said instalment and penalty. And if said instalment shall not be paid on or before the first day of April, eighteen hundred and seventysix, together with the one-half of said original tax due on or before said first day of April, a like penalty shall be added on said last one-half of such tax; and the whole together shall constitute the delinquent tax on

Delinquent tox.

Tax-list.

tax-list.

Sale for taxes.

chaser.

such part or parcel of land, to be dealt with and collected in the manner prescribed by law.

SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the collector of taxes in said District to prepare a complete list of all taxes, on real property upon which the same are assessed, in arrears on the first day of May, eighteen hunAdvertisement of dred and seventy-six; and he shall, within ten days thereafter, publish the same, with a notice of sale, in the regular issue of a daily newspaper published in said District, to be designated by the commissioners of the District or their successors in office as hereinafter provided, once a week for three successive weeks, giving notice that if said taxes due, together with the penalties and costs that may have accrued thereon, shall not be paid prior to the day named for sale, the property will be sold by the said collector at public auction, at the south front of the court-house in the city of Washington on the second Tuesday of June following, between the hours of ten o'clock, A. M. and four o'clock, P. M..of said day to the highest bidder or bidders. Upon the day specified aforesaid the collector shall proceed to sell any and all property upon which such taxes remain unpaid, and continue to sell the same every day until all the real property as aforesaid shall have been brought to auction. Immediately after the close of the sale, upon payment of the purchase-money he shall issue to the purchaser a certificate of sale; and if the property shall not be redeemed by the owner thereof within two years from the day of sale, by payment to the collector of said District, for the use of the legal holder of the certificate of the amount for which it was sold at such sale, Deed to pur- and fifteen per centum per annum thereon, a deed thereof shall be given by the commissioners of the District, or their successors in office, to the purchaser at the tax-sale, or the assignee of such certificate, which deed shall be admitted and held to be a good and perfect title in fee-simple to any property bought at any sale herein authorized: Provided, That no property advertised as aforesaid shall be sold upon any bids not sufficient to meet the amounts of tax, penalty, and costs; but in case the highest bid upon any property is not sufficient to meet the taxes, penalty, and costs thereon, said property shall thereupon be bid off by the said commissioners, or their successors in office, in the name of the District of Columbia; and if within two years thereafter such property is not redeemed by the owner or owners thereof, by the payment of the taxes, penalties, and costs due at the time of the offer of the sale, and ten per centum per annum thereon, a deed for said property shall be made to said District, as in cases of individual purchasers: And provided also, That minors or other persons under legal disability be allowed one year after such minors coming to, or being of, full age, or after the removal of such legal disability, to redeem the property so sold, or of which the title has, as aforesaid, become vested in the District of Columbia, from the purchaser or purchasers, his, her, or their heirs or assigns, or from the District of Columbia, on payment of the amount of purchase-money so paid therefor, with ten per centum per annum interest thereon as aforesaid, and all taxes and assessments that have been paid thereon by the purchaser, or his assigns, between the day of sale and the period of such redemption, ten per centum per annum interest on the amount of such taxes and assessments, and also the value of improvements which may have been made or erected on such property by the purchaser or by the District of Columbia, while the same was in his, her, or their, or its possession.

Amount of bid requisite.

Persons under legal disability.

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SEC. 6. That the collector of taxes, immediately after he shall have made sale of any property as aforesaid, shall file with the comptroller a written report, in which he shall give a statement of the property advertised and the property sold, to whom it was assessed, the taxes due, to whom sold, the amount paid, the date of sale, the cost thereof, and the surplus, if any, and the lands so as aforesaid sold to the District. Any surplus remaining, after collection of taxes, penalties, and costs on any real estate, shall be deposited by the collector of taxes to the credit of the surplus fund, to be paid to the owner or owners, or their legal rep

resentatives, in the same manner as other payments made by the District of Columbia.

Distraint of

Advertisement.

SEC. 7. That when the instalment of one-half of the taxes on personal property so as aforesaid due and payable on or before the first day of goods, &c., for personal-property tax. October, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, shall not be paid on or before said date, or when the remaining instalment shall not be paid. on or before the first day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, then, and in either such event, the collector of taxes may distrain sufficient goods and chattels found within said District, and belonging to the person, persons, association, firm, or corporation, charged with such tax, to pay the taxes remaining due under the provisions of this law from such persons, firm, association, or corporation, together with the penalty thereon and the costs that may accrue; and thereupon said collector shall immediately proceed to advertise the same, by public notices posted in front of the court-house and in the office of said collector, and by advertisement three times for one week in some daily newspaper published in said District, as hereinafter provided, stating the time when and place where such property shall be sold, the last publication to be at least six days before the day of sale; and if the taxes and penalty thereon for which such property shall have been distrained, and the costs and expense which shall have accrued thereon, shall not be paid before the day fixed for such sale, which shall be not less than ten days after the taking of such property, the collector shall proceed to sell, at public auction, in front of the court-house, to the highest bidder, such property, or so much thereof as may be sufficient to pay said taxes, penalty, and accrued costs and expense of such distraint and sale. The collector of taxes shall be allowed, for making such distress and sale, the same fees as are now by law allowed to the marshal of said District for making levy and sale of property under execution. Said collector shall report in detail every such distress and sale, in writing, to the commissioners of the District, or their successors in office; and his accounts, in respect of every such distress or sale, shall forthwith be submitted by him to the accounting officers of the District and audited by them. Any surplus resulting from such sale shall be paid into the treasury of the District, and, upon being claimed by the owner or owners of the goods and chattels, shall be paid to him.

Sale.

Collector's fees.

Report.

Surplus.

Property exempt

SEC. 8. That the property exempt from taxation under this act shall be the following and no other, namely: First, houses for the reforma- from taxation. tion of offenders, alms-houses, buildings devoted to art or belonging to institutions of purely public charity; church buildings, and grounds actually occupied by such buildings; houses to improve the condition of seamen or soldiers; free public library buildings and cemeteries; secondly, the lands or grounds appurtenant to any said house or building, so far as reasonably needed and actually used for the convenient enjoyment of any said house or building for its legitimate purpose and no other; but if any portion of any said building, house, grounds, or cemetery so in terms excepted is used to secure a rent or income, or for any business purpose, such portion of the same, or a sum equal in value to such portion, shall be taxed against the owner of said building or grounds; thirdly, such property as is now exempt from taxation by the laws of the United States; fourthly, goods, chattels, and other personal property owned by persons domiciled in said District, but whose legal residence is out of said District, and which property is taxed elsewhere; fifthly, the stock (so far as the individual owner is concerned) of any corporation which is taxed on its capital in said District; sixthly, all property exempt by law from execution, including all libraries or books in use and not held for sale, not over the value of five hundred dollars, and all household, store, shop, or office furniture, or tools, not held for sale, not over the value of five hundred dollars.

SEC. 9. That from the assessed value of the credits only of any per son there shall be deducted the amount of any valid and bona-fide debt or debts, which any such person shall individually and absolutely owe,

Deduction for

debts.

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