The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-02-16
RITCHIE ADDRESSES MARYLAND
EDITORS.
Governor Outlines Program OF State
Needs To County Newspaper
Men,.

Men.
Governor Ritchie addressed the
editors of Maryland newspapers at
the Executive Mansion in Annapolis,
on Saturday. The Governor dis
cussed state affairs from a non-parti-
san standpoint, presenting various
problems of constructive legislation
that concern the voters and will be
before the Legislature for consider
alton next year.
Following his talk the Governor
entertained the newspaper men at
luncheon. About sixty members of
the press of the State were present.
Among the plans of the Governor,
hitherto unannounced, which he
mentioned in his talk, were these:
Development of system of CO.
operative marketing for the benefit
of the farmers. The farmers should
help in this themselves. The Mary
land Agricultural Society is already
working along this line.
The Susquehanna bridge, which
became State property Saturday,
should be a free bridge. The Legis-
lature should convert the bonds Just
taken over by the sinking fund into
general issue bonds that would be
retired out of the general tax levy.
An administration building should
be provided for the Eastern Shore
State Hospital at Cambridge, and
provision should be made for the
care of 200 more insane patients.
The other things which the Gov
ernor outlined on his program for
future consideration are already in
the hands of commissions or special
committees and have been made
public before. One of the important
points which the Governor touched
upon in his review was the tax rate.
OF this he said: G <
The cost of things to the State has
gone up just as it has to everyone
else, and the State is doing much
more than it ever did. But that it
is doing it as economically as it
can is reflected in the
State tax rate. When the present
administration began the State tax
rate was SO 31-72 cents. This has
been reduced to 80 lib cents, so
that the rate is now over cents less
than it was in 1920. Each cent
yields about $15O,O0O.
Governor Ritchie in discussing the
gasoline tax declared that it was the
most equitable tax that could be
imposed because it placed the bur-
den upon the people who used the
roads most. He predicted the adop-
tion of the tax by the District Com
missioners of the District of Colum-
bia, declaring that it would pave the
way for reciprocity. OF the pro-
posed increase in the gasoline tax,
he said:
On the basis of receipts to date,
the Maryland tax, at 2 cents per
gallon, will yield enough to reduce
the license fees, which are now 60
cents per horsepower, to 26 cents
per horsepower. Taking the ex-
ample of Ford car of 23 horsepow.
er, this means that the 1923 license
fee of $3.50 will in 1924 be $5.9S.
An increase in the gasoline tax
from 2 cents to " cents per gallon
would enable the State to change
40 license fee at all. / am disposed
20 think that the next Legislature
should make this increase. Not only
IS the tax perfectly equitable and
,air, but our method of collecting it
from the wholesaler works admir-
ably, and venture to believe that
most motorists do not even know
hey are paying it.
The Governor declared that ex-
,erts who aided in working out the
state reorganization plan were not
allowed full sway and that an eco
nomical and efficient program had
been worked out whereby S0-odd
boards had been reduced to 19 de-
AS to feWer elections, he said that
t would save the taxpayers several
of thousands of dollars
Zach year and would also eliminate
| lot of political worries and cam
'aign contributing.
Touching on schools, he said that
'9,500,000 as compared to- ST.
100000 when his administration
began, was being used in bettering
schools. The program of increasing
eachers, salaries, giving more aid to
high schools, giving teachers better
raining both in normal schools and
lfterward, and providing an equali-
ation fund was being worked out.
The Governor emphasized the inn
'ortance of training teachers, point
ng out that about 700 of the 5000
Elementary teachers now employed