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A REPLY TO MENCKEN
(Editorial)
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The Baltimore Evening SUN in its issue of December 7th, published a very obnoxious editorial entiteld "Eastern Shore Kultur," in which the Eastern Shore of Maryland was styled as the "forlorn" section of the State, inhabited by a mass of "morons."
The article, which was copyrighted and written by HT h. Mencken, left nothing unsaid in its attack upon he ideals and institutions of our famous penisula. It condemned the Methodist Church, it condemned our stand on prohibition, it called us "a lush stamping-ground for knavish politicians," it called our leaders "ninth-rate men," it called the Eastern Shore the "land of tin-pot revelism." Even the bench was railed upon, >?fid as for preachers and newspaper editors, they were let off by being referred to as "clowns"
It is only natural that every Eastern Shoreman would take offense at such statements. We are of the opinion that the worthy gentleman who wrote the article has never visited the Eastern Shore; his article shouts his ignorance of conditions here. It has been our observation that the person who so hastily reaches such untrue and unjust conclusions, is the one in fault and not the people he is railing against.
The injustice in the article is plainly evident, when he refers to this section as the land of 'poverty." But then how was Mr. Mencken to know that the very next day after his article appeared, that one town alone I in this "poverty-stricken" areal was to cancel $76,000 worth of business from Baltimore. Cer-j tainly, it is plain to all that the gentleman simply didn't know what he was talking about, when he mentioned "poverty." And, if the rest of that State believes all what was in that editorial, which insinuated that the rest of Maryland would be better off without the Eastern Shore, then we are ready and willing to sever what broken ties may remain with the vv es-'fern Shore and Baltimore City, and form a State of our own across the bay.
We are certainly not proud of everything Baltimore City has done, and we are just a trifle tired of its meddling in our affairs.
What a splendid State this Del-Mar-Va Peninsula would make. A rich country, close to city markets, but far enough away to avoid its contamination, and its political influence. A unified people w.. common interests, ideals, and aspirations. What a great "FREE STaTE" we could have — a state with more than one half million people, with no dominating large cities—fourteen rich, prosperous counties in the best secuon of the United
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