The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-10

l | Keep the tax rate down, by creating a debt, and he says you should create the debt because the city does not owe very much now
 families than it is for one family | The man who exceeds his income, ex- cept in the face of necessity, is not a. sound etnancier. The man who claims that he Is frugal and econom- i tca1 because he has exceeded his in come by borrowing lavishly will be laughed at
 There is 4 tendency throughout the country, among pub ic officials, to get | credit for a low tax rate, by pIung- ing the community into lebt-
 The little pamphlet which I have here-lt was called to my attention by of the learned judges of this State I-touches upon this matter. The l pamphlet is issue ss Plympton, Gar l diner & C'~ Eziekz i7s' skers. They l say:
 ] Among municipalities the tendency to extravagance in expenditure iS very great. It results in an increasing ] tax rate and in a decreasing credit. A great deal of this expenditure, and the expenditures of counties and States 1 as wei have been used for things, for whose use a community cannot charge ! a remunerative price,
 President Hadley, of Yale Univer- l sBty, one Of the eminent economists of | the country, says: Sewers, harbor inn provements, highways and other
  selves commercially should in general l be paid for by assessment, or not built 1 at all This may seem a hard rule | In some cases it really is But the enormoes number of mistakes made | in borrowing money for things which l do not and cannot pay for themselves snows how unsafe it is for govern pubic necessity of such enterprise warrants putting heavy burdens on l the future taxpayer
 50 you have MT. Hadley's view of conservative bonding, and the view of these eminent bankers. It appears the only bonding they deem conseTva- 1 tive is bonding for things that will pay for themselves.
 ''They do not believe in bonding for 1 all permanent Improvements Of con- , siderable value. which the Mayor asks you to do.
 authority of experts in this matter. You all know, as business men, that none of you would think of adVertiS- ing that his own enterprise was in good shape because it was heavily in ! debt.
 you know that our board of trade has for years advertised our pay as you go policy as a reason why manu- facturers should locate here. Those of you who use automobiles know that those companies which compete most keenIy advertise the absence Of a bonded indebtedness on their plants, to show that their machines are built economically.
 'NThere are two reasons that justify a mortgage: Necessity may compel a man to it, or he may have use for his money which will give greater returns. Many of us are compelled to mortgage our homes, but we are paid off and we try hard to pay it off. If we don't some time the other fellow gets the place.
 At this point Mir. Cooper, president iT,%a 4oI Nr understand that Mayor Wilson does not intend to bond for these school house improvements. In fact, he has told me that he didn't"
 Mir Wilson: '+If the Mayor has al- ready seen the error of his way, am glad of it I am going by the advice which he has officially given you in his coInn1unicati ton. He asks you to bond for all permanent i'm provements of considerable value am not willing to assume that the to you as an officer of the city in his formal communication to you.''
 MT. Cooper: You are jus filed in taking the view that the schools are
 At this point MT. Loewith asked that MT. Wilson's remarks be cut short.
 MT. wilson, after expressing regret that his views annoyed MT Loewith. continued, saying: "As a matter of fact your board has no right to issue bonds. You would be unw1Se to post pone things absolutely and irnmedia e. ly necessary upon any theory that you can issue bonds. The Mayor has no power to issue bonds. That pow CT comes from the General Assen bly,. The General Assembly has laid down the general rule that it will attach the referendum to all bond issues. The last bonds proposed in Bridgeport were submitted to referendum. I feel warranted in saying that there will probably never be another bond issue in Bridgeport except upon the ap- proval of the people. I am certainly opposed to the principle that bonds should be issued for all improvements of consid ble value It is bad finance. It is even worse It is dangerous finance to propose such a thing. And there must be no bond issues, necessary or unnecessary ex- cept with the consent of the citizens of Bridgeport who have to foot the