Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1919-05-22
LEONARDTOwN. Md THURSDAY MORNING. MAY %. 1919.

eraf Albert 6. Richie, made on Monday, May
l9, that he will be a candidate for the Demo
cratic nomination for Governor has caused wide
spread satisfaction among his many admirers In
St. Mary's. For several months there has been
an unmistakable trend of party sentiment that
he is the logical candidate, the one best fitted to
harmonic the various factions and lead the
State democracy to victory III November.
A review of Mr.. Riches career as peoples
counsel of the Public Service Commission, At
tomey-G General of Mary land and general counsel
for the War Industries Board, discloses a record
of legal acumen and constructive craftsmanship
that admirably qualities him to so discharge the
duties of Chief Executive as to promote the
best interests and welfare of the State. His
ability. integrity and peculiar fitness for the
Governorship is unquestloned even by those who
for personal reasons mig ht prefer some other man.
The next question, and most important one
from party stand point. is can he be elected?
Judging from the strength he has previously
shown at the polls, we most emphatically claim
that he can be. His $4,000 majority in Balti-
more City when he was elected Attorney
General is proof positive that in this, the pivot
al point in any State election, he can command
something more than even the normal affiliated
vote of his party. This is a recommendation
that should weigh heavily in his favor in any
possible primary contest. He has carried and
can again carry Baltimore City, without which
the Democratic party can have no hope of win
ming. Nor are his supporters confined to the
city that has so signally honored him. In the
same election referred to above he received
plurality Of 1000 votes in the countless a most
convincing argument that he is the strongest can
didate that the party can produce.
His candidacy is a credit to the party and to
the State--it is what we have been ardently
hoping for--and if we could be grati6ed in just
one more political wish we would ask that he
be conceded the nomination without a primary
contest to sap the strength and destroy the unity
that are SO vitality necessary in the final election.
The meeting held at Piney Point on Tues
day by the Engineer Department u. S. A., in
reference to the proposed bridge to St. Georges
Island, developed no objection to the project,
except such as was overcome by the plan to
arch the bridge in the middle Of the stream so
as to give clearance Of FIVE feet at high tide,
but the statement Of Mr.. Mackall, the State
Roads Commission engineer, that the appropna-
ton of $4,000 would not permit the erection
of a concrete bridge was Disappointing to those
who recognize the Justice of the Islands claim
for some practical, permanent connection with
the mainland. According to the estimate, the
best that can be done with the available funds
will be the erection Of bridge with native un-
treated piling, the life Of which would be from
to 10 years.
AS the bridge would have to be maintained
by the county, it would seem that the matter
warrants a strenuous effort to have the Roads
Commission supplement the appropriation with
sufficient amount to at least treat the piling
against early destruction by worms. The cost
Of this could not be great and would materially
lengthen the life of the bridge. The bridge
must be built whether it lasts 5 or SO wears.
That much is due the people of the Island,
whose needs have been already neglected tool