Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-10-13

ne would not be or much use to q
political machine because of his
natural independence.
But they assured him that the
party itself in Hudson County need
ed cleaning tip very badly and that he
was to have a free rein. On these
terms he finally accepted md as a
young man he became the admins
trative head of a county with thir-
teen municipalities and a population
of approximately hale a million peo-
pie. He studied the improvements
and additions sorely needed at the
county institutions and the expendi-
ture necessary to complete them. He
fully realized the power of the super
visorship, which, up to that time. had
never been understood, and proceeded
in an orderly and systematic way to
accomplish the following improve
ments:
Building a new almshouse; a wo-
mems wing In the p~enitentiary. thus
making possible for the first time the
separation of the men and women
prisoners: q tuberculosis sanatorium.
thus giving to Hudson County the
honor of being the first to provide for
these most pitiful of all sufferers.
In addition, the surroundings of the
various institutions were improved
and beautified, and the supervisor in
sisted that all contractors must fur
nish wholesome food and proper sup
plies for his charges. The net result
of his administration of the county's
affairs, Notwithstanding these costly
improvements, was a decrease In the
expense of running the county of over
100000 a year, resulting in the low
est tax rate In twenty years. His
fellow citizens rewarded his efforts by
re-electing him as supervisor in 19O6
by a plurality of 20,499.
His Triumph Over Pagan.
Mark Pagan had been the Republic
an mayor of Jersey City and was
looked upon as invincible when the
Democrats In 1907 turned to the fight
ing young county supervisor II be-
sought him to make the race against
Pagan. The machine Democrats did
not loye Wittpenn, but they were tired
of having their party outside the
breastworks and they preferred a
fighting Independent of the Wittpenn
type to a Republican any day. So OPP
position was shelved and Wittpenn
was swept into office as mayor by
over 1900 plurality, carrying every
ward and almost every election dis
trict. 1t was not long before the gang
sters who had taken the chance found
they had lost. Without buster, with
out sham or pretense, but with a fear
lessness that won all honest men to
him. II. Otto Wittpenn proceeded to
prove that as mayor he was as incor-
ruptible as when he was supervisor.
He encountered a tangled tax situa-
ton wherein Mayor Pagan had tried
to squeeze $76,000,0 900 from the rail-
roads by taxing second-class railroad
property. The State Board Of Assessors
refused to approve the tax. Expenses
had to be reduced or the tax rate
raised. Either one of these PROPOSE
lions was a mans job, but Mayor Witt
penn tackled both and triumphed, al
though his administration faced a tax
income deficit of a million dollars.
Prompt to heap the blame upon Dem
ocratic shoulders, the Republicans
pointed to the mayors struggle as a
proof of his incompetency. They fail
ed. Jersey City, like all other munici
palities, has its substantial underlayer
of honest citizens, who, when they be
gin to think, do things. Mayor Witt
penis fight against obviously unfair
conditions aroused their interest. His
remarkable ability to surmount his diff
fculties won their support. They saw
that such a victory could only result
from a man possessed of superior bust
ness acumen and sagacity. In the end
what Mayor Pagan could not do Mayor
Wittpenn did-he forced q valuation on
railroad property higher than any of
his predecessors had been able to do.
and, besides that, the running eX
penses of the city were reduced by
about $4,000 a year. The training
from the grocery store experiences was
beginning to make itself felt.
City progress works much like a
cogged wheel. Each tooth on the cir
conference helps pull the other into
place. Investors, when they saw that
an honest deal was assured, began to
loosen on their purse strings. Indus
tries began to branch out Economy
was SO apparent and wtthal so bene
fetal hat confidence became grounded
in H. Otto Wittpenn. So when Jerses
City bonds at 4 per cen were offered
to buyers competition forced theil
value to a figure that was higher than
other mayors had been able to get fol
40 per cent bonds. Confidence did it
trust In the man who relentlessly
crushed graft wherever he could
strike it.
Small wonder that three times
Otto Wittpenn was reelected Mayor
with a plurality first of 1924, then OF
1000 in 1909 and of over 1900 in 1911