The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-07

OH DEPARTMENT..
ss1he police department of this city has
attained to a position Of excellence hardly
equalled and never excelled in its history.
Upon the whole. a better discipline and q
higher morale prevails than ut any time in
its history. Early ia my term it was found
advisable to separate the police and detec-
tive forces and place the latter under the
direct supervision Of a chief. who reports
daily to the Mayor personally. At the time
the change wasleffectcd it became as much
of a necessity as a desire to rid the city of
the policy gamblers and dealers in counter
felt money or green goods, who under a
previous administration has found the city a
safe refuge and a headquarters. By an un-
remitting and persistent prosecution OF
the work of arresting every known dealer
n player, the city was soon cleared most
efPectually of every swindler and policy
dealer. Ably assisted by a new Grand Jury,
Indictment, trial and conviction soon fol-
lowed each other in such rapid succession
that the work of our corps Of detectives
bore fruit to that extent that the city is now
and has been for several months free from
the presence of the policy game or its pro
motors. For ~economy's sake, and for the
reason that no valid excuse could be offered
for the maintenance or a secondary Police
Department uptown, the new station, erected
at q large cost to the citizens, has been closed
for a year and probably $40, 600 saved to the
taxpayers.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
ssThe city has been but three years pro
tected by the service of firemen unde the
pay OF the municipality, In the past years
we nave not had any great confiagrations
with which the department was obliged to
cope and which would test their capacity.
The men and the means have been equal to
every occasion. With our three modern en-
gines, two trucks and a chemical engine, we
have thus far successfully battled against
every threatened devastation by fire"
The Mayor referred to the necessity of
fire house in the Third ward and said il
should be built at no distant day.
Concerning the schools and the system OF
educating the youth of our city, we can
safely rest our case upon it's merits. ind
the guidance and control of the Board Of
Education are six schools, an annex and G
high school, all in an excellent state of pro-
gress and utility. Now WI feel the need of
another school building in the First ward tx
relieve the overcrowded state of school
buildings Nos. l and 8, and it is my hope and
desire that the building may soon b erect
ed. When we were confronted last fall by
the problem of what to do with the 500 OF
more primarians which were thrown upOr
us by the closing OF the big paroehial schoo
on Willow avenue, the Board of Education
and the principals did what they could Il
accomrnodate the little army, which right
fully demanded Of US that consideration
which the State guarantees to every child, {
liberal education, and fortunately the
arInory in the Citn Hall vas available, and,
on the permission being granted, it was soor
transformed into a temporary asylum II
which nearly 400 little ones are daily taught
This illustrates, more than word can convey
the necessity of more school acconmoda-
lions in the First ward. / trust the matter
will receive the attention its urgency re
quires.n
The Mayor believes the Kindergarten sys
tenn should be a portion of public school edu-
cation. Likewise there should be placed
under the control of the Board of School
Trustees the manual training department.
HEALTH.
"Twice only has there been any cause fol-
alarm concerning the health of the city, bui
fortunately there did not exist in reality any
cause for the exaggerated ideas which pre-
vailed as to the possibility of an epidemic
of disease. The local Board of Health was
met with O serious possibility of the spread Of
smallpox from a house in which three OF
four cases were removed in the First ward,
but by prompt and efficient measures they
stamped out the disease in its inception, and
by requiring the vaccination of every schoo.
child in the city, and the ~gratuitous inocu1a
UlOQ OIL ScNGThl UlOuSdIQo WIZ dDH11O0 LOl ~
the dreaded scourge was checked. The
Health Board does not receive much praise
for its work, much as it Is deserved. They
nave done some very effective work in the
preservation of public health by means OF
preventive as well as combatlve measures.
STREETS AND SEWERS.
Supplement the work of the Board OF
Health with good sanitary condition of the
streets and sewers of the city, and public
I..14L I'LL or-o no o< tho a yirn11rn If ic a
sad condition which must always confront
us with regard to the sewerage of the lower
wards of our city. They are situated at tide
level, and the question of the proper method
Of draining the low lands has been discussed
times without number, but no definite OF
satisfactory condition of affairs has been
evolved, and as time rolls on, the matter
becomes more serious. Council after council
has invited public meetings. and the testimony
Of expert engineers has been given, but the
matter stands as it always has, a block in the
way Of progress, and a problem which should
be ours to solve. If lateral or trunk tide
sewers are to be the salvation of our health,
let us get about their adoption, for nc streets
are fit to live upon where there is a defec
tive and a defective sewer has no place
in a modern city.
az would like to see several of our streets
paved with asphalt, notably Hudson street
Eleventh street, Bloomfield street and Wash.
ington street, and / am firmly impressed
that the gain in many ways would more than
return the outlay.
ssThe city should control the watering of
the streets, and in this connection I would
recommend chat proposals be received for
the watering of all the streets.
WATER QUESTION.
Referrinp to the water question, the Mayor
says
plant of the Hackensack Water Company,
erecting another of greater capacity or re
newing the contract. While the first tive
propositions are entirely feasible, they dc
not seem at present to be practical. | be-
lieve the city car better be supplied than by
owning and operating a plant OF its own,
and it rests with the Council to make the
best contract it may with either the Hack
ensack or some new company for the supply
of water, bearing in mind that the citizens
must not be put to any expensive system OF
placed in any position whereby there is nc
redress for corporate wrongs or injustice"
The Mayor believes Jersey City should be
sued Inc forced to take steps to remedy the
evils arising from the Ravine Road sewer
As to the new County Boulevard, he would
refuse to pay any assessment unless the pro
posed loop at Weehawken is agreed to. He
relates the growth of the Free Public
Library and The necessity of q building fol
the institution, which he hopes may be
erected at no distant day. Referring to the
trolley, the Mayor said
with the exception Of about two hundred
feet upon Willow avenue and the distance
of six blocks of Fifteenth street, not an cleo.
trio car passes through our public thorough
fares. This condition, with regards to the
trolley, would lead one TO think that we
were narrow, bigoted, prejudiced or lacking
in modern enterprise, when the fact is The
reverse. With a determination to see that