St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1858-07-08
ST. MARY's BEACON.



The fact that our position in reference 70 The
AsxspaprT pabliSs.smcfthe County Charges"
has alrv~.iy Leen nrisrcprr<cnted. and is also
likely 0, be n,isreprrcntei hereafter. must he
our apology for asking the atttentiun Of our
readers to the subject once again. .Sny bdy
whe will take the tEussLar ~ Fca,l our article.
without prejudice. Ou the publication If the
County expenditures viii d. rs the justice to
acknowledge, that VIC contend IN no part Of It
EUr ke legal oBEgatiOn on the Commissioners
90 publish the County Charges ia orr paper.
Yettkc Jaw of 1902, un'lcr which the Com
nrissIoners lrctcnf to act, las been Quoted and
pasadd with . yiex to tIissen,iEatc the ice.
tiatraehases eensuEed these gentleman l0r nct
doing whas. q Is aIIeigesl, tins hw lorbids them
% do. Or cosyse, If people choose to nisrc-
PRESENT u. we sannOt help H. but We owe It to
our position MT 20 stay Inisreprssented. We
coasess, At Osces that we were ignorant Of the
provisions oFthis law whcn.w wrote the aEti-
Gle in question. but, II We took any pOsilion
inssssencc to .he legality Of the mode of pub
lieasiOh adopted by the Commissioners, tits the
eaSSest thing in the world to point i out and
We bsEe call upon those who have made, OF
are making. this charge against Is to test Tie
tvutE OT it BY = direct reference to the re-
cosd. The fact is, when We wrotc the article,
cur seAyictisns were, that It was discretionary
with the Commissioners tn give the County
Charges newspaper pubiication or not, as they
might think proper, and We certainly raised no
issue about the legality Of any other mode Of
publkAtion. The whole article bears iutrin-
&c evidence VI this impression, nor is there a
wssil In It which is inconsistent with this idea
The attempt therefore to make US responsible
fog position which We never assumed is
merely "weak invention Of the enemy, and
shows pretty clearly the uses 70 which even a
straw may be put in very desperate exigences
But the Law Of 1902. Here it is, and we ask
our readers 10 note the words in italics. ~
"An act to make pubic the proceedings Of
the Levy Courts in the several counties Of this
State.
Whereas, the sereTGl purposes for which
moneys are levied in the several counties Of this
State ought 10 be rs GESERALLY knOrn as pos
siJSe, therefore: .'
De u enacted de, That the Levy Courts in
the several counties Of this State shall ANNUALLY
cause their Clerks respectively IL make out ~
many fair and correct lists Of the moneys lev
ned tor County Charges as there are election
districts in the county, specifying therein the
amount levied for the roor, the amounts, If
any. levied for repairing the Court House or
jail IN the County, Glso for making and repair
ING bridges and roAds, also the amoUia which
may ne levied for GHy OTHER purpose, clearly
desigsGte5 Gssder yeHerGl heals, dc.
Now, whether themOde Of publication mention
Cd ny this law is the only mode which tie Com
nIissinnerA ran leoails, a = = -. "a
best mode TO make lin the language of the pre-.
smblel cas- generally known a. possible" 'tlle
scvcra! purpOsss !Ug which moneys are levied"
We shall not undertake in this cus.nection to de-
eide. Perhaps the letter is in conflict with the
spirit Of the law, and perhaps il is the duty of
the Commissioners 10 be governed by the fur
mer. Il is very certain, however, that every
Commissioner Court which has set here since
1853, with the exception Of the present one,
has caused the County charges, to be annually
published 10 the Beacon. 1t isscqually certain
thst both the lcsteS and the spirit of the Act Of
1902 is disrcgarded when a statcment of the
County Charges" is permitted to he pnbfsIred
las is the case now which does not designate
1.-The ssraSd purposes for which moneys are
LOWED" nor punt ont, ''IRder general heads, )"
the particular purpose" to which the public
fund Aas bern applied. A wonderful Act is
this Act Of 1902. When it becomes necessary
TO reach sSuPpO~ed enemy, it is first-ra,e law
and Of Binding obligation it is inconve-
nieat to be explicit in The Iss sG County charges,
IL is no law n all. We submit. if the Act of
iso2 il law at all, it is Law all ovcr-law for
the Commissioners as wen as for us.