The Republican journal., 1916-02-24
A Word to the Citizens anl
TAXPAYERS of Belfast.

n WOfQ IO lllS NltlASAAS anu
Taxpayers of Belfast.
The following from a recent copy of the
Waldo County Herald is only mild sample of
the false and misleading stories which certain
gentleman has been circulating for the year
past. through this mouthpiece:
1.-TWO years of Tax Extortion-Not new In
dustry-Real Estate Drug-$75,OOO thrown
away through ompetents-Are the Demo-
Renegrades and their Rep. allies satisfied?"
Mr., Hanson desires very badly to be again
Mayor, and has started in IN his customary
manner by trying to cast discredit upon the
present City Government. He is not man
enough to give credit where credit is due for
the vast amount of work that has been done
for the past year in putting the city back to
the state of efficiency that any City ought to
be kept in. He must adopt his customary way
of trying to pull everybody down to his own
level, by vilifying and casting mud of his own
mixing, through false and misleading reports,
reports which we hear are being diligently
circulated to the effect that we have run be-
hind many thousands of dollars this year. As
high as $4,000 is said to have been reported.
You will see in this issue of The Journal full
and complete statement and analysis of the
Receipts and Expenditures to date Of this City
Government. We estimate at the end of the
fiscal year an expenditure of not exceeding
Three Thousand Dollars in excess of receipts.
That we have accomplished the vast amount'of
work done without falling behind more is the
of 70 yho<h hos hoo,
done, the permanent property and improve
ments paid for and suits settled.
l wish the Citizens of Belfast to know and
realize what we were up against when we at
tempted to put the City on a level and square
footing once more. When your house has been
permitted to go without repairs for years, your
farm without being fertilized, simply sapping
the soil, or your business run at loss, you
know what is the inevitable result. 1t requires
lot of money, considerable time, and large
amount of effort after such a debauch to get
started again in the right direction. This was
the condition of the city of Belfast. A start
made last year has been completed this. Bear
in mind that the city's net debt of S2.766 II
bequeathed to US was but small drop in
the bucket compared to the inefficient
state of all the various departments of the
city and the things promised and left un-
done; for Mr.. Hanson was good promiser.
Could you for moment realize the general
state of almost every department of your city
you would not wonder felt obliged to in
the taxes for year to 3 per cent
You would wonder rather that we could ac
complished much as we have.
In 19l1-12-13 the city's expenditures exceed
ed its income $16,546.27; in 1914. $7,S23 33; a
total in the four years of $23, ,S69.60.
A large part of the shortage of 1914 may be
attributed to the conditions passed over to the
Dunton administration and applicable to the
previous years.
Had the city's income equalled its expendi-
lures in 1911, its tax rate would have been 81
lilo mills instead of 20 mills; in 1912. likewise.
20 $40 mills instead of 10 $40; in 1918, % $40
mills instead of 20 mills; in 1914, 26a mills in
stead of % 20.
The city had working surplus at the close
of 1910 of $21. .1O3 33; at the close of 1914, it
showed deficit of 81, 1862 27. Mr.. Hanson re-
Gently stated that he ran the city behind &c.
600; he forgot about the other $4,000, also the
$1,000 passed over to Dunton, large part
of which should have been cared for by HIM
self. This statement of facts may be easily
verified by everyone by reference to the city's
reports. If anyone who discredits them will
call at my office, he will be shown to his satis-
faction.
One of the first and most noticeable OBJ
stacles which we were up against, good and
hard, was our roads Our roads for years had
been the laughing stock and butts for jokes of
every driver of horses, or of automobiles. or
teams of any description obliged to pass over
them. 1t was truly said that no matter how
dark the night anyone travelling toward Bel.
fast could tell when be reached the town line,
coming from any direction whatever. For
years the road appropriation has been practi-
cally thrown away or wasted, dumped into q
hole. go to speak. few hundred feet square,
with all of our 165 miles of streets and roads
almost entirely neglected, which might have
been, with the amount of money used, thor
oughly turnpiked and gravelled. Much money
was spent for good road machinery, but of
what avail, since not properly applied. The
fact remains that we had no good roads at all.
This was the condition when we started. 1t
was not to be expected that we could cover
all OF our 165 miles with both turnpike and
gravel in one year. but we have turnpiked and
placed in passable condition every main ap-
proach to the city and most of our principal
streets. putting them into shape where they
can be easily kept in good travelling condition
with. very small future outlay if carefully
watched. The work on Church street, except
in front of the Brooks house, was lost. Owing
to the large amount of shade over this street
it is necessary to crush rock surface it this
year. Another year of intelligent work and
gravelling the roads already turnpiked would
put all our roads on par with any city in the
State of Maine. In rebuilding our roads we
found that about eight out Of every ten Of our
principal culverts, which we had supposed
should take the water from the roads, were
filled and had been SO for years; no efforts
having been made to keep them cleared. All
this we have had to do. It does not take an
experienced person to realize that the road
situation today is far in advance of what it has
been for years. and that more real improve
ments have been accomplished on them than