The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-04-24
COUNTY FINANCES.

To THE EDITOR OF The CECIL WING:
The undersigned searched the columns
of the last issue of The Democrat again,
hoping to receive some light upon the
questions now agitating so many of our
tax payers-viz., what right had the com
missioners to misapply the bond fund 4:
where has it gone > and how shall the de
ticiency be met, without taxing the peo-
pie twice to pay the same debt. whether
that deficiency be called special or gen
eral? Alas. we looked in vain. Two
courses were open to the editor of Tile
Democrat.
% He might have disproved, if posi-
bic. the facts which we have asserted
again and again. He passes them by in
silence. Is that not an admission that
they are true?
(2) He might have said-"True. af-
fairs have been badly managed in the
past: in the future. however. the pres
ent reform board and reform clerk pro-
mise to administer them in accordance
with law
The first course he did not pursue, be-
cause it was impossible. Not wisely. he
feared the second; and to-day stands be-
fore the people of Cecil county loaded
with the odium that properly attaches to
one who attempts to excuse a lawleSS.
unbusiness- like, and indefensble admin
istration of county finances. Instead of
admitting the truth Gas we know he was
advised to do. by one at least of his party
colleagues in the Hole in the Wall y.
he has determined that. in order to make
a political defense he will deny or disre-
gard every popular right, and pursue the
same course of deception followed by the
commissioners for years gone by.
To scare investigators and hoodwink a
generous public. he declines the real is
sue: and. for justification of shameless
mismanagement. points to that annual
budget of misstatements. the general ex-
pense account. Shall we follow him and
heed his cry?
We recollect hearing story once about
Il shepherd boy. who, in order to have
some fun at the expense Of his elders.
raised the cry of wolf. wolf. Whereupon
they who heard him ran to his assistance.
but found no wolf there. This was fine
FUN for the boy. and pleased him so well
that he tried it again with the same re-
suit But by and by the wolf did come
in proper person. and the boy raised
the same old cry of wolf. wolf,-but his
elders had been there before. and had
learned from ocular demonstration that
he had lied, and. Judging that he was "
ing again. refused to heed his cry. In
consequence the wolf gobbled him nj and
carried him away.
that it is dangerous thing to lie But
we have referred to it for another pur-
pose-namely. that of showing that when
people lie, they have an object in view.
In the case of the boy the object was
fun. and his plan worked admirably for
awhile. but proved to he fatal at last.
In the case of the Commissioners.
when accused for years past (and last
Fall especially of levying heavy taxa
ton, they have cried. Were paying off
the bonds. We're paying off the bonds"
Year after year in this expense account
they have put down SO much for the pay
ment of bonds. the meanwhile guilty of
breach of trust in misapplying that
fund until the enormous sum of So, 800
of the public money $50 far as these an
nual statements show has gone where
the wopdbine twineth." Like the boy,
they want to deceive the people, and the
obliging editor has shouldered the bur-
den of defending that praiseworthy ac-
ton, and would even award to the Com
missioners the need Of praise for having
so slyly fooled their unsuSpecting con-
stituency. And when we poor mortals
have discovered that there is something
rotten in Denmark, and demanded to
know where our money has gone, we are
informed at once that it IS none of YOUR
business, and are reminded that our duty
is simply to pay our taxes and say no.
thing. though we be taxed a thousand
times to pay these eternally recurring
bonds.
1t is not sufficient answer to say, as
the editor of The Dcm0crat does in his
last week S rigmarole, that every item of
expenditure is recorded and open to in
vestigation, because the object and in
tcntion o.! publishing the annual state
mcnt is to furnish the people with the
truth without putting them to the trou-
BILE of exploring (before which the late
grand jury stood appalled) the hidden
mysteries of the Hole in the WALL
Nor is this matter Of levying money for
bonds and squandering it for other pur-
poses-we say squandering it, because at
best the money has been misapplied-
only talsehood contained in these state
nents for years past, inasmuch as they
make no reference whatever to the com
Iatii tllt AItlh anu
Treasurer of the Board. when it is
wei known fact that they amounted
to a sum variously estimated
at from two to three thousand dollars.
This fact. the editor in his first reply
utterly ignored, but traced the admitted
deficiency to the pockets of insatiate and
ovcrpaid school teachers. and the greedy
fingers of our mechanics who build the
county bridges. Why not be reasonable
If two or three thousand dollars were
distracted from the sums levied
for other purposes to pay those commits
sions. what necessity to fall back upon
poor school teachers and poor bridge
builders for an excuse for so alarming a
deficiency.
Now what connection there may be be-
tween the Justification of the annual state !
ments concerning the amounts levied for
bonds and the Withholding of any infor- |
nation as to these commissions. and how |
much of the bond money went to pay
them. we on the outside perhaps can
not tell. But when we recollect that the |.
editor has been forced to state that the /,
deficiency of $500 has gone !
into that capacious NAV, the clerks /,
pockets. would it require one of those |
poor school teachers (who caused the !