Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-02-25
TAxpAyERs ASSOCIATION VS..
NEwSPAPE rs


the committee did not come TO see the
publisher OF the Capital nor did the
publisher OF the Capital see the com
missee. Brother Wathen voices our
sentiments in toto as follows:
The Taxpayers Association recently
organized in this county, full accounts OF
whose proceedings have appeared IN TINS
paper went out OF its way on tuesday
iast ~ antaponize this and the other
county newspapers. We are disposed u
think that the Association acted care
lessly and ignorantly and that the r.
sponsibility for the pettiness and sniail
ness ri the action Oi the Association musi
fan largely upon the COMMITTEES which
was charged with a duty which u moi
only utterly failed % perform, but per
formed In "A manner To deceive the Asso-
citation aud 70 east discredit upon ~ Inc
Association. however, cannot wholly es-
cane responsibility and unless u shail AT
its next meeting reconsider and repudiais
its action oi ast Tuesday, II must ana
will forfeit large measure oil publlceoh-
fidence and respect, for men VINO nave
banded themselves together To deal win
big public questions and expect the pub
lie to have confidence in them and their
acts must act thoughtiully, carefully aud
free from any faint of scheming or selfish.
ness. Now, let rs analyze this report .oi
this committee and the action 81 thf
TAXPAYERS Association. The commit
was appointed TO see the newspapers CT
the county with view To getting them
co publish the proceedings oil the Assocla-
ton. What then was the duty OF TIE
eommittee2 Was it not - go 20 the
various newspaper Offices and endeavor
to get them all to publish the proceed
ings OF the Association and thus give
them the widest publicity was not THIS
what the Association wanted2 Does lt
not want all the people, or as many as
possible TO know just what IL u dong!
Did the committee go TO the newspaper
oiiices2 The language OF tue report IL
misleading aud calculated to deceive the
Association and the public. The report
SAYS, "of those seen. As a matter OF
fact the committee went 60 see only one
newspaper publisher-the publisher oil a
daily afternoon paper IN Annapolis
whose circulation is necessarily almost
entirely confined C. Annapolis. The pub
Usher of The Advertiser Went To- see the
committee, or rather two members of lt.
who informed him that they had only
seen the one publisher aud did not either
care or desire Ia see the others. One
member gave az his reason for not per
forming the duty with which the Associa-
ton had charged him the fact that when
lac had made certain charges against
public officials no other paper than the
one seen would take up his charges.
Small, personal and selfish and wholly at
variance with the professed purposes oi
the Taxpayers Association, was il not
intelligent aRd fair-minded readers The
committee neither came TO see tue pub
Usher al the MARYLAND REPUBLICAN, nor
did the publisher see the committee.
Alter the meeting he saw one member OF
the committee who acknowledged that
the REPUBLICAN had published the fullest
aud best Reports OF the taxpayers meet
ings and further acknowledged that be
had signed the report Of the committee
i'm ignorance aud without knowing what
il really contained or meant.
We submit that the committee stands
convicted of utter failure to perform the
duty with which it was charged by the
TAXPAYERS Association and that two
members of the committee out oI their
own mouths are convicted Of having
east suspicion and discredit on the Tax
payers' Association and its professed and
declared high purposes. So much for this
part OF the report. We now come to an
even more serious part OF the Taxpayers
Association. 1t has been whispered,
rumored. aud openly alleged and eharg
ed that there is some scheme, personal or
political. involved in the formation OF
the Taxpayers Association. and many
good men have refrained from joining it
because they did not wish to be mixed up
in any such scheme Already in one OF
the districts of the county, the Third,
where a lactional fight is being waged in
the Democratic party, it is openly charg-
ed that one fac ton is undoubtedly max
ing use of the Taxpayers Association To
bolster up its cause. Ii this be So and be
permitted TO go on, the Taxpayers Asso-
citation SO far as this district is concern
ed, will soon, il it has not already done
so, entirely lose sight of it's high aims
and purposes and degenerate into mere
factionai thing, powerless for ought ex-
cept 80 be used BY some designing mau
for his personal and selfish schemes.
IL the publishing OF weekly news
paper one of the personal and selfish
schemes which smart anddesigning men
have in view and which they hope 20
pat upon its feet through the Taxpayers
Association Such would seem 10 be
the case and the Association, through its
has ignorantly fallen into
the trap prepared for 1t BY these
schemers. And right here we want 10
acQuit the members of the committee of
any smartness SO far as this aspect of its
report is concerned The language of
the report may be theirs. but smarter
aud more designing men, smoother
conceived and evolved this
scheme TO commit the Taxpayers Asso.
citation TO the launching of this new
weekly newspaper. Now, the MARY
LAND REPUBLICAN desires TO advise with
he Taxpayers Association, or rather
with the broad gagged, honest and high
minded men in its membership, not with
The small, petty and scheming men. Ii
any good is TO grow out OF the Taxpay- |
ers Association it must be divorced from |
small and faetional politics. such as is
now charged against il in the Third dis |
.rict, and from such schemes as that in
golved in giving its backing TO one |
mans business enterprise as against an
others. The MARYLAND REPUBLICAN |
trusts that il the Taxpayers Association |
Is TO continue il will promptly put it
self right in these matters and make the |
schemers in and out of its membership |
that the Association is not |
10 be prostituted by them TO their per