The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-04-22
THIS CITY WILL. SPEND
A MILLION IN 2 YEARS
Tax Payers Must Watch Their Step In Elect;no
~ a New Set of City Officials In Nav

lowed to stand idle for several years.
1t is now paying for itself and with
improvements yet to be made it prom
| 1ses to be the most attractive city
market in the south.
3. A large number of streets here
tofore impossible during winter months
and which could not be paved because
OF the excessive cost have been covered
with Ellington gravel and have been in
line condition all winter. The streets
so improved include such arteries of
| trathc as Parsonage and Ehringhaus
streets, say nothing of many lesser traf-
fic streets. More than $1,000 has been
expended in such street improvements
| 4. Sidewalks and bridges have been
built. $13,S54 has been spent on side
walks, mostly in sections of the city
that never got a dollar in improvements
under a Mack Sawyer administration
In the repair and construction of per-
manent bridges, the present city admin
istration has spent $500, replacing a
number of dangerous bridges with per-
manent concrete structures.
3. In health and sanitation the pres
ent city administration has been far and
| away ahead of any of its predecessors.
: One of its first acts was to inaugurate
daily garbage collections, something
Elizabeth City never had before. Enough
men have been employed at all times
to keep up this work and to keep the
streets clean. Every visitor to Eliza
beth City these past two years has re-
marEpn fho fi6inncS Of 4ho oft VS.
streets. And here's another thing this
administration did; it abated the mos
quito nuisance in the city last summer
by doing something that no Mack Saw
yer administration had ever thought of
doing, Oil drip cans were placed on
canals and other likely breeding places
of mosquitoes, preventing the breeding
of the pests where they had previously
bred most prolifcally. The public is
prone to overlook little things like this
that mean so much to the health and
happiness of a community.
A Million Dollar Business.
Take the record of the present ad-
ministration all the way thru and it
makes a most creditable showing. OF
course, it, hasn't been perfect. You
can't have a perfect administration un-
der our American system of municipal
government. Here we elect a number
of men of divergent opinions and diff
ferent abilities to give a part of their
spare time to the important business of
running the affairs of an expensive cor
poration. You can elect any set of men
under the sun, by such a system as we
have, to run the affairs of a town by
such a system as we have, and you can
pick flaws in their work every time they
make a move. The present administra-
ton is no exception; it has done lot
of things that are open to criticism.
But the average intelligent voter is
going to hand it to them: They have
done things and done them well consid
ering their handicaps. Elizabeth City
could hardly do better than to continue
the same Mayor and the same Board
of Aldermen in Office another two years, |
if Mayor Gather and all of the present |
members of the Board could be per-
suaded to run again. But since this |
is not likely Elizabeth City will do well |
to watch it's step and take an accurate |
measure of the men who will succeed |
them. The affairs of this town must |
not be entrusted to less able manage
ment another two years. A good test |
to apply to the candidate for the Board
of Aldermen from your Ward is: Is
he a man to whom you would entrust
the administration of a million dollar
business? That's what the business of
this town probably will amount to these
next two years-schools, lights, water,
sewerage, street improvements and gen.
eral expenses. If this town fails to
elect Mayor and Board of Aldermen
that can measure up to the work ahead,
then this town deserves everything that
will happen to it if Mack Sawyer and
his gang get control.