The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-11-30
Communication
Mr.. Editor:

| think it is commonly Understood
that all holders of trust funds must
make detailed and explanatory re-
ports to the contributors. The an
I nual report of the County Commits
sionerS and School Board as made in
the county papers are not satisfac-
torily understood. | as a taxpayer,
don't know who gets my money, nor
what proportion of it comes back to
my district or what part OF it goes to
overhead charges, or what becomes
of the balance. l do know that our
Neck district pays two or three times
as much taxes as some of the other
districts, and gets back less for
schools and roads. This would be
all right if we had our roads in
good shape. and our schools up to
date. But when we reflect that only
about twelve miles Gall tOld) of
roads have any shells, and not one
foot of that shelled by the county,
alone, and only six school teachers,
and not a modern schoolhouse, we
have all run down to heel-we can
but wonder where our money has
gone. The question grows more
perpleXing when we discover the dis
tricts paying less taxes, getting more
and better roads and schools. That
is, Straits and Hooper's Island pay
together less taxes than the Neck dis
trict pays, and yet they have far bet
ter roads and many more miles of
shell road, and twenty-five teachers
to our six. We do not object to
these districts having such good
schools and roads, and SO many of
them; we protest that if we do the
paying, we ought to be considered in
the spending. 1t has been good
many years since shelling roads be-
gan in our county, and up to this
day our $10,4 annual tax gift has
returned less than II miles of shell
road, although We put the shells on
extra. With due respect to every
Commissioner the county has ever
had, and making all allowance for
the unwillingness of our Neck people
TO kick, the situation is outrageous,
and the loss irretreviable.
l am trying to find out why such
partiality was ever practiced, and
how to remedy 1T for the future, and
how to recover some part of the loss.
Hereafter, the districts that have
been robbed ought to keep an accu-
aud if unfair dealing is attempted,
sue in the court of equity for their
rights While l don't know the law,
do know that the hen-roost thief
and Kaiserism equally deserve pun
ishment, and in the end get it, for
the spirit of the chickens comes home
to roost.
How can the State Board and State
Educational Boards continue sending
money of the State into counties that
openly and continuously expend that
money unevenly and unfairly over
the counties? Suppose the State
knew that the part of its money
spent On its truant officers was for
the purpose OF chasing six-year-old
children out of Hudson, two or three
miles, into the country, through an
kle-deep mud, to find a scnoolhouse,
and the ones going into Cooks Point.
got into old shacks with such open
floors that eyel1..sS older children
had TO mug the stove to keeInrl. l...
Suppose the State of Maryland knew
that the lot of black children we
Neckerines see upon the roads of
Cambridge district as we drive in to
pay our taxes, had high school, in
dustrial school, and all other Mary
land schools, with high salaried tea
chers and supervisors, the schools as
modern and the teachers as compe-
tent as the daring insult to us is ap-
parent? Suppose the State knew
that we people of the Neck pay more
taxes than any other section of the
county, except wheres4.ere are large
towns in the district, and railroads,
and with possibly the smallest area
of land. we stand 9Th out of the Is
districts in contributing to the tax
box. The towns of Vienna, East New
Market, Hurlock, Galestown and
Cambridge, together with other towns
lying in their districts, alone pass us
in giving dollars to their county.
To our plea for repairs, costing
$1.25, we are answered, mo funds.
When stove gives out in one of our
schools, an old patched-up one, taken
probably from an abandoned negro
school, is brought to us and install
ed, and that without the knowledge
of our trustees. During our Civil
War a Yankee commander was pass
ing with his troops a thrifty South
ern farmers home. While his army
MAI SI1Su oIl, llSiilpCl0 VI IhS huhSSi
squad were told to collect the stuff
for the army. The cattle were turn
ed into the roao, the sheep were
turned in, the geese were turned in,
the horses were turned in, the other
poultry was turned in; the smoke
house, the dairy and the pig pen were
raided, and as the farmer, standing
by, saw the last thing thru
the gate, he lifted his hat, and then
his eyes, and said, Gabriel, if you
ever intend to blow your trumpet,
now is the time"
If Uncle Sam is to send two mil
lion of his young men to Europe to
knock the Kaiser's brains out, ]
want to assemble a few old men to
journey to Cambridge and knock
some brains into the heads of our
Kaiserism; and, if the task of the
old men is to be as difficult as seems
that of the young men, it may be as
well for us to take our titles clear"
with US, hoping, by noverIng over
our graves, to see our children enter
into their school rights over well
shelled roads.
E. L. HUBBARD.