Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-11-02

crS have imposed upon the taxpayers of
the county Il floating debt of between
100000 and Sl3S,OO. 1t is not known
what the floating debt is. No member
of the present board of commissioners
can tell, but enough Is known t. safely
say II Is considerably above 500, 900.
No one Will galnSaY the fact that if the
county had economical administration in
the past it would have been utterly I'M
possible to spend all this money for
county purposes without obtaining more
To show tor 1t than we have. lcrrlturI-
ally, AllCgany Is one of the small COun-
ties of the State. Notwithstanding which
our commissioners spent on roads and
bridges last year the enormous sum of
9Dl, ,S69.6l, and, according to their own
showing, the county is III debt on this
account Sl1 ,jjl 66.
Now, i'll all seriousness | a.k-what
have we to show for all this money: Go
through the county and YOU VIII find
very indifferent roads and bridges as
compared with ncighborlng counties.
where not half SO much money is cN-
pended ON those items.
There Is another point we must not
ONCrlOOk-thlS Is not Il new county. We
are not just beginning to construct roads
and bridges. We have been at this bus
mess many years. The building of new
roads and bridges and the repair of old
ones i'll county now IL years old ought
not to have cost the people SO much
money. FtItn-ou, MpHNu,d. tHyht hUu,i-
red and xi,f,-ninr doHu,v and xjrfg-our
CENTS could not be judiciously spent ON
our roads and bridges without those I'M
provcncnts presenting Il far better ap.
pcdranCC.
There is umqueStiomably big leak
somewhere; is 1t i'll the employment of
incompetent hcuchmcn of the political
machine: Was that large sum of money
spent economically in the bcttcrmcnt of
our highways, or eXtraNagHntlv in main
tanning the party machine? Have the
rights, interests and welfare of the tax
payers been ignored and betrayed that
the comparatively few hcnchmcn of the
machine may be provided for: If SO, it
Is gricVOus wrung-Ouc that ought to
be broken up by the people at the polls
Another thing | wish to call special
attention to is the snug little sum of
>9,3l9. 10, paid by the county last year
for discounts alone money that ought
to I've III the pockets of the taxpayers in
stead of in the vault of some bank This
county ought not to pay one red cent for
discount, and it would not if its affairs
were conducted on business principles
This one fact alone shows most extra
ordinary laNity of business mcthodS-a
laNltN that would swamp any private
business or industry in less than no
time" This is another wrong the pcu-
pie at the polls ought to make iutolcrablr
The people of Ail"gany county pad
t.,t L., Il -.
business SO miSrrably another snug little
Sun-Sl, 600, for their valuable services
Rather an expensive luxury, | should
say. Although ii larg" sum to pay for
business capacity and unimpcachablc
honesty, far better that than for such
service as we are getting. Is there any
doubt about this: If SO, what are we to
understand 10y the Willingness, if not
anxiety of an otlicr-hold"r to give up Il
nice, little, easy, slick, quiet, humdrum
berth tu get into the commissioners
buardE \ true, full answer to TINS uucs-
ton would tell the whole story
1t i the duty of the taxpayers to elect
county commissioners of irrcprOachahIc
Integrity and ilrstclase business capacity
These are the most important of all
county officials. Under the law they
ii''N' 'iN l"'N'l anu 'lulIl'IilN u N\
and diSbursc all thr taxes. They have
the power to give the people good or bad
economical or cXtravagant administra-
ton. They have the power to return to
the pcopl" al that the people pay for, or.
taking the money from the people, turn
II into the pockets of Il party machine
y good county commissioner, there
fore, ought to have the courage to say
mo to friend as we'll aS foe when the
latter seeks to raid the peoples treasury,
especially from this time hrncrforward,
and the WrctChcd condition of county
affairs makes it doubly important that
men Of that calibrc should be installed
III the board. There is no use trying to
get away from the real issue by talking
about national politics and party loyalty
Neither has anything whatever to do
with tn" imperative duty of the people
to institute Il radical change in the bust
ness management of the cuunty's affairs,
or the county will Dee ruined in Il few
more years,
Small, prcjudircd, bigotrd, narrow
Guagc parrisams are mot fit to fill the
office of county commissioner. especially
at ii crisis like the present. | venture to
affirm that there Is not Il careful business
man III the county who would select Mr..
George and judg" Rice to manage uri-
yatc business aS extensive and diversified
as that of this county in preference to
Mr.. kcnncWcg and Mr.. Phillips.
Now, then, tcllOW-VOtclS and especially
fclIoW-taXpaycrS it will not do to give
party or political reasons for the survival
of the unfit. The commissioners have
not II Singl" political obiiJniioD to fulfill
OF or party d"tg to discharge. Like the
judge who ISccndS the bench, the com
missioner is or should be- Conscicncr-
bound to leave all his partisanships be
hind. He is the trustee of an express
trust. All the duties of the office are
of ii business character, and when the
affairs of the county are managed in a
business way the interests of the people
are best promoted.
There is at this very time IA lesson for
Allrgany republicans in the action of the
honest, decent, intelligent members of
their party in PENNSYLVANIA in uniting
with the democrats to rid that State and
the great city of Philadelphia of Il cor
rupt political machine that has been
rObbing the people for years.
Another example is furnished Allcgamy
republicans in the union of reputable
men of all parties in New York to rid
that city of IL VIGOROUSLY rotten machine.
Republicans in Pennsylvania and dem
ocrats of New York do not consider that
they are sacrificing one jot of their polit-
ical principles III cudcavuring tu rid
themselves of a horde of partisan pirates.
We have almost idcntically the same
conditions aud issues before us that the