Middletown transcript., 1897-09-25
ZION BY THE BOSSES

| I06 expose WHICH OoCT6taTy Oh 0Iat6
Hughes made Of the rascality which
hedged about the New Castle County
tax collection bill on the day Of its pas
sage at Dover, May 20, last, and which
the TRANSCRIPT reprinted and set be-
fore the taxpayers of this county has
stirred up all the papers in the county
and the last is not heard Of it. State
Senator John Pyle who was concerned
in the shameful job, tried to throw dust
into the eyes of the public by stating
what was true in fact, but net In ef-
feet, namely, that it was ALA blunder
caused by the presence Of two bills
(bearing on the same subject, but diff
ferent in several Of their provisions) in
| the Senate when the act was hurried
through on the last day Of the session.
The s'Morning News" for some un-
accountable reason, or rather for no
reason at all, undertakes to help Sena-
tor Pyle along by calling this act Of de-
liberate rascality ttCareless State
Work, - title that is as inapplicable
as it is misleading, untrue and apollo
getic in behalf Of the scoundrels who
changed the bill after it's passage. The
s'Evening Journal'' crows over the
trick, calls the act good bill, and
wants to know what we are going to
do about it. 1t is almost serious as
the "News." The EVERY Evening"
which fully understands the motives
and import Of the job, sententiously
asks: "Carelessness-crimiDal or other
wisePn "Eyery Evening" has no more
use for the nest of jobbers and thieves
that perpetuated this crime than the
TRANSCRIPT has.
The representatives Of the three
papers named above were at Dover on
the day this bill was changed know all
the facts, and the editors OF these pa
pers can surely comprehend the motive
for the same. There we're two bills as
Senator Pyle relates; but Secretary
Hughes only saw one bill and he had
to do with but one. He printed that
bill as it actually passed in the Appen-
dix of the laws for 1897. He printed
the same bill changed in two particu-
lars, as the statute, because it was thus
enrolled. The other bill has nothing
whatever to do with this matter. The
reason that the other. or the Dempsey
bill, was not passed is that it contained
the names of the men who were to be
collectors, requirement exacted by
Senator Pyle. The Senator afIerward
changed his mind and accepted the
original bill, known as the Taylor bill,
but which ought to have been called
the Dickey-Scott bill.
All of the Wilmington papers ignore
the real point in this fraud. They
confine themselves exclusively to the
one change which is immaterial and
which gives one the impression that
the change was due to carelessness
merely. There is such uniformity among
our daily contemporaries that the sus-
picion arises that they are in con-
spiracy to conceal the crime from their
readers. However. We mast except
the ''EVery Evening" from this sus-
picion. and are therefore forced to the
conclusion that it is an oversight in
all of them. The point which they
have overlooked is the change In Sec
tion 36 of the act aud which could not |
have been made wit hout great care and
adroitness.
The bill as it passed-and SO did the |
bill which was not passed provided |
that the new collectors must be ap-
pointed in May and that their pay must |
be fixed by the Levy Court at least |
five days prior'' to their appointment. |
Not until the bill was passed did the |
Dickey-Scott conspirators discover |
that these two mandatory provisions
would nullify their purpose, namely, |
to extract enough money from the /
county treasury to support ten or
dozen Of their henchmen under the |
guise of being tax collectors. What |
did they do2 They offered at once to
enrolment Clerk Carnagy that they |
would enroll the bill for him. He was
very busy and gladly accepted their
help. With one or two personal ques-
tions We will drop this matter for this
issue.
First, Where was that bill enrolled? |
Representative Dempsey, Was it or was
1t not enrolled on your deskp
Second, Who enrolled 1t? John T.
Dickey, Did you or did you not sit be-
hind the desk or table on which it was
enrolledf