Our road will pass, for nearly its whole length, through an agricultural country equal to any in the richness and variety of its productions, and containing beds of coal and iron sufficient for the demands of the nation for ages, and will bring to the seat of the General Government, by the shortest and cheapest route, from the great West, full supplies of the best food, timber, fuel, and other necessaries of life. The maximum grades of the road will be, going east, 52.8 feet per mile; and going west, 79 feet per mile; and these grades, elsewhere than in the great mountain-chains, may be regarded as exceptional. There will be no curves under a radius of 1,000 feet. The estimated cost of the road by the line indicated by the prelimi nary survey, for the grading, masonry, bridging, and superstructure, from Hamilton, Loudoun County, Va., to Ravenswood, on the Ohio River, is $14,536,802, for a single track, using 56-pound iron rails, and including six miles of tunneling. Judging from the results of the business of other roads of like general character, but having less favorable conditions, this road will not only meet all demands upon it, but will prove highly remunerative. It is now built and in use for 52 miles, nearly to the eastern base of the Blue Ridge Mountain, in Loudoun County, and is being pushed on as rapidly as the means of the company will allow. The financial condition of the company is fully and truly set forth in the accompanying annual report for the year ending September 30, 1874; and much interesting information regarding the road, and the country through which it will pass, is given in the pamphlet herewith, entitled "The Washington and Ohio Railroad-a glance at the country through which it passes," published in 1873, to which we respectfully ask attention. To enable the company to complete their road to the Ohio River, by way of the coal and iron fields of Virginia and West Virginia, they are desirous of the co-operation and aid of the United States Government. We presume a report upon our line will shortly be made by the Engineer Department, in pursuance of the Senate, reported by the Committee on Transportation-Routes, and also upon various other routes in Virginia. We deem it proper to state that the cost of our road, ready for use, to the Ohio River, according to the estimate of our engineers, will be, for a single-track road, with a 56-pound rail, about $15,000,000, from its present terminus at Round Hill, Loudoun County, Va., to Point Pleasant. This estimate is based upon a very careful preliminary survey, in making which every part of the route was examined. If the United States Government will guarantee the bonds of the company to the amount of $30,000 per mile, including the part already built and in operation, we will secure the Government by a first mortgage on the entire road, and will leave our mail pay in their hands as security until the bonds shall be fully paid; and will enter into such further guarantees as may be reasonable and proper. By order of the board of directors. ALEXANDRIA, December 15, 1874. LEWIS MCKENZIE, President. 2d Session. No. 47. TAXATION OF NATIONAL BANKS. MEMORIAL OF REPRESENTATIVES OF NATIONAL BANKS OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. JANUARY 21, 1875.—Referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency and ordered to be printed. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : The undersigned, representatives of national banks in the city of Cleveland, respectfully represent that the taxes assessed on national banks in Ohio are exorbitant, unequal, unjust, and oppressive. Exorbitant, inasmuch as they are not only assessed for county, State, and municipal purposes, but also by the General Government on capital stock, circulation, and deposits. Unequal, inasmuch as money invested in bank-stock is required to pay three or four times as much tax as money invested in real estate or any other species of property. Unjust, inasmuch as State banks, savings banks, and private bankers, with whom national banks have to compete for business, are more lightly taxed, if at all, and enjoy immunities not guaranteed to national banks. Oppressive, inasmuch as the tax, in the aggregate, amounts to nearly, if not quite, five per cent. on the capital stock, while they are restricted to the legal rate of interest, which in Ohio is 6 per cent., or by contract $ per cent. We therefore beg you will so modify the national-bank act as to relieve national banks from excessive taxation. ROBERT HANNA, president Ohio National Bank. JOHN F. WHITELAW, cashier National City Bank of Cleveland. 2d Session. No. 48. The expulsion of members of the Louisiana legislature by the armed forces of the United States. JANUARY 25, 1875.-Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed. Resolved by the general assembly of the State of Ohio, That the recent expulsion of the members and officers of the Louisiana house of representatives by an armed force of United States soldiers, after the body had been duly organized in a manner similar to that which the courts of the State had pronounced lawful and proper, was an outrage utterly defenseless in its atrocity, and calls for the severest censure and punishment on all its actors, aiders, and abettors. Resolved, That the governor be requested to furnish a copy of this. resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and to the governors of the several States. GEORGE L. CONVERSE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ALPHONSO HART, Passed January 14, 1875. President of the Senate. THE STATE OF OHIO, Office of the Secretary of State: I, William Bell, jr., secretary of state of the State of Ohio, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of joint resolution therein named, passed by the general assembly of the State of Ohio, on the 14th day of January, A. D. 1875, taken from the original rolls on file in this office. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the seal of this office, at Columbus, the 15th day of January, A. D. 1875. [SEAL.] WILLIAM BELL, JR., |