The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1903-11-28

District Good Roads League.
ilri@ at the Rising sun, on Saturday,
rH.. rtion was adopted. inhorSinG the
ii tp lc%>e the barren oyster bottoms Of
t., tet~, and to apply the revenues arts
j.. ,ncrrfrum to the building Of modern
r.. 1T throughout the State. mnd request
i"% tAc Representatives of Cecil in the
] ~ aturr. to Use their influence for the
q. age of the Hannah Oyster and Road
81.
,; e Wing has heretofore urged and
r'r., ted. the passage of 4 law Provid-
in iur the leasing OF til" barren oyster
lotions, of the Chu-Hl, TX" Bay and its
ti..ut lri,>, ana the appropriation Of the
~, IcS arising thcrcrlom towardss a
6. .l of permanent ROAD Improvement
- ~ tor the simple reason that good
~ viii not. ami c&Nnt.t hr realized by
-. paop.c of Cecil County. CT any other
Con- ty of the State by direct taxation.
V have two sources of aid 10 look
" llt htntfdl tIDNtrlnltl1. ana Cllc
IT Ia.
~ these two s"urC~S from which aid
nay be reasonably expected. the latter
:. o. to be more readily available.
~ while tire State has a more direct
;'";y::.t in the permanent Improvement
~ u,r Iulds, she must nccr. .urily in
t-'"~. 3lsvr some available and certain
sso-G," of revenue from which the means
"a" he obtained, other than by direct
fr'ft uln'n the State Treasury.
- ether words. u large !lNpant of
''". y must necessarily be required to
hull md maintain good roads. the local
t''-~' v,r cannot raiSc the necessary
fH"' and the State must he called upon
a. furnish them.
''yrcin lies the great merit uf the
H's:' ~. On sane similar System. 1t pro-
vi. the State the means with which the
'S,''"ty taxpayer may be assisted in the
work Of construction and maintenance of
tii>A loadwayS. as are pcrcmItorily de
II. I'D in our State.
= Ills connection. the Baltimore Sun"
OF Tuesday, furnishes Il timely object
t@'>"r in the cnSe of Calvert County.
II the session of the LEGISLATURE OF
1872. after the Hannah Oyster Bin had
fHii"d If passage, Il bill WIS offered by
S"nHtor Robinson, of Hartford. setting
@si'r the huttonS of the Chesapeake Bay
E!Gag the Calvert Shore for oyster farm
ing. This is regarded rs the very hest
oyster region of the Bay, and there is
the bottoms have been sclslpcd almost
bare, and they now produce next to moth
ing. If that bill had been enacted, it
wonld have converted Calvert County
fHa! the poorest to the richest county in
Maryland. 1t would have doubled the
white population in n few years, villages
would have grown up along the shore
from Chesapeake Beach to Cove Point
This is no idle speculation. but the words
~ ''ih'FN' anu u ulH' mere Is Ill the
territory set apart in the Robinson bill
aNag the Calvert Slon not less than 90
coo or 10000 acres Of good oyster bot
toms capable of producing as much as
5000 bushels of oysters to the acre
Producing onc-SXth of this amount, the
total product of this magnificent sub
marine domain would be 10000 600
bushels year, and this, in the opinion of
those best capable Of judging. is n mod
crate estimate of the productiveness Of
che Calvert shore. AT this rate the an
nual oyster crop of Calvert County, the
bay side Of the county, would be worth,
Mt so cents a bushel more than double
Che entire assessed value OF the county
and ten times the value of all the crop,
produced upon the farms of the county.
All this magnificent wealth was offered
and was rejected by the politicians of the
<o,Inty.
Why ?
Because it was feared that its accept
~nce might impelil for those who advo-
<ni., tine bill the votes Of two OF three
slszen negro tongers who now manage to