Henderson gold leaf., 1911-09-07
WHERE THE CITY'SMONEY GOES.
~, mcCoIn Points Out Several In
stances Where the Public FUNDS OF
the Citv fave Been Wasted.
.. Editor Of the Gold Leaf

thr CitV nave Deem " dctcO'
r,tae Editor Of the Gold Leaf.
With your permission | want to
,,i1t ont in this letter some OF the
iiI.,..s where | think the towns
,.r..y has been unwiseIy spent.
J.-rr4 to- say in the outset that ]
have never charged that any Of the
,,,rr.'- funds had been stolen, neither
think that the board of town
commissioners, az now constituted,
i. amy worse than it has been for the
.,-. rrn years. My greatest Ohjec-
t.-r,. tn the board and to the admin
.-rr,iinu nf town affairs is that they
l.,....rnltrn into II rut and are try
l.atD run an up-tO date, progressive
f.,.l under the same laws and III the
-.,r. m1nnrr ~ they ran q small
,.I, ,u,. twenty years ago. This IL II
,rY.rr~-ive Hge and the town that
l.u-- not make progress and keep up
with the spirit Of the age is IL back
luruhrr and dead town.
lu this letter shall attempt to
r.Irt ont OnIy II few Of the many
nI,rr4 where / consider the money
-m.lt without %etting full value for it.
t,.N Years ago the town commits
-IOnpr~ bought II nice, up-tO- date
road machine at cost, as | am i'll
formed, of about 81 800. They used
this machine some three or fOur
times. then stored it in shed rented
from the mayor Of the town, paid
storage charges on it for three or
four years, and finally loaned the
marhinp to the county to be worn
nur. aud the town has never received
ANYTHING for this machine and it has
long ago been thrown ON the dump
heap. consider this 81, 800 unwise-
Iy spent.
\ little later the town commission
rr- bought an up-tn-dhte street rOl-
lrr at IL cost of S:}, 600. This roller
VAS uuIOadrd, paid for and LOANED
to Mr.. Currin and once to MIR. Thy-
Ior. aul up to this good day it has
never been used one hour by tn"
tuvu. 1t is not denied that our
streets are in bad condition, and
many believe that the roller could be
used to Il grcht advantage, especial
IN in repairing the maCaddm on main
street But when our street com
missioner was IL boy, street rollers
were not then used, and therefore he
is opposed to using it now, and for
that reason this $1,000 investment
uf the town has been allowed to
rDi,dd idie in the open weather, TAX
iu~ the sun, rain and storm Just us
they come. and it. is generally under
stood that rust has already ruined
or soon will ruin it, and the town is
ont $1,000.
How about the cost of lighting our
town? The Bible tells us that "Some
love darkness rather than light be-
cause their deeds are evil" Has it
ever occurred to you that the unusual
love of darkness ON the part of your
town commissioners was responsible
for Henderson being the only town
If It's size in N0rth Carolina, South
Carolina or Virginia running on Il
moonlight schedule? OF course you
understand that on q moonlight
schedule the lights are turned out
when the moon rises. And under this
arrangement Henderson consumes
only two-thirds the amount of cur
rent, and gets only twO-thirds the
amount of light as it would get I'M
der an all night schedule. DO you
know that your commissioners are
paving for 81 lights to be run under
the moonlight schedule the sum OF
s. 420 year, and do you know that
=
luroIina and Virginia are getting
Ia" nlEnight schedule for the same
price that your commissioners are
paying for the moonlight schedule?
This information was furnished me
by II good reliable party who knows
what he is talking. and anyone can
~ubstuntiate this if he will take the
time to investigate it. Now is it
right for Henderson to pay as much
for n moonlight schedule as other
towns are paying for the all.night
srheduler Ii this is not right and Just,
Your commissioners are annually
PavingS | ,OI5 more than other towns
are paying for their lights, and
think this money is unwisely spent.
The labOrer is worthy Ofhis hire. .
This applies as much to the police
men as any other laborer, and like
any other commodity labor is worth
what it will bring on the market and
no more. My experience has taught
me that when man goes out to en-
plOy labor to he paid for with his
own money he gets it as cheap as he
can, provided the price is reasonable
and when the employer goes up on
the price of labor he expects either
more labor or better service. This
Is true with business men, but it is
not true with the commissioners O
Henderson. In May 1910, when we
went to elect the police, we fixed the
salary of the chief at $50, and the
three assistants at $40 q month
each. the town furnishing the uni
forms and hats and other parapher
MALTA, and in addition to this al
lowed the police to divide among
themselves all the costs they collect
ed for making arrests and summon
lug witnesses. This | understand
would amount to SO Il month a
piece. This made the chiefs iot
worth $40 a month and the Othe,
$50 together with the clothing.
thought then and still think that th,
pay was adequate for the services
received, and in proof of this ther
was some two or three application
Tor each position. The big five o
the board selected four of these men
two of whom thought we're the bes
men applying, and two the sorriest
This however is only my opinion
Anyway, the men selected were ask
Ing for the job and accepted, know
my what they were TO get and wer
satisfied. Notwithstanding this fac
the majority of your commissioner
all of a sudden became so big heart
eel and liberal with the town none
that they raised the salaries OF thes
men So each per month and in thei