Middletown transcript., 1911-03-11
FAcTs VS.. GAS
oil Why Did He Flop So Sud-
denly

0OAAAN
In Wednesdays E5ery E6sHing Mr..
Leopard 6. Vandegriit, Of near McDon'
ough, imparts some very startling ~ in.
formation to his fellow ''countryt1en" In
reference to the proposed change in the
road tax assessment for the Town Of Mid.
dletown, q bill having been introduced
by Senator A. P. Corbit some two weeks
since.
The taxpayers of Middletown are only
asking what, to any iair-minded person
seems just and right-that they be given
their own, and not be compelled to pay
for improving the highways in the outly'
ing districts, az Mr.. Vandegrift wonld
have them do.
Space will not permit US to print Mr..
Vandegrift's long letter, in which he asks
bis fellow countrymen" to stand up for
their rights and compel the Taxpayers of
Middletown to pay share of their road
taxes. But fortunately for our people,
there are majority of the good farmers
and laudo wners of st. Georges hundred
as we'll as so per cent. of our townsmen,
who believe we are only asking for what
is just and right.
In conversation in the Office of Davis
Bros, on February 18th, Mr.. Vandegrift
made the following statement "If l bad
understood the situation before signing
the opposing petition would never have
placed my name thereto, because I be-
lieve MiddIetown should have all of the
taxes paid for road purposes for its own
Streets" He also stated that the gentle
man who presented the petition had told
him the Town of Middletown was to con.
tinue receiving S6O0.OO annually from the
County for her streets, il the bill in ques.
ton should pass and become law. This
statement was made in the presence Of
Messrs. N. ]. Williams, H. L. Davis and
several others, all Of whom stand ready
to make sfidavits to the truthfulness of
the above statement.
A man whe will make such statements
as these and then turn round in such a
flantic "sppeal to my fellow countrymen"
as that sent to the Erery EUeaing, is Seally
not worth the attention given him here
in THE TRANscRIPT-in fact his views do
not rise to the dignity'of argumentl black
ing as they do aIlconsistency whatsoever.
1t only remains to inquire what has oc-
casioned this flop?
He asks what has become of the SIS, 900
the town has received from the county
during the past 30 years. For the infor-
nation OF Mr.. V. and the many others
who are interested, we will give detailed
statement of the money expended on our
streets during the past three years;
In 19OS.. ..............................$1994 ..... rs
In 0Ll0. 10
In l9lO......".........."... I6I4.Zo |
The above figures we're taken from the
lest three statements issued, and are the
only ones available at this writing.
THE TRANscRIPT would like to ask Mr..
Vandegrift what has become of the
$50, 600 expended on the roads Of ST.
Georges Hundred during the past 80
years?
The TRANSCRIPT does not approve of
the manner in which the public moneys |
have been expended on our streets, but
the same criticism may truthfully be made |
of thousands of dollars expended pat
ching the hundred roads. We have
advocated permanent improvements in
both town and hundred for many years.
The methods in vogue in this and other
hundreds from time immemoIial, practiced
by both parties, have been to turn over
to the politicians every year, so much tax
money to be used up by the "boys" in
game they called 'road improvements"
These Improvements (DusuaIly consisted
in spelling fairly good road by annually
allowing these politioians-who knew
j lst as much abcu: road making as they
did abont Sanscrit-to plow it up ana
then, il the money hadn't given out to
harrow and drag it about bit. The re-
suit OF this absurd road tiDkering chiefly
to this--Lhe roads for several
months after, were worse than before,
and finally resumed their former condition
One other resuIt-and the most impor-
tant part of this system OF hundred road
mprovement-Was that the needy
politicians spent all the tax payers money
they could get their fingers on, and the
"party" was proportionately improved"
even ifthe roads were not.
i In short the most that can be said for
this superior q hundred road fixing as
against the town practice equally brilliant
is that it is about 'stand off'-certainly
the dirty hundred pot cannot call the
town kettle black!