The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-02-02
S15 APIECE TO
RUN COUNTY SEAT
HOneSdale Borough Bills
We're Sl3,92O.3l
CORPORATIONS PAY ONE-HALF
OF ALL THE TAXES HERE AS
ELSEWHERE.

Just four brand new One Dollar
Bills! That's, approximately, what it
cost each one of the more than 500
voters in the borough of Honesdale as
his share of the cost of rebuilding
the streets of the County Seat last
Summer.
For the privilege or walking light
ed streets by night he paid Three
Dollars more. For fire protection
he handed over to the tax collector
another dollar and a quarter Police
protection was his at about the same
price. For other incidentals he
coughed up another Five Dollar
Bill.
This last Five Dollar Bill did yeo-
man service. Tramps, panhandlerS,
dusty followers of the road, wander
ing up and down the hills and dales
of Wayne, liked the looks of things
from Irving Cliff and decided to tar
ry in the County Seat over night.
They were strangers, and Sheriff NJ.
Lee Braman took them in. The
trees of Honesdale town sickened
and died. To prevent any further
decrease in the number of the elm
and maple trees for which the town
of Hone is famous, arboreal surgeons
were sent for. They went through
the city from end en- end, cutting
off dead limbs here, Pasteurizing de-
cayed trunks there, and everywhere
injecting new life into the veins of
the lofty sun-shields. Most of the
expense of this surgical work was
borne by individual taxpayers. But
the Town Council gave Twenty-Five
Dollars towards this worthy project.
Memorial Day is a great day at the
County Seat, if not the greatest day
in the year. Business is suspended.
Shops and factories shut down. Men,
women and children pause in the
hurry and hustle of life to devote one
day to honoring the Boys in Blue.
Private individuals contribute to-
ward the expenses of this public
function. But every year the cost of
the service grows greater, and so,
with patriotic desire to help in hon
oring the Defenders of the Flag, the
borough fathers last year donated
Twenty-Five Dollars to Captain
James Ham Post No. 29S G. A. r.
The municipality is outgrowing its
swaddling clothes. How to care for
the increasing quantity of garbage
was becoming a serious problem,
when the Town Council went out into
ground for S97. This will take care
of the garbage of the city until that
$4,000 garbage bacteria plant is
built
The Town Council bought fifteen
cents worth of sal soda in 1911.
That was the smallest item in the
municipal expense account. Then
there were such things as coal to
hA IIa1 80
protect it against fire loss, to be TAX
en- into consideration. The borough
solicitor drew $50 for a years SER
vice. So did the treasurer and the
secretary of the Town Council Men
had to audit the accounts. And they
had to be paid. The annual state
ment had to be published in the
county papers, and printers ink costs
money. The ice formed to a danger
Gus thickness on Park Lake, and
dynamite had to be used to avoid a
food. The streets of Spotless Town
grew dusty on Summers Day, and
they were oiled, or at least several
blocks of them were. Here a dollar
went and there a dollar was needed,
so that the cost of running the bor-
ough in 1911 ran up to $13,920.S1,
or an average of SIS for every voter.
And that was only for ten months,
too
By the way If your taxes were less
than SIS last year, you'll know
| you're that much in. Come to think
of It, Mr.. Disgruntled Taxpayer,
| don't the corporations pay about half
the taxes in Honesdale, just as they
! do everywhere else?
Question: Is the corporation a
| friend or an enemy OF the poor man?
| Now be honest about the answer!