The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1870-02-12
Extension. of City Limits.

A bill was introduced into the House of Dele
gates on Thursday, Sd instant, by Mr.. Blake of
Baltimore, for the purpose Of extending the city
limits two miles into the county. Mr.. Blake
upon offering this bill bad the modest assurance
TO ask that it be referred to a committee COM
posed of the Baltimore city delegation entirely
Why did he not be comprehensive at once and
make the main feature of the bill, provision
that the matter be submitted al an election TO
the rioters of Baltimore city alone2 Why not
What interest could the Baltimore county people
have in the loss of one-6nh of their territory
and perhaps one-third of their taxable property
--one-third of their revenue-any more than her
delegates in the general assembly should be in
terested in being consulted upon the recommen-
dation of such bill in that body? The crisis
has come, and the people OF Baltimore county
must prepare to meet it.
There are two classes of interest involved in
the decision Of this question One is that the
people left outside OF the Two miles extension
will have the same-or nearly the same-amount
Oteouniy expenses to pay, while they will have
diminished the basis of their taxation to such a
considerable extent that the rate of taxation will
have 10 be put at much higher figure than at
present. In other words, every man, left on the
Baltimore county side OF the dividing line, will
have about 20 or perhaps % cents more tax on
the one hundred dollars to pay to support our
comfy government AT its present expense. Fell
log-citiZens of our county, are you ready to give
your consent 10 a measure that must bring lar
gertdz-biHs to your homes by our tax-collectors,
and all to crafty the grasping desire OF ambi-
tioas men in Baltimore city ? We trust the peo-
pie will be alive to their interests in this matter
and inauguraie movements calculated TO avert
the coming invasion.
But that class Of our county people who have
a still deeper interest in the affairs than those
left beyond the city limits 50 extended, includes
those who will be taken in" by the extension.
TheirinteEest in holding the city at bay can be
shown by calculations whose figures cannot mis-
lead those who have learned the rule of multi
plication. These people have now almost all
the convenience and comforts of city life, with
the advantage of country homes, for tax of 60
cents on every one hundred dollars worth of prop
erty they own. If they allow themselves to be
"taken in, f" neither their comfort nor their con-
veniences will be materially enhanced by the
operation, while they will be asked to pay ST. 10
cents on the one hundred dollars to pave streets,
to furnish gas light on Baltimore street two or
three miles from their residences-to aid in the
erection of that neucleus OF political combina-
tons, "wire-workings, 'log-roings," and
manipulations that promise 10 inscribe their dIa-
bolica histories on its walls year after year for
no one can tell how long-the ''City HAIL. If
once you are drawn into the vortex of its impure
waters, be assured there is no escape from your
being compelled to pay taxes enormous, for the
support of "marbe rings" 'grauit rings
slime rings" cement contracts, &C., in spite
of the efforts of the city councillors or nvestiga-
ting committees, to rescue the job from the re-
morseless grasp of the political maelstrom that
must inevitably play with the City Hall affair as
a tiny bubble upon its surface, until the proper
~ owners lie powerless at its mercy exhausted
by taxation, disguised by corruption, seeing no
remedy but a calm resignation to their fate
People in the city may undertake to show that
this picture is overdrawn, but FIVE years after
''the extension" as proposed, with the City Hall
still unfinished and the amount of its originally
intended cost quadrupled, those taken in" will
be willing to give additional cOloring to the
statement-now in anticipation fulfilled
With this extension our county will lose some
of her representation in the Assembly, while Bal
timore city will be proporlonably increased,
thus rendering the county legislative weaker,
and the city stronger in any future conflict of
interest between the city and the county. This
is an item of vital importance to all the counties
in the State, as the city's power in the Assembly
will be greater, she will be more potent in con-
trolling legislation in her own interests, and
against those of the balance OF the State.