The Penn's Grove record., 1916-10-20

County Supervisor. lie do liir I,
consider 1t AZ fist. sen NJ foith tina
he would not he Of mucI rse 10 Il
political machine he iuc of hi,
natural Independence.
But they assured hin MAT tn,
party itself In Hud on 90 ut nee :
ed cleaning up very badly and that h
was to have free rem. On thaS,
terms he finally accepted aud * Il
young man he became the admins
tratfye head of a county with thir
teen municipalities AMI II POI ulntl0I
or approximately hn'f y mi Il II PEG
pie, He studied the i'm 10 ement>
n additions sore;y nee'cl M tn
county institutions and the pxrpndi
ture~ necessary to complete them. II.
fully realized the power of tn, Srner
visorship. WI ch. zip to that time had
been understood and rncep 'rtl
In an orderly AMI systematic wav I
accomplish the following improve
ments:
Building a new ~almShopSe: n we
mems wing in the penilent Try. thu
making possible for the first time tn
separation of the men az wonr
prisoners: a tuberrul, SIS sanntoriul,
thus giving to Huts'n County tIi
honor of being the first Ia nrOvile fo
these most pi:iful of all sufferers.
In addition. the Surroun iingS of II,
various institutions we're i'm rove
and heautiticd. and the srpc 1ai~or In
sisted that all contractors must fur
nish wholesome fool AMI proper SUI
plies for his charges. The net resul
OF his administration of the county
affairs, Notwithstanding these g. o.tl,
improvements, was a decrease in IL,
expense Of running the county of owe
$4,000 a year. resulting I'm the low
est tax. rate In twenty years. Hi,
Fellow citizens rewarded his efforts b,
re-electing him as supervisor In 1905
by a plurality Of 2O,499.
HE 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 and be-
sought him to make the race against
Pagan. The machine Democrats did
not love 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 op
position was shelved and Wittpenn
was swept into Office as mayor by
over 5000 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. H. Otto Wittpenn proceeded to
prove that as mayor he was as incor
ruptible as when he vas supervisor.
: lie encountered a tangled tax situa
ion wherein Mayor Pagan had tried
TO squeeze $76.O00,0O0 from the rail
roads by taxing second-class railroad
property. The State Board of Assessors
refused to. approve the tax. Expense.
had to be reduced or the tax rate
raised. Either one of these propos
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 Republican,
pointed to the mayors struggle as !,
proof Of his incompetency. They fail
ed. Jersey City. like all other munici
palities, has its substantial underlaye,
Of honest citizens. who. wh"n they he
gin to think. do things Tor Witt
penis fight against obvioa " nnfai,
conditions aroused their interest. Iii
remarkable ability to surmount his dii
aculties won their support. They say
that such a victory could only resu,
from a man possessed Of superior bus.
ness acumen and sagacity. In the enc
what Mayor Pagan could not do Mayo
Wittpenn .did-he forced a valuation OF.
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.
2 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 withal so bene
.fciaf that confidence hseame grounded
In H. Otto Wittpenn.. So when Jersey
City bonds at 4 per cent were offered
to buyers competition forced their
value to a figure that was higher than
other mayors had been able to get for
Az. per cent bonds. Confidence did it
trust in the man who relentlessly
crushed graft wherever he could
strike 1t.
Small wonder that three times Fl
Otto Wittpenn was reelected Mayor