The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-02-25
A STUDY IN MUNICIPAL
GOVERNMENT IN ,AMERICA 4
Representative Cooke And His Merchant Friends
Upset Aldermanic Plans And Cooke Up
sets Some Other Things Himself,
All in a Week

Leg SlolehIioIA "4IhOuC puDlC1Iy
and discussion has caused some
thing of an unheava1 in Elizabeth
City this. week. The first explo-
sion came when Representative
Cooke sent the Retail Merchants
Association a bill which the
Board of Aldermen had asked him
to introduce, which bill was in the
nature of an amendment to the
city charter, designed to increase
the city revenue by piling more
license taxes on the merchants.
The Alderman had prepared their
bill without taking the mer-
chants into their confidence. Mr..
Cooke took the high ground
that there should be no taxation
without representation and he
submitted the bill to the mer-
chants back home to see what
they had to say about it. The
merchants met instanter and
wired Mr.. Cooke to kill that
bill. -
The next explosion came when
news reached here Wednesday after
noon that Representative Cooke had
sneaked a bill thru the General Assem-
bly, extending the city limits 300 feet
on the north side of the present city
limits, thereby taking in the manufac-
turing plants of the Farmers Ginning
& Produce Co., the Eastern Cotton Oil
Co. gin, the Elizabeth City Hosiery
Mill. the Elizabeth City Cotton Mill, the
Standard Oil Co., the Southern Gas I'm
prOvement Co. and other property with
in the designated limit. This bill throws
more than a million dollars worth of
manufacturing property into the city
limits. subjecting it to city taxes. But
Mr.. Cooke didn't write back home and
ask those concerned what they thought
about it. In fact, not even the@Board
of Aldermen knew that such a. measure
was contemplated. The Aldermen did |
MT ask him to extend the city limits. !
it. The question uppermost in the |
minds of lot of people is, who did
put Cooke up to that business? Only |
two men in Elizabeth City seem to
have any influence with Cooke. Those |
men are P. II. Williams and E. F. |
AydIett. 1t has been suggested that |
Mr.. Cooke may have confded his ex
tension scheme to those gentlemen.
Owners of industries taken into the
city under the sneak bill feel that some
body has put something over on them.
1t is suggested that Mr.. Aydlett and !
Mr. Williams have recently disposed of /
all their holdings in the extension area
and would not now be averse to seeing |
that property taxed. It is no longer
a secret that Mr.. Williams trapped
himself into a deal by which he was
forced to reluctantly sell his hosiery
mill stock to G.. II. Robinson, thereby
sacrificing his interest in a business
that was normally paying better than
a 30 per cent dividend. More recently
Mr. Williams and Mr.. Aydlett sold
their interest in the Knobbs Greek I'm
provement Co. The property consists
of about 20 acres. It was bought by
the Love Bros. who planned to locate
a packing house on the property. They
thought they were safely out of the
corporation limits. They say now that
they will not carry out their plans, if
they to pay city taxes.
The extension of the city limits puts
on the tax books the two most highly
assessed industries in the county. The
Elizabeth City Hosiery Mill is assessed
at $4S0.O0O. The Elizabeth City Cot
ton Mill is assessed at $411, 900. There's
nearly million dollars. The total val
uation of all property in the city is only
S11.3O0OOO. This, on it's face, means
considerable increase in revenue for the
city. But this is on its face. The city
must give the extension both police and
fire protection and electric lights. 1t
will cost the city a pretty penny to do
that. And if the city doesn't come
across with police and fire protection,
the city may find itself at some time
involved in costly litigation. Failure
Of the city to provide adequate ire
protection for the hosiery and cotton
mills for Instance might mean a suit
for damages against the city If those
mills burned.
Again, the mill owners do not believe
that they should be forced into the
city and onto the city tax books, be-
cause they feel that town should en-
courage it's industries.> They point out I
that many towns and cities are not ,
only waving taxes, but providing free
sites for manufactures. .
But to get back to the Charter I
Amendment increasing license taxes. ]
The Merchants went up in the air. There /
Was joint meeting of the Merchants {
ASSOCIATION and the Chamber of Com
merce Tuesday night. The joint meet {
Ing voted unanimously and vociferously c
for Mr.. Cooke to kill that bill. f
Next day a committee of merchants
was before the Aldermen praying for t
more fire apparatus for the protection I
OF business property. The merchants
want the town to buy an aerial hre