Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-07-10
Hotel Burned.

Hotel Burned.
About q o'clock Wednesday morn
ing policeman Yuneerman discovered
the roof of the Slicer House on fire.
He gave the alarm, opened the hose
house and had all in readiness for the
firemen, who came with their usual
alacrity. The fire had made consider
able Roadway, however, and much
difficulty was encountered in contin-
ing it to the hotel. The framework
stands. but the house is practically a
wreck. The furniture was badly
damaged by fire and water.
The firemen worked not only with
out hindrance but enjoyed the APP
plause which now and then rewarded
their success. They undoubtedly saved
all the property in rear of the hotel.
f. W. Blocher, landlord, estimates
his loss to furniture. etc., at $500;
insurance $1,000. The hotel, belong,
ing to the w. R. Percy estate, was
insured in the sum of So 200.
The fire, though at an unreasonable
hour, attracted crowd.
The operations of the firemen We're
so quietly conducted that guests of the
Hotel Gladstone, very near by, knew
nothing of the fire until next morning.
A Doubtful .'PermiSSiOn."
The Frostburg Neoos thinks "the
JOURNAL lost its head" in denouncing
''the levy of 81 upon a Cumberland
liveryman" as an outrage. Con-
tinuing, it says:
The authorities did nothing more than
what the law permitted them to do.
"What the law permitted" was and
is not just here in question.
Practically, there is no such thing as
a law of permission. "Thou shalt not
is the genius of every statute from the
Decalogue of Moses down to the
inaugural address of Mayor Bear.
The Neaos now takes the back track,
however, and says it
does not approve Of the filming of the
Cumberland drivers, and believes 1t was I'M
wise and inhospitable but when the JOUR-
NAL becomes so disloyal to the institutions Of
its own town as to unnecessarily publish at
large the statement that our lverymen call
not serve the public as well as Cumberland,
and that they want the people to hire their in
farinr apninmant ~ wall ~ nta
test
One thing at time and coming
strictly to business, it was not only
"unwise and inhospitable," but the
JOURNAL doubts whether, after all,
the law permits" the town to be "un-
wise and inhospitable." An ordi-
nance, it is true, provides that it shall
be both, but the charter of lncorpora-
ton does not. The superior instru
ment limits the imposition of license
tax to those owners only of vehicles
"kept for hire In saM toWn." In effect,
the organic law says, in effecl, that we
cannot tax the owner of vehicle except
for hlre'' IN Cumberland.
Concerning the possible difference
which may exist between the jour
NAILS opinion of livery equipment and
liverymen's opinion of the JOURNAL,
there is little to say. But the JOUR-
NAL frankly avows that it does not
crave the favorable judgment of any
liveryman who travels on the pro-
scriptive presumption that his turnout
sis good enough for anybody"
AS to loyalty to ''town institutions"
if the JOURNAL were like the livery
men and the Neos, it would with equal
cheek have Council pass an ordinance
limiting popular patronage to the
town papers. 1t would thus compel the
people to be loyal-even to the Nems,
which seems to think it has no rights
which liveryman ought to respect.
In this connection the appended
paragraph is opropos:
No doubt the opinion of the liverymen as
to the inferiority of the JOURNAL as "a fair and
faithful newspaper would be interesting read
ing in connection with the JOURNALS opinion
of them.
As said before, the JOURNAL cares
nothing about this. But so far as it
has had to hire, Frostburg teams have
been good enough. 1t has spent tens
for them when their owners have spent
not even ones here. 1t has scattered
its favors among many when they did
not concentrate even on one.