The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-05-22
eB The communication by Tax Payer"

by official authority, and embraces state
ment of facts in regard to the debt, condi-
ton of the school houses of the county,
and the crippled condition the schools are
certain to be placed in, by the penny wise
policy pursued by the County Commission
ers in their farcical effort at political econ
omy. True economy in public officers is
the handmade of honesty, and in every
way commendable; but the economy which
robs the children of their Just rights to
education. is the most transparent sham
and shoddy ever attempted. The article
referred to informs us that there remains
a debt of $4,000 on the School Board
which costs the tax payers at least $1,000
year in interest, and the deficit in the
amount of tax levied will cost the children
one quarters schooling, at least, and prob.
ably more. Paying Q per cent interest out
of the taxes on a school debt is not curtail-
ing the taxes, or tightening the burthens
| of the taxpayers, but entailng on them a
yearly dead loss, while the schools are
crippled and the public school system de-
moralized as long as such short sighted
policy is pursued. The debt has to be
paid by the payers eventually; then
why waste the public money paying high
rate of interest? In eight years the tax
and interest paid to keep the interest on
SO, 1000 down, will represent a sum equal
to the principal, and the principal still
remain burthen, unpaid, on the property
of the county. A levy of twenty five cents
for public schools would have paid off a
large part of this remaining debt, and
relieved the taxpayers of the loss of the 8
per cent interest it entails upon them, and
the children would not have been robbed
of a one-third or one-fourth of the time
for education. The judgment of an intel
ligent community must condemn such a
! false economy as this, which wastes the
taxes to pay heavy interest on debt which
that waste should be employed in reducing.
The question is simple one and may be
stated thus:-If it is the demand of the
a1-payers to have public schools, that
determination carries with it the provision
to levy sufficient tax to carry them on
properly, keep them open the full time,
and provide and keep in proper repair,
that public schools are demanded by the
overwhelming voice of the public, carries
with it and includes all the above requi-
sites. The people do not want the taxes
u,,ofo1 lint they intepl apouub ,nopay
shall be levied to judiciously carry out the
above requirements of a public school sys-
tenn. The County Commissioners, by an
insufficient levy, have clearly defeated this
implied demand of the public, wantonly
crippled the public schools and entailed
useless waste of a portion of the tax by
divertng it to the payment Of heavy
interest. Was this miserable financial
laundering perpetrated through ignorance,
or for the purpose of manufacturing little
cheap popularity? The Board must choose
one of these horns of the dilemma, and we
confess to some curiosity to know which
one they will select.
1t is no evidence, whatever, of ability in
the management of public affairs, to refuse
to levy money that is demanded by the
plain provisions of law, by the public well
fare and public opinion. Why not refuse
to levy taxes sufficient to pay the Court
expenses the Almshouse expenses, or the
necessary demands for roads and bridges,
as well as rob the children of their school
ing? The principle of levying clearly
insufficient amount of tax for any one or all
of these purposes is precisely analogous to
this robbery of the innocents.
Mark this important fact. 1t is not an
extravagant and unnecessary portion of
tax cut off by the County Commissioners,
but the curtailment of portion of the tax
indispensable to carrying out the public
school law; and as we have above stated,
why not deduct 40 per cent from the levy
for any other department of the county
government? Why select the public schools
that are borne down already by a heavy
public debt? We fail to see any economy
in this brilliant stroke of policy which
robs children. In fact defrauding the
children in this way is both morally and
politically, infinitely worse than defaulting
in the payment of jurymen, witnesses, or
even road supervisors (D