Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1915-08-21

normally to have been expected.
ut is five years since he and | were
nominated, he for county clerk and l
for the newly established office of reg
lister of deeds. which latter Office at
the time | sal was as necessary to
Bergen county as two tails to a COW.
1t was part Of my platform that l
would, If elected, do all in my power
to have the office abolished and the
my opponent said was a 'faker.' and
many Democrats confessedly voted
against me because they believed |
had no intention of keeping my pledge
and didn't want the party handicapped
by the election of trimmer
Immediately the informal conven-
ton at which our nominations We're
decided upon had adjourned | hunt
ed up Mr.. Thompson with a view to
ascertaining where he stood. realiz-
ing that while 1t would be difficult to
get the legislature to pass the neces-
sary repeats. it would be impossible to
secure such action if he were opposed
to 1t, provided we were elected. Much
to my qualification l found him not
only willing but anxious to help In
the redemption of the pledge which
had made, although the passage Of the
bills, if obtained. would largely in
crease his work and responsibilities
without adding to his remuneration.
We We're elected and took office in the
middle of November. 1910.
when the repeating bills which
forwarded to Trenton had reached the
committee stage and snags were APP
pearing Mr.. Thompson got out Of Il
sickbed against his physicians or
derS to go to Trenton with myself and
others to meet the objections advanced.
and 1t was largely through his appar
emily incredible insistence as his will
registers office as l was to lay them
down that the bills We're reported fa-
vorably and finally passed and signed
by the governor.
During the seven months l had the
office q retired on July 4, 191D the
county clerk I, nd | cOllaborated in an
endeavOr to establish Il system that
would bring the two offices out of the
hopeless state of wasteful chaos, and
after my retirement he still further re-
fined it to point which has made the
county clerks office as amalgamateI
the talk of otticialdOm in the state for
efficiency. l thought had established
md irrS,f hnf I ybn,
returned papers left for record in ten
days after their receipt County Clerk
Thompson has actually cut this time
in two, and it is the rule for papers
left In his office on Monday morning
to be in the hands of their owners on
the following Saturday.
1.-The mass of 'ticklers' which made
the Lusk index a joke in years gone
by is thing of the past. The Lusk
the backbone of the registry division
is up practically to the minute The
time saved to searchers and the cOnse-
quent saving to the employing public
by this Improvement alone may Well
run into thousands Of dollars Il year.
There are connecting links between
the offices of surrogate and county
clerk which give me peculiar oppor-
tunities for observing the adminiStra
ton of affairs in his office and vice
versa. During the first three years of
his term Mr. Thompson was an in
valid good part of the time Even
then IDEAS for the improvement of the
office came into his mind, which he
tried and, If found beneficial, he con
tinued During the past eighteen
months or two years very many re-
finements have been introduced. with
the result that without question the
county clerks office in both divisions