The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-01

spend in a manner that will produce a tax rate which would be a hardship upon the taxpayer or in a manner which will place an emba rrassing debt upon the city.
 ''The Republican administration of our city for the past two years has furnished striking exhibition of spending the cfty's money and of at tempting to put the city in debt with out regard to the city's financial re- sources. The financial policy of the city government for the past two years has been shaped by a man who had no experience in municipal affairs. He sought to bond the city on the same principle that he would bond his own
 manufacturing business. He saw no distinction between the fiscal manage ment of a private corporation and a public corporation It is manifest that when a private manufacturing cor poration is bonded for the purpose of developing the plant and new, build ings and new machinery are added, the revenue of the. business will in- crease and the bonded indebtedness will therefore be taken care of and gradually retired. But this is not so with public corporation like the city of Bridgeport. We have practically no income except the proceeds of tax ation. All the public utilities such as the trolley lines, gas, water and CAOCI1AS 11SAl SSI7N1CGo d10 pA " caNO4S owned, Consequently if the city is heavily involved in debt the interest on that debt and the debt itself must be satisfied out of the taxes collected mainly on the homes of our citizens.
 The present Republican administra- ton has unquest1onably been the most costly and extravagant in the history of the ty. This fact cannot be dis puted. The figures talk for them selves. The claim that the present administration has given the city a reduced tax rate is based on a fiction and is made for campaign purposes of deeeiving the taxpayers of Bridge port. This claim is on a par with that of a man who happens to have 900 and who claims to be worth $1 900, although he owes bills and is obligated to pay out the 1000.
 T am not going to tax your atten- ton or burden you with figures any more than is necessary to show he falsity of the claims made by the Re publican administration in regard to it's reduced tax rate and it's efficient administration of the city. This pres ent administration, for expenses which are ordinarily met out of the current revenue of the city, has borrowed $220, 900 and is leaving unpaid the State tax now due amounting to approxi- mateIy $11O,000 and which ought to be paid in the present fiscal year.
 M The total valuation of the taxable property in the city, or what is known as the grand list, has been increased, according to Mayor Wilson's own fig ures, s16,854,ooo. A tax rate of 16 1-2 mills which was the tax rate for this year, figured upon their increase in the grandIist makes an additional in come from taxation of/$277, 200 All of these inm ense sums have been avail able to and have been used by the present administration. Besides the benefit of the increased revenue from this. enlargement of the grand list, the adrnir1istra ton, for what have been heretofore considered as current eX- penses, borrowed s220,000 and in ad- dition, as have pointed out, has left unpaid a, State tax of about $11o,000 If the administration had provided for this State tax alone, out of taxes as should have been alone, it would have meant an additional mill added to the tax rate and would have made the highest tax rate in the city's history. In view of this jugglery with figures and financial manipulation on the part of the administration, isl there any merit in Mayor Wilson's claim that he has reduced the tax rate? It is easy enough to make claims as to what you are worth if you don't charge off against your possessions what you owe.
 esAs will be seen from the foregoing figures, Mayor wilson's administration has spent over a half million dollars more than was spent during the sec ond year of the last Democratic ad- rnfnistrati tion with which it is fair to compare it. With these immense sums at his disposal, the tax rate instead Of being 16 1-2 mills ought to have been several mills lower, if the city's money were not squandered in a most reek- less manner.
 etNot only has the administration been guilty of this extravaganza above outlined, but it has attempted to bond the city for millions more in direct vt- olation of the will of the people as ex- pressed at the polls. Unless this ab- soIuteIy inexcusab1e and insane ex- travagance is checked, the tax rate will soar to a figure which will be op- pressive and unbearable for the home owners of Bridgeport.
 Mayor Wilson, with the same spirit of deception that has characterized his presentation of the financial statement of his administration, is seeking to dodge the cold logic of these recorded facts whether with a guilty con- science or not I do not know, but for some motive, he seeks to make it ap- pear that I charged his administra- ton with graft. No such charge ap- pears in anything that have said or written and this intimation comes from him. What I did say was, that his administration has paid an unwar- ranted and unjustifiab1y large price fol. the pavement which the company laying it pleased to term Warrenite Mayor Wilson has been boasting of the permanent pavement which has been laid under his administration during the last few months. This is all that he attempts to show for the immense and extraEagant expendi- tures- during the last year of his ad- rrainistra ton. What I pointed out to my fellow citizens was that this same material could be laid, with profit, for 45 cents a square yard less than than. the price paid by Mayor Will son s administration. This have Suc- ceeded in doing I have documentary proof and the word of experienced contractors and engineers, right in our own community, that this very mate rial could be specified and bids called F~7. I72 IeaEsT