The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-02
THE DEBT BRIGADE IS MAKING r ITS LAST STAND; IT WILL FIGHT
 DESPERATELY ID BOND THE CITY
"A MAYoR CLIFFORD B. WILSON, after much MI consideration, has fixed the date of

XVII consideration, mas uXeQ the fQdto Oi the special bonding election for May 2; more than month away He has learned the lesson Of the last special bonding election, which is that the attempt to create great municipal debt by. showing it down the throats of the vot- %ers in indecent haste is the very worst thing that could happen to his debt program.
 There will be no more calling the workers together, and no more public instruction direct ly from the lips of the mayor, to 'put the bonds over, the administration wants them.'
 Those methods were tried something over a year ago. They were a ghastly failure. The boys did their best to put over the debt, but the voters, more numerous than .;the boys, de- feated the debt by thousands of ballots
 The methods that will be used this time will be more subtle, and hence more dangerous. There will be no public orders: there will be private ad1nontions There will be no unseen ny haste, but 8. deliberate canvass during which the public service corporations and the mayor will muster every vote that influence can com mand, depending upon the indolenee of the peo- pie to carry the day!
 If these bonds are defeated there is pros pect that the city may be relieved of the debt conspiracy that has afflicted it so long.
 This is to be the last stand of the debt brigade. If they lose, they will give up as a hopeless task, the attempt to cripple the sffnan- ces of the city by wholesale borrowing for un- productive things
 But if the present debt projects are suc- |cessful there are millions more for projects in the background, which will be put forward in turn
 1 The mayor has already publicly announced that Broad street must be cut t1through, which will cost million dollars, although he has es- timated the cost at a lower figure.
 Projects to sell the Library, the City Hall and the Charities Building preliminary to the erection Of a civic center on Golden Hill are in waiting. < There is none who will attempt to say that there are not occasions in the history of mt- nicipality when bonds should be issued
 But that there has ever been an occasion in the history of Bridgeport when debt should be incurred on the, wholesale plan attempted by Mayor Wilson, everybody will deny.
 From the time he took office until now, the mayors most strenuous public endeavors have been for a great debt.
 He promised many things asa result of his debt program including FIFTEEN MILL TAX RATE.
 His ignorance Of municipal. finance is seen in his failure to realize any of those things he promised.
 There is not a 15 mill tax rate, but a tax rate of more than 19 mills, levied upon a grand list that has increased at more than a normal Hrate, and which has been swollen by the inclu- sion Of some millions of property which was formerly assessed in the first district only. 5 Mayor Wilson promised a fifteen mill tax rate HE COULD NOT HAVE GIVEN TT EVEN K HE HAD BEEN PERMITTED TO PLUNGE THE CITY AS DEEPLY INTO DEBT As HE DE- SIRED TO.
 The debt he has sought amounts to about lSioooooO0. Had this quantity of debt been in Icurred upon ordinary terms the annual charges necessary to carry it would amount to the pro- leeds of AN EIGHT MILL TAX. I Tn this case, the tax rate this year could nol have been kept at 49-2, but must have passed lwell beyond 20 mills
 WHEN BRIDGEPORT TAKES ON DEBT IT SHOULD BE FOR PRODUCTIVE THINGS WHICH WILL PAY THEIR OWN WAY AMI SOMETHING BESIDE.
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