Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-04-28
but he felt he would be a coward to support
tba;r nronoa;tiou on thar account

but he felt he would be coward to supper
their proposition on that account.
4 In reply to certain statements Of Mr. Best, viz
that Bloomfield which paid 5000 per light 70
70 are Ii shts, also paid SIG 90 per lamp per yea
for incandescent lights, &c, &c !; that most Q
the gentlemen who made up the Company wer
owners of property in the City of Woodbury.
i that one gentleman had put $600.00 in it an,
only realized $500 90; that the Secretary of tn
Company, or any citizen, c w Starr, keeps tn
books of the Company open for inspection at his
store, In orSer that any one who is interested Il
the Company may examine them that the par
i ties who form this corporation pay one-sixIh o.
the tax which is paid in the City of Woodbury.
| that taking into consideration the amount o
| money the Company is making he does no
think it is right and just to say to them that thel
shall furnish to us this light for $500 per lamp
| or we wont have it.
Judge Clymer said We have another Dante
come to Judgment. His name is not Daniel
but Joseph not Daniel in the lions den, bu
Joseph in the Council of the City of Woodbury.
preaching strange and unnatural doctrines
/ Why, actually am surprised to know tha
these gentlemen invested In this for.the benefit o.
the City OF Woodbury., solely and only. And they
pay one-sixth of the tax of the City of Wood
bury. Well. If it is too big burden, why do they
pay it !! That Is the price which every man pays
/ be 1t great, or be 1t small, for the privilege Of
living in the City, and hope never to SEQ the
| day when the amount OF tax which man pays
Will be the stamp of his value of a citizen. II
that is to be the test let US know it right here
what men pay the most tax aud let them do as
they please.
Our Government is formed on different basis
Every man pays according TO what he owns and
| many poor man has paid his life tor his coun
try, and many Of these people who pay these
immense amounts of taxes are never willing to
| go that far. Many poor man has paid his life
| for our bright flag waving to-day on the seas
and which we hope may some day be the mis-
tress of the seas. and more than that a man can
not pay, whether he is taxed for much or little.
aQ Z iQay nafnf nj q 1foif
| Why. Mr.. PRESIDENT, would only say that when
We could not agree upon the price, that ended it.
There was nothing else discussed did not
want to be the mover in this matter. 1t Is not. as
said before. pleasant duty to me, but it is a
duty that l felt called on to perform.
am truly sorry for the poor citizen who INVESTED
$500 90 in something that he only got $500 90 out
Of. have invested that much, and never got
anything out Of it. held the bag and there Was
| nothing in it.
Is this the argument that we are reduced to;
that these gentlemen have put their money In an
Investment that does not pay, and perforce, the
City of Woodbury. must step up and say, we will
pay you such price for what we want, in order
that you may lose nothing by your investment!
You are nice citizens, we like you, you made q
bad bargain. and now we will make it all right
for you. That is all the gentleman's argument
resolves itself into IL might be all right, as
stated. If was spending my own money; but it
not nv money am going to spend. 1t is your
money Mr.. President; it is your money, and your
money and your money. gentlemen from the
First Ward; and your money, and your money,
gentlemen from the Seconu Ward; and your
money, and my own money, very small part of
my own. however, and That would nave a
perfect right to do what please with if l could
only separate it from the bulk. but l cannot.
When nv money IL paid into the Treasury OF the
City of Woodbury., it becomes the peoples
money; 1t is no longer mine, and l have no
further right in it and therefore right to spend
1t in any but perfectly legitimate way, and
must get as much for it, for the people, as if
had never paid dollar of tax. Our duty is not
60 make this venture profitable Improbable
to these gentlemen. With that we haye nothing
whatever to do. Our sole and only duty. and iI
is a solemn one, is to get for the Oily of Wood
bury as much as we can for its money, as fair
and honest traders That is all we have to do
The gentleman tells me the books OF the Com
pany are tpen for inspection. What do care
for their books. It is not my business as a mem
be ros Council of the City of Woodbury. to inspect
their books, / have no business with their
books, My business is here, and am trying to
attend to it and am not wasting my time run
ningto Mr. Starts store to examine the books of
the Woodbury. Electric Light Co., to see if they
are doing good or a bad business If the gen
tie man had been lawJ er as long as have, he
would have learned never to bother with another
mans business unless he asks you TO, and not
then, unless he pays you for doing it have
enough to do to attend to my own affairs and
keep out of debt, and do not succeed very
well at chat sometimes.
