{ title: 'South side observer. (Freeport, L.I. [N.Y.]) 1870-1918, August 29, 1919, Page 12, Image 12', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031784/1919-08-29/ed-1/seq-12/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031784/1919-08-29/ed-1/seq-12.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031784/1919-08-29/ed-1/seq-12/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn84031784/1919-08-29/ed-1/seq-12/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Alene Scoblete, Rockville Centre Public Library; Tom Tryniski
MCl cy'of‘Toufn and County Government _ Shou by Bus? and \ Calamity \ Attacks Unwarranted--Governmental Duties W d Town Smith a jed the Observer-Post last week sert that Nassau has received lcal, efficient and who]:- istration, which could be $5.1 by, facts and figures. \\the Felted growing state. Contiguous to w mu of New York and ing one of the choicest “an: the Empire State's len spot. of at? ungua- eople i Te! “flint\! past few years, and i number 48 increasing rapidly. many, estates in vari- wetions attest the popularity of county among people of means the thousands of smaller homes avise show the same attraction ng people of the middle. class. wunty, as is the situation with community, has its poorer ele- xt, but com| to some of the tite sections, the percentage Is ch smaller, 80 that in its stand- in population the inhabitants justly be proud of the high per- ‘Eu was cut off from Queens in 1898 and set up its first ent on January 1; 1899. that time its affairs have been with but few exceptions, wrely by the Republican party. this administration has | been that the candidates presented party for consideration of the urs from time to time have been i by overwhelming majori- Some have served the county rs and will doubtless continue ire, who Is maul“ out sev- en years of continuous ce, e Earl J. Bennett, vis assistant district attorney Tonklin A. Coles. - Besides these there are a number who have their townships for years and advancement into . the ty ranks. 'These include District iney Charles R. Weeks, formerly jutice of North Hempstead, and int District Attorney; Corneli- %. Remsen, North Hempstead, for y years a justice; County Treas- William E. Luyster, formerly a of Oyster Bay township, and » William E. Seaman, who i the county as superintendent engineer of | highways; Sheriff A. Seaman, who served as table in North Hempstead and fer as county detective. All these cals were given substantial en- nent by the voters of Nassau 4 so far as their offcial coreers ie concerned, have not betrayed the reposed in them. ninistration Attacks Unwarranted Perfection is mot acclatmed for im, as no human being is infalli- but their administration of at- irs does not wi the Observer- ble and & § and Costs Greatly Increased Bat Taxation Not Advanced am Example of Good Adminis- undertakings which have cost the texpayers - considerable sums . of money, and in leu of which certain croakers are now yelling \extrava- ance,\ \Incompetency \crooked- mess,\ etc. Investigation by any citi- zen will show the lack of truth in these declamations and no founda- tion for them. The tremendous increase of coun- ty business, due to real estate booms, demands for first-class roads, re- quired by heavy traffic, more sub- stantial bridges to carry the heavy cars, increased election perquisites, more clerks, and higher salaries to meet the high cost of living, increase price for teams, labor and road ma- terial and scores of other affairs in- in | volving a larger outlay of money to conduct the county government have confronted offieials during the past two years-a war period, With a direct state tax, toxation has been affected, but not alarmingly, al- though some of the political fabri- cators would have the people be- lieve so, and at present, for the bene- fits It gives, Nassau stands far above other counties in the state, The supervisors, who have direc- tion of roads and direct the county engineer, can point to the finest im- proved system in Naw York or any other state. The highways have cost vast sums of money, it is true, but they were warranted and have at- tracted millions of people tempor ily to the county and a good per- centage permanently. The enlargement of the county court house became expedient a few vears ago and this necessitated the fotation of bonds, which will ma- ture from time to time for ensuing years, and naturally add to the tax- ation rate. The building is admit- tedly one of the finest in New York state, but, like everything _ else, by the State Prisons Commission and decried by the supervisors, but held up temporarily by a court order, will cost the taxpayers in round figures, to $500,000. The board of su- vervisors have not wished the out- lay of money, but conditions, it is asserted by the State Prison Com- and like many \conditions' which arise, the super- visors find it incumbent to enact such measures as will alleviate the. In spite of growing expenditures, many of which were forced. the su- pervisors have been able to keep the tax rate from enlarging to unreason- able proportions Ko Wanton Waste Figues usually make dry reading, and because of this. the Observer~ Post does not feel warranted in pre- senting them in lengthy array. perusal of conditions in Nassau at- tecting its administration, will prove that there has been no wantom waste of money, but that on the _ other hand, there has been policy of enact» ing meesures from a business stand- point and consistent with what has been considered the best interests of the county. , Fi show that ta:- red f the count nereas- valuation of y SLOMJM: ness-like, Progressive Methods for the town of Hempstead, and is s candidate for renom:ination at the preferential primaries of the Repub~ lican party this fall, Buperti- sor Doughty ted his official ca- reer last year, after a law had been enacted, giving the town two of- fcials. He also is a candidate for renomination this fall Since taking of Supervisor Smith has given Hempstead an efM- cient business administration and succeeded in estoblishing an improv- ed system of doing business. The old system of spending money and raising it afterward was abolished through his efforts by the establish- ment of a new budget system, where- by money to be expended was con- templated in advance and raised by taxation so as to standardize finance and keep moving on a *proper basis. The budget system advocated by the supervisor has been adopted by the other towns of Nassau and many in Suffolk. In addition to this important measure, Supervisor Smith hrs put in effect a unified system of keeping accounts in his department so that any citizen, taxpayer . Or otherwise. can ascertain in a jiffy where the dollars and cents go. 