Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-01-03
MINING JOURNAL.
FROSTBURG. MD, JANUARY 3. 1891
Sample of Desperation.

ne tuIlDblIollu 1 t"to stpptdIo "
be engaged Just now in rejecting the
desperation of those West Virginia
interests still seeking to wrcst the
canal from Maryland ownership.
Like drowning men grasping at
straws, they can be seen in the mirror
of the Times catching at every little
pretext, making use of every little
bubble and urging every little tech
nicality to carry out their piratlcal
design.
But the last resort so far is the most
disgraceful in the chronology of frantic
attempts to steal the waterway. 1t
consists in discrediting the judicial
integrity of Judge Alvey with the view
apparently of affecting the final de
cision of the Court of Appeals. An
air of injury is affected, and the bond
holders of "A, without whose money
the canal would never have gotten in
sight of Cumberland, are held up us
in some sort usurpers attempting to
do something impossible, as Judged by
the past-restore and run the canal on
an honest business basis. The people
who have wrecked it seem hurt over
the fact that they are not to enjoy the
wreckers' reward. They fear, too, the
effect of season of honest manage
ment. They want no odious cOmuar-
isons drawn between business manage
ment and Doodle administration To
them restored, paying canal, with
an increasing business, would be u
growing hardship.
1t does not become this paper, or
any other, to say one word bearing ON
the determination of the issue before
the highest court, but we do want to
assure Judge Alvey that so far as he
has gone tae people of this coal region
believe he has done exactly the right
thing. And, aside from the legal
merits of the case, they believe his
determination was the best for the
State, especially for that portion
known as the coal reg ION.
We want to assure him also that the
people for whom we speak are
not interested in the work through
resurrected claims upon either its
corpus or revenues. With them the
poor old maltreated ditch is not Il
goose to be plucked to the bone. They
are concerned in it to the extent Of all
the Maryland coal it can possibly be
made to carry. They are concerned
in it especially TO the end that it shall
not pass into the hands Of aliens to
carry a competing product over Mary
land property to Maryland markets.
We submit, therefore, that the Times
does not represent the sentiment and
wish of the people who are expected to
furnish the carrying trade Of the
caual-who are expected to furnish
the basis of that revenue from which
Judge Alvey designs to pay every dol
lar of legitimate Indebtedness.
1t represents the other powers in TIE
county and elsewhere that have put
our great State in the iguoble attitude
of handing the canal over to an alien
interest for a consideration known to
be inadequate to pay all its lawful
debts-an interest pledged to repudia-
tion of certain bonds and other debts
in order that Its own Golfers may be
correspondingly enriched.
So that if public sentiment, such as
is represented by the press, is to be
allowed in criticism of Judge Alvey
for ultimate bearing upon the appellate
court, we want it distinctly understood
that the large body of workers in this
region who have not the cormorant's
interest in the canal, are not included
in the Times limited clientele. Our
people want it restored and re-ded-
icated primarily to the carriage of
Maryland coal-this as the best and
only means Of promoting Maryland
interests and paying off every lawful
debt.