But now we come to the crucial test, Mr.. Pres
ident. The question that the gentleman opens
up 80 pertly. He says I'll Company did not pay
Grant that to be true, the inquiry naturally
arises. why didn't 1t pay! If you have two COR
preparations running side by side, cog within
cog in two wheels, you may find solution of
| thus problem. This Company pretends to be an
Electric Light and Power Company. Maybe it
is and then again, maybe it is not. Did you ever
know it to furnish pound of power to any
body? Did you ever know it to offer to light a
building In the City of Woodbury.? l might die
of starvation for an iDcandescent light in my
house, if l owned one, and could not get it.
Why can't l get it2 That is the business Of this
Company, selling electricity; then why can't
get it? Because, If they were to go into that
business, they would interfere with the business
of the Consumers Gas Company, and there you
| have it rolled up in ball.
What would you think Of grocer who would
go into the business of selling sugar only, or
sugar and coffee, or sugar, coffee and tea? Do
you think his business would be very profitable
one?
Mr.. Andrews-The gentleman has picked out as
examples the very articles on which the most
profit is made should think his business would
be quite profitable one.
Mr. Clymer-Will you tell me as a matter OF
fact that retail grocer dealing solely in sugar,
make his business profitable one: make money
at i?
Mr. Andrews-I do say So
Mr.. Clymer-Then why haven't you started the
business here?
Mr.. Andrews-l have more profitable business
of my own.
Mr.. Clymer-And there has been no grocer wise
enough to discover that there is big profit In a
retail business dealing exclusively in sugar coffee
and tea. Verify, they must all be idiots. They
do not know their business; they had better begin
all over again and learn it Your argument meets
ITSELF there is TO further commentary needed
Mr.. Andrews know what am talking about.
Mr.. Clymer-You seem to be one of those indi-
viduals who think that what you do not know is
not knowledge.
Mr. Andrews-I beg the gentleman's pardon
for interrupting. did not wish to confuse him.
Mr.. Ciymer-H you can confuse me you are at
perfect liberty to do so.
The gentleman says Bloomfield" "arc lamps p
If he had stopped there he would have had an
argument; but no, he must go on and talk about
what l cry The company at Bloomfield is sell
ing electric lights and all kinds to everybody that
wants them Let the, city Of Woodbury. cry in.
candescent lamps, and where will she get one?
Bloomfield gets her arc lights at $72, and has an
incandescent system alongside of it. Why GER
| tainly Let any company come into this town
and furnish all kinds of electric lights and you
will find then that they can sell what the city
wants at the price it should pay, but it can't so
long as all its revenue is derived from the city OF
Woodbury., and the city of Woodbury. alone and
we cannot determine what proportion of the ex-
pense of the other corporation is saddled on this
one. Let them go into the incandescent light
business. But they won't. They know good
thing when they see it. She has heretofore had
| the Council of the city Of Woodbury. in such q
condition that no other company could possibly
get here. There has been no competition. No
body could ever, at any price, light the streets oil
the city Of Woodbury.. This company started in
| at $75 and got 1t up to $85. Continue this condi
| ton of affairs and you will be paying more than
| SIS for your lamps.
Mr. President if this company wants to enter
into the electric light business let them do it in
every sense of the word If they not willing to
do it, then let one else in who will put it in
Let us have something for the city's money. and
let us not sit here in fear and dread of this cor
p0ration and say weakly and supinely, "Oh, we'll
1 II they don't give us any light, we won't have
| any" Why just as we'll might we have said. in
relation to our recent national troubles s'Well il
we do SO and so, we will have trouble And we
old it and we had trouble because the United
States OF America asserted her rights and that is
why we have trouble That is why the American
| flag is to-day floating over many monitor
cruiser and torpedo boat. For answer let the CITY
of Woodbury. assert itself and have its rights and
| If trouble comes let it come, but we will never
| get them SO .ong as we are ready and willing tc
If we do not come to your terms we may be left
without lights If the City of Woodbury. will
assert its manhood, it will soon be able to say
Come in here. We will make you do what Is
right and proper and put you under certain re
strictiOns but come. Hyou want to invest $4,000
| $50 Co., $4,000, $60,000 in our city, come anc
invest tive don t0bect'; and this business worl6
is not made up of fools, and there has been grea
deal learned in the field of lighting, and people
OF wide experience know what they can do
We can say what they shall do before they have
any say as to what they will do.
| Mr.. President, hope the motion will prevail.
Mr.. Best moved that $50 be inserted il
the minority report. This was declared
out of order, and then the vote was taker
on the adoption of the minority over thu
majority report, as follows -
Aye.-Clymer, Glading. Hendrickson
Reih "A.