The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-21
Ring ROBBERY.
How the New Charter
Affects Jersey City
Finances.
EXTRAVAGANCE GONE MAD.
Cleveland's Gang EFFORTS
$500, 900 More Than the
Big Four in Two
Years.
NOTHING To SHOW FOR TT
NOTHING TO SHOW FOR TT.
1t Has All Been Wasted and I'M
proyements Have to Be
Paid for by Bonds.

If you want to get something approach
ing definite notion of the extent to
which Jersey City has been feeced by
the Ring, you just want to compare her
receipts in the olden time with the re-
ceipts of the new dispensation, and when
you have sized up the monumental ex-
cess of revenue the new government has
had over the old, you want to look about
you to see what benefit the community
has derived from it; or, rather, to have
the words closer represent the fact, the
benefits the community has not derived
from it.
There are three or four sources of in
come that the city derives its maintenance
from. First, there Is the tax levy, repre-
senting the sum that is wrung directly
rom the pockets of the tax payers; then
the ra Dad moneys-this year these are
included in the tax levy. Then the State
school moneys which do not vary from
year to year to any appreciable extent,
and may as well, for that reason, be left
out of the comparison; then the liquor
license moneys and the receipts from the
sales of other licenses; and then the earn
receipts from the Martin Tax Adjustment t
Commissioners, adjustments of tax and
assessment averages, and finally, perhaps,
the money that is raised Dy loans on the
general credit of the community.
A REGIME OF ROBBERY.
A comparison made between the re-
ceipts of the old government and those of
the new Ring government, from these
several sources, will reveal just how
much more the present masters of local
affairs have to squander and have sqnan-
q dered than theIr predecessors, and in
making this comparison sight must not
be lost of the fact that it was the extrav-
agances, the corruptions and the scan
dals of the old regime that the Ring uti-
lized in creating the clamor that put it
in control of municipal affairs.
Cleveland and his gang cried aloud
against the iniquities of the old system;
and promised that if the people would
only let them manage things, expenses
would fall away down, and it would still
be possible to improve the appearance of
the town and better the condition of it's
people. What shall be said of the gang
that, having acquired the reins of gov
ernment on this pretense, put expen-
ditures away up above any level to which
the corrupt management of the big
Four" era had ever dared to send them;
that screwed the last dollar out of the
Taxpayers pocket, by deluding him with
a reduced tax rate to plumber him under
cover of swollen valuation: that runs
the city hopelessly into debt by robbing
fits sinking fund and trading on it's credit;
that instead of placing the added re-
sources of the city from other sources to
the credit of the taxpayer, sees in them
only additional opportunities for pIunder
and rascality; and that dareS, with its
greater income, to give the people of the
city not u single substantial return for
the outlayS
OLD AND NEW.
To what extent is the method of the
Ring managers reflected in this query?
Compare first the tax leyieS. Those of
the last five years, including that an
nounced few days ago, are available
now for analysis. In comparing the old
with the new it is but fair to deduct the
fixed charge of interest upon the city
debt. That is an item over which the
managers of the city government have no
control. There is the debt; the interest
on it must be paid; the bonds as they fall
due must be met. So the size OF that
item cannot fairly be made the object of
criticism. The balance of the budget,
however, represents the actual outlay for
the maintenance of the city government.
The last tax levy made under the
auspices of the Big Four regime was an
nounced in the summer of 1888 Under
it the affairs of the city government were
administered not only until the Cleve-
land gang took hold, in June 1889, but
until the December following. The tax
levy can be fixed only once q year-in the
summer preceding the December when it
becomes operative, and collections are
made under it. So that however anxious
the Ring might have been to plunge into
the city vitals, Immediately upon taking
office, the law stayed the knife for the
first six months of it's invasion. If it can
be shown that it has had hundreds of
thousand dollars more at It's disposal
.-s., r nnal In To oh hn 0if "
financial affairs as it desired, it follows,
therefore. that this excess has been practi-
calIy squandered since the commence
ment OF its first fiscal year in December
last But then, on the other hand, it
must not be overlooked that the tax levy
fixed by the Rings Board of Finance last
summer, and that fixed by the Rings
Board of Finance this summer, are to
cover two years.
A fair basis of comparison may, there
fore. be made between the last two
budgets of the old government and the
two made by the new.
The tax levy fixed in the summer of
1887 by the old Board of Finance
amounted to 81, $50, ,373 Deduct the fixed
Interest item, $780, ,5S5. and $3.50, ,S3S is left
for all other city purposes
The budget prepared under the aus
pjces of the old time government was
liked ia the summer Of 1888 for the fiscal
vear extending from December 1888 to
December 1889. Its total was 81, 725, 800.
Deduct from this $S09 535, required to
meet the bonded obligations OF The city,
and a residue OF S9l6, 2S5 is left for all
other city purposes.
The first tax levy fixed by the Cleveland
N-ascals was prepared in the summer of
lSt year; it's second for the current ex-
nsnses OF the year beginning III Decem-
yi3er next has just been announced; H. The
\ total Of that for last year was 81, 799, ,651
Deduct the interest account-$7S5 ,020--
ard it is seen that the running expenses
If the city were increased to sl,Q19,S3l.
The budget, just announced, Tor the
next fiscal year amounts to Sl,S5S, 40.
When interest 5000, ,s6o-is taken out, it