The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-06-30
FIGHTING ADAMSON BILL.

Maryland members in Con
gress have launched a vigorous
campaign to defeat the Adamson
bill, the effect of which would
give the District of Columbia
residents the right to use the
Maryland roads without paying
the Maryland license tax as re-
quired under the present laws
of that State.
While Representative Coady
has been blocking the bill on the
floor of the House, Representa-
tive Linthicum has addressed q
personal letter to every member
of the House and the Senate,
explaining in detail the Mary
land auto license act. In these
letters Mr.. Linthicum stated
that any member Of Congress
using the Maryland roads during
his sojourn in Washington would
be exempt from the special tax
if he displayed the license of his
home State.
Representative Adamson, pa
tron of the bill, has taken up
the fight for it. He has written
to Mr.. Linthicum and others OF
his colleagues, stating that his
bill is aimed to make permanent
the temporary sojourn now al
lowed by MARYLAND. He says
that the comfy of States ought
to be that an automobilist pay
ing a license in one State should
have free use of roads in all
other States and should not be
required to pay licenses in any
other State, no matter how long
may be his stay.
Mr.. Linthicum, in replying to
the argument taken by Judge
Adamson, declares that the re-
lations between the State of
MARYLAND and the District are
not the same as those existing
between two other States, such
as Maryland and Pennsylvania
or Maryland and Virginia.
1.-The Dis ct of Columbia is
surrounded by Maryland on
three Sides" says Mr.. Linthi-
cum, in a letter to Judge Adam
son. Its residents enjoy the
beauties Of our State, as we'll as
other benefits, yet the residents
Of the District have little, if
any, roads to offer residents of
Maryland. The people Of Mary
land do not ask the residents Of
the District to pay the interest
or sinking fund for the $1,000,
600 road fund; they merely ask
them to pay the same automo-
bile license that they pay, four
fifths of which go into the main
tenance of the roads which they
themselves enjoy, and the other
one-ffth goes to the city Of Bal
timore to assist in maintaining
it's streets, because of the fact
that its taxpayers contribute a
large majority of the road fund.
Certainly nothing could be
fairer to the residents of the
District of Columbia than to ask
them to help take care of some
thing they enjoy, when the tax
payers of Maryland have provid-
ed the money for the invest
ment, and especially when you
consider that the District of
Columbia residents pay to the
District only So licenses during
the whole ownership Of the car
and a 81 perpetual operators
license.
"You spoke to me about Vir-
ginia not being opposed to the
law. [ have not spoken to the
Virginia representatives about
this matter, but I know that
when | entered Virginia to
travel through the Shenandoah
Valley | found 80 miles Of good
roads and for this | paid 5 cents
a mile toll. When struck other
roads after leaving this 80 miles,
| was extremely sorry that |
couldn't have more Of that 80
miles even though | had to pay
5 cents a mile. | believe the
District of Columbia people, if
by some superhuman means they
would lose the roads of Mary
land, would be willing to pay a