Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1902-07-31
Porches.

In former article, as TO the destruc-
ton of porches, | promised the people
that | might say something more in a
future article TO the REGISTER.
In my first communication | left of
at the point where | came to DR.. Tan
ner's appeal to the council for relief
from anuisance that menaced the health
of his family and the safety of his prop
erty. The council. | believe, promised
the Doctor that they would send a COM
mittee TO examine the premises In
gathering news for publication, | asked
the Doctor whether the council had
sent the nuisance committee to exam
inc the premises and TO report as TO the
object of complaint. He said that he
had seen no committee, norheard Of any
report being made, and that he now be-
lieves that the sanitary and the nul-
sance committees combined were about
the biggest nuisance in town, except
that that menaced his property. he
also said that he had time and again
called the attention of the former, as
we'll as the present council, to the mar
row and choked condition of the sluce
opposite his stable on Washington street,
which forced the back water into his
carriage-house and had ruined the east
wall of his stable and washed the
crushed stone from the pavement; also
the wearing away Of the alley at the
corner Of lis house, so as TO make 1t al
most impossible for him, as for those
coming from the Virginia House on that
side of the street, oget their mail with
out the danger of falling or being Grip
pied in passing the alley. But these in
sufferable monuments of disgrace TO the
credit of the council are entirely too
small to attract the attention of inflated
presumption.
have one word for the majority Of
the council who voted against the re-
ception of the petition of all the busl-
ness men and of all the other reSpecta-
bic citizens of the town without eXcep-
ton. speak to them not in their char
acters as private citizens, but in their
characters as public officials of cor
poratlon, and if anything should fall
from my pen in the least compliments
~ TO them in that character, you may
rest assured that it was not intended,
for the public would only look upon II
as a mockery Of the established charac-
ter of the majority Of the council. We
might well suppose that men possessed
of the finer feelings and judgment, when
they found that they had made the IA
tai mistake of bringing forward and adj
vocating a measure so thoroughly at va
rance with reason and common sense,
and the wishes of all good people, they
would have been glad to have with
drawn the proposition in silence to save
themselves the obloquy, the derlslon and
contempt their obstinacy so well mer-
tied.
But to make the patter more ridicu-
lous, it is proposed to bring the matter
up again at the next meeting of the
council If It's, any citizen of the town
who pays his taxes has the legal right
to 90 before the council, as an advocate
OF the people, and to- ask the council the
following questions, and the council is
bound by law to hear him with atten-
ton and to treat him with respect.
The questions of the advocate of the
peoples rights should be as follows:
Who has asked you to pull down the
porches?
Are they in any way nuisance or an
incumbrance t. the health or the com
fort and the convenience of the public
Are you not aware of the fact that If
the measures you propose were adopted,
that you would drive from the town
some of its best citizens ?
viii you never become acquainted
with the truth and the Importance Of
your duty until you find it in the COM
plants Of the people as to the total dis
regard and neglect of some of the cross
ings of the streets and the alleys, and in
the shameful neglect of all sanitary
measures
Who will be benefited or who desires
the pulling down Of the porchcs?
Have you not already forfeited the
charter Of the corporation by taxing the
people above the forty-five cent limit on
the hundred dollars, that the wisdom
of the legislature had inserted in its
grant of the charter, TO protect the peo-
pie from eXtortionate demands or taxa
tion by a venal or corrupt council
Are you not aware Of the fact that the
grant of charter by the legislature of
State to a corporation of a town Is to
guide the officers Of the corporation to
their duty to the people; tc see to it
that the little affairs Of the corporation
are so carefully directed as to invite i'm
migration, TO increase its population, 10
protect and encourage the building up
of property, TO see above all other things
that the health and happiness of people
are promoted, and not TO drive popula-
ton away? Every member of council
should be a man of some intelligence
and understanding; to know something
of the laws by which he is to be guided
in the performance of his duty, and not
to sit with open mouths, listening to
the silly dictates of self-conceit while
matters of Importance are under discus
sion. But when inflated presumption
is holding sway, may not Shakespeare S
aphorism be appropriately applied He
says:
Man, proud man, dressed in a little
brief authority, most ignorant of what
seems most assured, plays such fam
tastc tricks before high Heaven as to
make the angels weep"
But tell me, is it true that the ma
ority of the council propose building
an elevated railroad for the especial
pleasure of the majority Of the council
from Niger Hill to the southeast
corner of Rays Addition? And there
are a few porches in the way
TAXPAYER.
The Best Liniment for Strains.
Mr.. F. II. Wells, the merchant at
Deer Park, Long Island, n. Y, says IL
always recommend Cham berlain's Pain