Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1877-06-23

lShed, not so mucn lIolu tie dCtuai ie
duction of the toll that the order makes,
as from the advantage taken of the law
bv those who wish to use this road and
70 avoid paying toll under every posi-
ble preteXt
l herewith submit for your inspection
a tull statement of all the facts in con-
nection with this matter, and leave you
to draw your own conclusions.
The annual receipts at the Shepherds
town gate for the year ending April the
30th, 1876, and April 3Oth, 1877, are
comparatively as follows:
For the year ending April 30, 1876:
Regular monthly toll at the Shep-
herdstown gate. .Sl9I 81
Farmers toll paid .27.OO
Irregular toll. oll..................242o
Total at the Shepherdstown
gate for the year ending -
April 80, 1876.
1877.
Regular monthly toll at the Shep-
herdstown gate. 30
Farmers toll paid up. ..... 40 10
Irregular toll S40O, includ
ed in farmers toll. Total at
the Shephcrdstown gate for
the year ending April 80, II. .s224,O5
The difference in the two years. part
of the first and the whole Of the last
year being under the operations OF the
new order, is seen to be just $25.O0 at
the Shepherdstown gate.
The annual receipts at the Halltown
gate for the same time, namely, the
years ending April 80, 1876, and April
so, 1877, are as follows: For the year
ending April 80, 1876,
Regular monthly toll ........ .S5S.3S
Farmers toll paid up............2l.75
Total at Halltown for the year
ending April 80, 1S76.......SsO.l3
1877.
For the year ending April 3Oth, 1877:
Regular mouthly toll ..........s5O,l 10
Farmers toll paid up. 500
Total at the Halltown gate
for the year ending April -
80, 1877. ....,. 500 10
The difference at the Halltown gate
is, under exactly the same clrcumstan-
ces, in the two years, just s24.OO.
Now / can readily account to you for
a part of the difference at the Shep-
herdstown gate AS you will observe
there is only difference of S12.S5 in
the regular monthly toll of the two
years, which is caused, probably, by the
order of the Court in reducing the toll.
But the difference Of the S2O.25 in the
two years irregular toll is caused by the
suspension of the entire works at the
paper mills in Shepherdstown, and the
partial suspension of the cement mills
on the Potomac, below town, which to-
gether formerly yielded about from S25
to $50 annually.
The difference in the increased amount
of the Farmers toll paid in for the year
ending April-3Oth, 1877, Of S4O.lO, in
addition to about $50 worth of stone al
ready delivered on the road for the pay
ment of their toll for the years 1877 and
1878, over the s27 paid up for the year
ending April goth, 1877, shows mark,
ed contrast in the Shepherdstown and
Halltown communities.
AT Shepherdstown, nearly all the
Farmers who were in arrears for toll
Except those hopelessly delinquent by
law promptly responded to the notice
given in the papers on the lst day OF
January, 1877, and paid their toll either
iu money or in the delivery OF stone on
the road. / am sorry, however, to IN
form your honors, that at HalItown,
from some inexplicable cause, this notice
was entirely disregarded, except by avery
few individuals whose prompt response
stands to their credit on the gate books.
Your honors will observe in this report
as we'll as in the inspection of the gate
books, that the decrease in the receipts
at Halltown are proportionately much
greater than they are at ShepherdStown.
The difference in the receipts at Shep-
herdstown, in the two years. in an ag-
gregate of S473.10, is $25. At Hall.
town, in two years, in an aggregate OF
S13626, Is just s24.
In the former place the decrease IN
the toll in the aggregate of two years,
is not quite per cent, while at the lat
ter it is over 20 per cent. This state
ment shows plainly that the reduction
in the receipts at the respective gates
cannot be from the effect of the order
of the court reducing the toll. If it
did, the per cent of the decrease would
be about the same, on the aggregate, at
the two gates.
The great disproportion of the per
centage OF the receipts at the two places
is to be sought for in different direc-
ton.
Out of about SS5 of toll &c Farmers
by the year, only Sc or 81 have been
paid in in the last year. These ac
counts will now be placed in the hands
of an officer for collection. Others pass
the gate regardless of the call Of the
gate-keeper, as privileged class OF cit
liens their toll has, however, been
regularly booked against them, and their.
accounts will also be placed in the
hands of an officer for collection, and It
will then be left with your honors to
say whether the edicts Of the court shall
be regarded or not. If the mandates of
the court are equally enforced none
have right TO complain if they are
not there will DE in future just cause
of complaint, and probably a refusal
upon the part OF the public to pay toll.