The age-herald., 1900-11-21
THE OTHER SIDE
 OF THE QUESTION
EIytOn CorporationiStS Reply to
 the AntiS
THEY ISSUE A CIRCULAR.
Discuss pr. Smiths Proposition and Undertake to Show That 1t Is Not for the Best Interest of
 of All Concerned.

The citizens committee recently appointed at mass meeting held in Elyton to take up the question of incorporating that place, have issued circular reply to Dr. Joseph R. Smith and others, who have at
 tackled the purposes of the committee. The circular is as follows:
 | To the White Residents of -Smithfield and Elyton:
 In view ofs.the fact that two circulars have been distributed setting forth the views of the opposition to incorporating Smithfield and Elyton, one by Dr. Joseph R. Smith, and the other by some person who saw fit for some reason to withhold
 his name from the public, the undersigned committee take this thod of presenting
 the purposes, intentions and views of those favoring interpretations
 1. The territory of Smithfield proper and Elyton proper taken separately and singy Is not large enough to raise revenues sufii- icent to authorize the issue and sale of bonds, but taken together as one municipal ity, there will be no trouble of disposing ot bonds, hence the desrabiity of joining hands and standing together for the com
 mon good.
 ?. We stand for better schools and better educational facilities. Smithfeld has no public school at all and no school building, while the school at Elyton is crowded to oyerflowing and school children have to be turned away. We have it within our grasp to better this condition. We propose to sell bonds of the municipality and out of the proceeds erect a substantial and commodt-
 ous brick school building in Smithiield at some centrally located place at cost or from 5000 to $5000 guaranteed to cost nor less than 5000, and to erect similar structure in Elyton and to establish in said building free public schools. We pro- pose that the deed and title to said build ings and lots shall be vested in the munlcl- pality.
 3. Health is essential to the growth and prosperity of any community. This can not be had without proper sanitaton. we propose to see that proper sanitary ordl- nances are passed and enforced. f. We are unalterably opposed to tho sale of spirituous liquors within the corpo- ration and favor inserting a clause in the charter prohibiting the sale Of same. Since both incorporationists and ant-ln- corporationists- --etand committed agalhsl saloons and whisky selling, there Is abso- lutely no probability of any danger along that line.
 5. We propose inserting a clause in the charter providing that no tax shall be lev jed or collected on abutting property for street and sidewalk improvement. This should put to rest the big "bugaboo' about excessive taxation, the constitutional limit for municipal tax is 50 cents on the | $100, according to the taxable valuation for State and county taxes.
 We further propose inserting in the charter a clause to the effect that after the public schools have been built ana paid for, any money remaining on hand from the sale of bonds or other sources shall be expended pro rata in the Smith field and Elyton territories, according 10 the taxable valuation of property in the two territories, taking the Elyton canal as the dividing line
 Now let us consider briefly the two cir
 culars above referred to. As we read the circular of pr. Jos. R. Smith 1t Is noth-
 ing more or less than this: am opposed to incorporation; if you will help me de- feat it at the polls on the 2Sth instant
 will build a house according to my notion on some lot in Smithfield, and let you use it for a schoolhouse, giving you the rent the title of the property to be retained Tn
 me; this proposition to hold good until
 Smithfeld is taken into the corporate linn it's of Birmingham, at which time l re- serve the right to dispose of said house and lot as I see fit: let it be understood that you must provide for paying the teachers, as 1 don't mean to say that 1t shall be free school for the public Now, let us look at his proposition from a business standpoint: He figures that the municipal tax on his property in Smthheld would amount to $400 or $500 per annum IT incorporation prevails; suppose the house he
 proposes to build costs $1O0O; ten dollars per
 month rent would be pretty good interest
 on this investment-counting nine months
 school year. this would be making pr.
 Smiths earnings $9O per annum m
 
 where he owns more than $100,O00 of prop
 erty Can anyone blame him for making
 such a proposition? The question is will the
 citizens of Smithfield swallow the bait. pr.
 Smith says ''Smithfield is the home of the
 poor man. and yet he is opposed to a
 measure that proposes to give free public
 schools to these poor men where their chill
 dren can receive good grammar school education.
 The other circular is hardly worthy of notice, no one assufring the responsibility of the statement therein contained. When we notice the gross misrepresentation and intentional efforts at deception, we are not surprised that the author dared not give
 his name to the public. He starts out by
 saving, Tn order that the citizens may
 understand and appreciate the objections to
 the incorporation of that district IL IS
 thought best to set them forh in this circu-
 lar" We would like to know who Tit Is
 thought best" by; who is it is?'
 Why don't you come out in the open and
 make your fight? Now the statement that
 "Your little homes that are now assessed
 at $400 or $500, will very soon be assessed
 at 5000 or more if incorporation prevails,'
 is ridiculously absurd as well as untrue,
 unless it is intended to mean that the mar
 ket value of these little homes will be
 doubled on account of the erection of a
 S5OO0 public school building in the neighbor-
 hood. Everybody knows that the tax as-
 sessment of any municipality is based upon
 and taken from the assessment for state
 and county taxes. These can only be raised
 by the Board of Revenue of the county
 Let us sum up the situatom Why not
 strike for the best thing? Why not try
 to get free schools as well a school
 building? Remember, Dr. Smiths propo-
 sition is not binding after Birmingham
 takes in Smithfield, and when that is done
 Smithfeld will have no school building at
 all Why not do what you can towards
 incorporating and securing a good brick
 structure that cannot be taken away from
 you, and then if fail, you still have
 Dr. Smiths proposition to fall back on.
 But what about Elyton? Smthfield and
 Elyton started out on this proposition
 working for the interest of each other
 Now that we have succeeded in extracting
 from Dr. Smith his school building propo-
 stion, will the citizens of Smithfield drop
 Elyton cold? We believe not. Let us
 stand together and victory is>already as-