The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1916-01-08

the part of the Finance and Ways
and Means Committees in the Cen
eral Assembly in the appropriation
of monies for the various Charitable
Institutions in the State. With
careful management there could be
at least half million dollars cut
out from these various institutions
without in the least affecting their
efficiency. There are many of these
institutions in Maryland which are
run on eXtravagant lines simply be-
cause the State furnishes the
money, and some of the Hospitals
in the small towns on the Shore and
in Western Maryland could get
along with half their present ap-
preparations if they were managed
on the lines of the Peninsula Cen
eral Hospital at Salisbury and the
States money conserved and not
paid out to Doctors and other off
Gals.
of Governor-elect Harrington
wants the people of Maryland to
have faith in his programme of Re-
form the first thing he will do will
be tosend message to the General
Assembly on the day of his inau-
guration advising the presiding Of
ficers that he will hold them respon-
sible for any looseness in the man
agement of their respective bodies,
and that he will not stand for the
employment of two hundred useless
politicians around the State House
this winter at salaries of from $2.50
to $500 per day, to be paid for from
the taxpayers pockets. There should
be no need of an income tax in
Maryland if the proper business
methods are once tried out in the
General Assembly and in the vari-
Gus departments of the State. There
is not single case where there are
not more clerks. stenographers and
employees in every department Of
Maryland than is necessary to pre-
perry transact the business of that
department. 1t is so in the Comp
troller's office, in the State Treas
urer's office, in the Land office. in
the Executive Department, the
State Board of Health, the State
Tax Commissioners office. the Pc
role Board, the Automobile Com
missioner's office. the State Live
Stock Sanitary Board, and in fact,
in every department of the State
There is not single one of these
places, as well as the Department
of Labor. the immigration office and
the Banking Department, where
from one to three clerks could not
be dispensed with, and where thou.
sands of dollars could not be saved
by little real business qualifca-
ton used in the management of the
bureaus.
The taxpayers of Maryland will
not assume the payment of any ad-
dltional taxes either in the form If
State tax or an income tax with
any degree of favor or good feeling
II first of all there is not an effort
made to do away with the useless
otfice-holders, and to reduce the ex-
penses OF the various departments
of State Government Another
place where thousands of dollars
could be saved is in the Contingent
Funds of the various departments.
These contingent funds are SOURCE
of extravaganza on their very face.
There is hardly case on record
Where these contingent funds are
not used to their very last cent, but
1t is well-known fact that in most
cases the departments could get
along with half the amount levied
for thes" funds. Because the heads
OF the DEPARTMENTS have them they
are used and all this helps to MAKE
the deficiency in the State Treas
urer's office.
"The present methods have grown
up under the old State Machine
which has had charge of Maryland
Tor the past twenty years. during
which time the number of office
holders in the State has been in
creased nearly one hundred per
cent. Governor elect Harrington
will find that he will have the back
ing of the people of Maryland in
his effort to reform matters pro-
vided he starts in right and strikes
at the office-holding trust first.
Otherwise the people will have very
little confidence in his ability to ac.
compish reforms which will really
mean a saving to the taxpayers. II
Will take some nerve and grit for
Mr.. Harrington to start at the right
place because he had the support Of
almost every office-holder in Mary
land in his primary fight but there
is no doubt that unless he strikes
right at the office-holding Trust
FIRST he will not have the full con-
fidence of the people in his plans
to get real reform"
2. The next best evidence they can
give of a sincere determination to do
the right and wise thing is to drop
their insistence upon the reelection
of Gen. Murray Vandiver as State
Treasurer. MIR. Vandiver is a very
agreeable old gentleman toward whom
no one probably has any personal
animosity. But public office is not
personal tribute or a political reward
that is oughtn't to be. Well, omit
Mr.. Vandiver's personal qualities and
his political services, and what reason
can there be for re-electing him State
Treasurer Or turn the question
around: isn't there every reason for
not re-electing him? Mr.. Vandiver
has been State Treasurer for sixteen
years, has been identified intimately
and long with the very political pow
ers which have brought the States
Treasury into such wretched plight,
has seen these abuses grow to giant
size under his very nose without a
word of protest either as the State
r. a nCI1l ANl, Loo.