Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-01-23

No mortgage to secure negotiable
bonds should be allowed to be placed
upon the property of any corporation
shall be first obtained and the amount
Of the bonds to be issued stated in
such certificate. The bonds never
should exceed the actual value of the
property mortgaged. He should be
given visatorial powers as to any cor
poration organized under the laws of
this state, with the right at all times
to inspect the books, papers or minutes
of any company and to take copies
thereof.
He should be allowed, with the APP
proyal of the attorney general and the
governor, to take legal proceedings in
the name of the state for the protec-
ton Of the rights of corporation or
its stockholders.
The time has come for the strict Sill
pervision of these great corporations
and the limitation of their stock and
bond issues under some proper public
official. 1t will make for conservatism
and strengthen the companies doing
legitimate business and eliminate, let
us hope, those which are merely spec
ulative in character and organized sim
ply to catch the unsuspecting or cred
ulous investor.
Department of Motor Vehicles.
At the present time the motor vehi-
Gle laws are administered in connec-
tion with the Office of the secretary of
state.
The use of these machines is becom-
ing so general, the number of them Is
SO great (the licenses exceeding $4,000
and the revenue under a changed Ii
cense system would be SO large that
this should be department by itself.
The enforcement of the automobile
laws is demanded by the travelling pub
lie. A very large percentage Of the
automobile drivers are careful, but
there are some who are not.
If the present automobile law is too
stringent, it should be amended. A
speed of twenty miles an hour in many
places is not excessiye-in fact, it may
be said to be quite moderate without
misstating the truth-while in other
places speed of twelve miles an hour
is more. rapid than these machines
should be permitted to go. But, what
ever the law may be, it should be en-
forced.
There should be sufficient officials in
the department of motor vehicles to
see that it is enforced, and the penalty
for the violation of the law should be
more severe.
The returns from this department on
the basis of an increased license fee
would give it as large a revenue as Is
derived from any other department of
the state, and / should not be surprised
If the revenue within a year on rea-
sonable horsepower license fee would
exceed 100000. The expense of con
Quoting this department probably
would reach per cent of the entire
revenue received, and its efficiency
under a commissioner could be made
very much greater than at present.
New Jersey has the finest roads of
any state in the Union and, in proper
tion to her territory, more than any
other state. We must do everything
to increase the number of miles of
these admirable public highways and
to maintain them after they are con-
structed, and this department, proper
iy managed, will be a most efficient
o. in, t<af,
the state road commissioner can main
tain these roads in good repair.
Department of Public Reports.
The state publishes a mass of official
reports at a large expense each year.
The cost of these publications would
be cut down many thousand dollars
per year if they were intelligently ed
tied, with view to printing only such
matter as would add to the useful
knowledge of the public
I recommend that law be enacted
creating a department of public re-
ports" consisting of a single commits
sioner who shall control all state pub
locations subject to the approval of the
governor.
Department of Accounts.
The state needs an accountant de-
partment of the most efficient kind.
There should be uniform system Of
bookkeeping in all the state depart
ments and institutions, and all ac-
counts should be thoroughly examined
and audited.
The fee system has been abolished
In the state, and yet at no time has
there been an audit or verification of
any of the reports of county or state
officials, so far as l know, by any com
petent accountant to see that the state
fees returned are correct or that all the
judicial or other fees to which the
state is entitled have been actually
collected.
This can only be done by an exami-
nation by competent accountants of
the books and papers in the offices of
all officials collecting fees.
In addition to this, all the state insti-