The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-05

which amounts to $4,350 annually, in salaries alone, with more or less incidental expenses.
 In view of all this I respectfully ask that you kindly tender your resig- nation as Special Personal Tax Col lector, the same to take effect Feb ruary l, 1912. I suggest this date in order that 1t may give you ample time to properly adjust the accounts be- fore you and to give the regular tax collector an opportunity to prepare for the new work.
 I would like, however, to have your resignation within the next few days. although this will not take effect un- til February 1, 1912. Asking thaT you give this your immediate atten ton and favor me with your resigna tion, I beg to remain
 Yours respectfully,
 CLIFFORD B. WILSON,
 Then he continued by giving out the copy of the reply to this letter which read as follows:
 HeNse4A A.eply.-
 Bridgeport, Conn.,, Dec. 26, 1911 Hon. Clifford B. Wilson,
 Mayor of the City of Bridgeport. Dear Sir:
 We each received a communication from you, under date of Decembe 18th, 1911, in which you ask for ou resignationS as personal tax collectors Although your letter was addressed each of us individually, inasmuch
 
 matter and the same reasoning wou4 apply in all our cases, we have de cided to answer you in one reply.
 From the character of your lette' we are certain that you are unfamilia with the work which We have bee doing and that you are unacquaintc with the difficulties which attend tn collection of the personal tax. IT. your communication you say in sub stance that our places are superfuous and are an unnecessary expense to the city. In both of these particulars. you are in error and we are confident that if you are considering this sub ject solely in the Interest of the public and are willing to make an unbiased investigation, you will be convinced Of your mistake. As you well know, the work of collecting this personal tax was not undertaken by your prede- cessor, Mayor Buckingham, from choice or for the purpose of making political offices or public places. The or Buckingham was in no way re- sponsible. It was created by the leg islature. The duty Of providing for its collection was imposed by the leg We were regularly appointed by the mayor under an act of the general assembly passed in 1909. Mayor Buckingham must have realized that the tax would be a very unpopular one and would be very difficult to collect He saw that if satisfactory results were to be obtained, 1t would be neces- sary to appoint special tax collectors to go out and solicit the tax. He must have known, from past experience with the collection of the poll tax and military communication tax, that the collection of the personal tax would be failure if an attempt were made to get it through the ordinary chan nels of tax collection and if no active efforts were put forth to enforce its payment. We say this without in-' Ia in V Tn fnT7f he regular tax collectors of the city who have served in the past. But we all know, from our Knowledge of human nature, that a man who goes before the people for election, as the regular tax collector does, would not invite the odium and disfavor which attach to an energetic effort to collect a per sonal tax of this kind. This has been demonstrated in the handling of the poll and military taxes. The regular collector has remained in his office and has received such of these taxes as were voluntarily paid. The result has been that he has gathered the poll and military taxes only from those who happened to be tax payers on re il estate and who, for that reason, were compelled to visit the tax collertor's a consequence, only a small percent age of the poll and military taxes was collected.
 The city has been paying to the state each year thousands of dollars. more than collected, by way of mili- tary taxes. Under the existing act, which provides for the collection of the personal tax, eighty-flve per cent of the expense of supporting and maintaining the state militia is ap- portioned and assessed upon the sew eral towns of the state, according to their grand lists, and unless some po- sitive and active effort were made to secure the personal tax, this enforced contribution to the state, for the sur- port of the national guard, would mean a steady and continued loss to the city, as the military tax has in the past. tax in other cities of the state, esp.- c:alIy New Haven, has proven the wisdom of appointing special tax col lectors. A much larger percentage of the tax has been collected here than in New Haven and at less ex- pense, as we are informed by an off1- cial of New Haven in position to know. So far as the expense of col believe that any other large city in the state, no matter what the method followed may have been, has made the collection any cheaper. than has Rridgeport. We feel confident that if you will make a full inquiry as to the collection of this tax in the larger cities of the state, and learn the extra expense caused by the employment of assistants, stationery, postage, tele- phone charges, etc, you will find that Bridgeport has handled the matter as economically as any other city in pro- portion to it's size. Decline to Resign.
 Since our appointment wea have been steadily at work, often evenings and on some holidays. We have found it necessary to devote this amount of time to our duties, in order to get results. We have collected to date more than $S15OO, and will in- crease this by several thousand more. We have written more than 74,000 addresses, including bills, envelopes and receipts. We have canvassed 152 streets for the collection of this tax, but this does not include our work in looking up removals or changes of residence iron. one place to another There were more than five thousand removals from residences given to us on the list which we received and