The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-11-16
OUTRAGEOUS Waste.
Management Of the Jail
Roundly Denounced
by Taxpayers.
A CHANGE OF SYSTEM DEMANDED.
Freebooter Wlnckler of. Essex
Gives Some Int estlng In
formation Of The Jail
Management There.
4 CHANGE OF SYSTEM DEMANDED.

any idea of the awful waste of money on
the County Jail until / read THE JERSEY
CITY NEWS yesterday, "said a well known
taxpayer to ms last night. This gentle-
ma owns considerable property and has
always been identified with the Demo.
cratic party. He added
"Of course l knew how much Jailer
Davis received for boarding prisoners.
but | never supposed that it was ont of
proportion to what other first class coun-
ties paid for similar service. THE NEWS
has lone a good thing In showing th 9
public the true condition of affairs in the
County Jail, and it will be the fAuls OF a
Republican Legislature If they are per-
mirted to be continued. Why. compared
with what Essex county pays for til Q
maintenance of its County Jail, an insti-
tuition equally as large as the one her e.
we are princes in gsns rosity.
A R OUTRAGE.
II noticed i'll The NEWS yesterday ex-
tracts from the report OF tie Board of
Freeholders of Essex County. which
shows that the actual cost TO the county
TO the maintenance OF the jail is but
s. 500. while the actual cost for similar
service in this county ranges from SAC. 900
to $500 900 a veal. This 10 the grossest
outrage on the taxpayers OF this com
munity | ever heard of, n in my judg~
ment the sooner the Legislature aboIishss
the present contract and fee system AID
substitutes for it the method pursued by
| Esssx county authorities fhe better it
will be for this county. THE NEWS has
shown concluslvsly the evils Of saying
a jailer thirty cents to feed a
/ nrioOnnr WbAu Ezsav N0rntv oan Ia
the same thing n does it better for
! .08L cents for zach prisoner. Such a Diff
ference should not be permitted to ex list.
The Legislature should act In this ma tier
as soon as it convenes. This Is the era of
economic reform. aud it was to obtal u
this re- form that at least five of the mem :
bers of Assembly were elected in this
county at the recent election. These As
semblymen will betray the confidence of
their constituents II they do not do all in
their power to lessen the burden OF taxa
ton, and I 90 not know of q better way
to begin Than by creating a different sys-
tam for the County JAIL
Another man, one who has for years
been prominently identified with public
affairs, informed me that he, too. had
read the announcement in THE NEWS
with much satisfaction that a bill would
be introduced in the Legislature for the
purpose of making che jailerSh!p u
aalaried office.
TALK WITH AN ESSEX F~FREEHoLEDR.
eff" said he, Essex County eau ind q
competent man to manage the jail for a
salary of 1900 a year, surely we in this
county al do the same. | was in Newark
u few days ago and | had a conversation
with Frseholder WipcKler on this very
subject. He told me that the total ap-
2ropriation for the County Jail for 1898
was but $4,000. Out Of this sum is to be
paid the salaries Of the warde and his
assistants and all other expenses con-
necte1 with the Jail, which includes the
feeding of the prisoners. repairs aud fix
lures, medicine. water, gas, shoes. dry
goods and incidentals. besides maintain
ing a horse and wagon. All OF these
things must be provided for out of Sis, 900
Mote the difference In this county.
The jailer receives alone for feeding the
prisoners about $4,000 and all OF the
other expenses such as I have Gu
copied. are provided for by this county
These items amouut to about s20.009 a
year, / am informed. and that would
make a total cost for the maintenance of
the Hudson County jail. $40. 900 a year
which does not compars favorably for
the same service In Essex county for
SIS, 600. The difference in these amounts
is entirely too great. There !,
no reason why this county should
pay 2 1000 a year more than O county o
about the same population. / am verl
glad that this matter Is being agitated
for it behooves every n to do his utmos
to keep down the tax levy. Without en-.
tering into the well known bad condition
Of the city and county's finances. / simply
say that every member OF the Legislature
shculd do his utmost to aid those In au'
thority to decrease the public debt a
rapidly as possible.
CONTROL OF H JAIL.
II would favor u plan that would give
the Sheriff the control of the County jail
From time immemorial a Sheriff has been
the custodian of the County Jail, and in
this county and Essex and one or two
others IL the Stats this custom was only
abolished TO make offices for place
hunters. The Office Of Sheriff Is so close
Iy identified with the jail, that it seems
but right that he should be made respon-
sibie for IL. Still. any other plan would
be better than the present one il il would
abolish the fee system which
ates q jaiier far In excess Of the services