Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-11-07

REPLIES To
DEMAREST
EDITOR EVENING NEWS:

EDITOR EVENING NEWS:
L have read the article, "Demar-
est on why he is a candidate in
your issue Of November 5 and re-
greet to note that Mr.. Demarest feels
called upon to attack my record as
collector of the township, in order
TO further his own cause, and l also
regret that in putting his own rec
ord before the public. he must GER
tainly have been relying on his i'm
agination for his facts.
Mr.. Demarest claims that taxes
ARE due (the township each year.,
which no effort has been made to
collect" If the property owners
would only compare the tax re-
ceipts of the last five years Of my
term as collector with those of the
five years preceding my election,
they would not only see for them
selves the vast gain to the town
ship but would note that more prop
erty has been sold for delinquent
taxes dining my term of Office than
had been previously sold for fifty
years preceding my election.
While / was willing to admit that
improvement can always be made,
yet l would call attention to the
fact that better results should be ex-
pected from one who has had six
years experience in consistently i'm
proving the condition of the collec-
torship, than could be hoped for
from any young and inexperienced
nominee no matter how good his
motives might be.
As to MIR. Demarsst's record In
public affairs; while he must have
done something to warrant the sup
port he expects in this election, yet
1t does not seem fair to have him
claim the credit for getting city wa
ter and electric lights into the
streets of Sewaren while it can cas-
lily be proved that he had nothing to
do with either.
Water was running through the
mains in that section Of our town
before Mr.. Demarest was born and
the electric lights were put in some
thing like twelve years ago, when he
was too young to have taken any
very prominent part in that move
ment.
Neither did Mr.. Demarest have
any part in the high pressure water
SCI ice NnICu was luSIdllSu III De-
warren last yea and to which refer
ence is evidently made by his broth
er.
That service was only installed af-
ter a three years of hard work with
the MiddleseX Water Company, and
only upon the condition that a guar
anteed income be paid them of ST.
600 per year, until the growth of
the town should yield that income
in the regular way.
This guarantee was contributed,
with one exception, by all the pri-
yate industrial and development in
terests of Sewaren, and that one ex-
ception being the Sewaren Improve
ment Company. of which Mr.. Dem
Arrest is the local mouthpiece.
Notwithstanding the fact that this
large property holding corporation
stood to gain more by the above i'm
proVement than all the other inter-
'ests combined, it is yet unfortunate
Iy true that they refused to sub
scribe one cent to that guarantee,
Furthermore, | am willing to
leave it to the tax payers from whom
my salary comes, whether or not I
am doing right by giving up all
manner of employment Except that
for which l. was elected) and living
on the people, as l am accused of
doing by Mr.. Demarest's brother.
l know that it has been custom
airy to simply use this responsible
office as a side. show to a regular oc-
cupation. but so long as the town
ship of Woodbridge pays the regular
legal salary of s 1900 per year to
its collector, and so long as the
Board of Education also pays for the
safeguarding of its funds, / firmly
believe that the collector has no
right to have any interests or bus
mess which would take n time
from the duties for which he is be-
ing well paid, and my past six years.
experience in this office proves on
clusively that no n would have
any moral right to accept this Of
fee who could not or would not de-
vote his entire time and energy to it.
LEONARD M. CAMPBELL.
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