'These accounts are examined at in- tervals by the state auditors, who call unannounced, and if anything is found not up to date or there should be the discrepancy of one cent, the supervisor or his clerical force hears of it without delay. The sccounts are balanced monthly, and a statement published in newspap- ers by Supervisor Smith. 'The busi- mess of the supervising department has increased like all others of the town government, so that a secre- tary is provided for, a book-keeping clerk and a stenographer. In the days of Messrs. Cox and Craft and others who preceded them, receipt and disbursement books only were kept. Now there is kept by the su- pervisor's department, a number of showing not only his own financial transactions, but separate- Iy those of various other depart- ments. These are, as stated, all on a unified basis, affording officials and opportunity to ascertain at a who is peid any town money, the date, for what purpose, the number of the warrant drawn. also the check number and other data. Town Funds Protected The to also has a new system of audit which insures greater pros tection of funds and opportunity to scrutinize claims by anyone inter- ested. By the new system, bills must be filed with the town clerk five days before going to the auditors for ac- i tion. The auditors then have thirty days in which to act on the claims. 'They are then sent back to the town elerk for countersigning and from the clerk they go to the supervisor for similar attest. . Heretofore, the bills could be filed and acted upon at any time by the auditors. In the conduct of town govern- ment, aside from highways branches which call for con expenditures are those of the tax receiver, elections and assessors' de- partments. In these branches much help is required. Nearly $4000 was paid out in the fall of 1819 for in- spectors and clerks at an election. 'The outside relief of the poor also accounts for a considerable outlay of money each year, the figures in 1918 reaching $41,070. As in the county government, the town officials found it necessary to increase In order to keep help and enable them to meet the high cost of living. While the subor- dinates have been raised, the off- clals, supervisors, town clerk, jus- tices of the peace and constables have practically been on a fixed basis. The fee system was abolished a short time ago, the supervisora' anlary being fixed at $5000 a year; the town clerk at $3500; justices at $1500 for criminal work, and con- stables on a similar salary. Previ- ously the supervisor of the town was enabled to earn many thousands of dollars in fees and the town clerk likewise. The justices and consta- bles also fared well. The salary s7%- tem had the endorsement of the of- ficlals affected -all Republicans. \Long Island Potato: Crop Big- gest and Best in Years,\ is announc- ed in head lines of a news articl from. Riverhead in a city daily, The Suffolk County: seat . section - and Southold will market, according to estimate, at least $3,000,000 worth of the tubers during the season, and with other sections, the grand total of shipments from the east end is estimated at $6,000,000. Polish people, a race comparative ly new to east Suffolk County, are reported to be freely paying from $20,000 to $40,000 for modern sized farms and buying six-cylinder cars soon afterward. Many of the farm- ers are also reported to be kicking about realty assessments . of | less than 40 per cent of the present sale value of their property. through Rockville Centre, has been taken into the county system and will shortly be improved to relieve the Merrick road traffic, which is 'now excessive. The course of this improved high» way will be from a point near Val- ley Stream, through Lynbrook and Rockville Centre, into Seaman ave- nue, Baldwin, mand thence easterly to the Suffolk County line at Ami- tyvifle. Supervisor Smith recently - bad completed an improvement of Rail- road avenue, Freeport, making it one of the finest thoroughfares in any business section on Long Island. He is also having improved with con- crete Washington street, Hempstead village. - Other improvements ac- complished by the supervisor were the concreting of Hempstead ave- nue in Rockville Centre, from curb to curb, and the installation of a new drainage system; the scarifying 'of Village avenue, Rockville Centre; resurfacing of Nassau ~Boulevard, from the town line, near New Hyde Park, south to John street; placing of concrete gutters on the Merrick road at Freeport, Baldwin and oth- er points; paving with butulithic, full width, of Grand avenue, Bald- win, from Milburn avenue to a point ters lafd on the Merrick road at Observer street, Rockville Centre. @utters and other -work done on Broadway, Lawrence, also on Nas- sau road Roosevelt. Broadway, Lynbrook, was resur- faced to the Grant Park section and Barnum avenue, also known | as Whaleneck road, resurfaced from the Old Country road to Fulton avenue, known as the Bethpage turnpike. Gutters were also laid on Green- wich street, Hempstead. A number of other roads also had their surfaces improved. Duties and Costs Increase The town of Hempstead has only a total of $203,000 in road bonds. and its total bonded indebtedness is stated to be less than $500,000. This is a very low percentage when an assessed valuation of over $70,000,- 000 is considered. The clerk's department of . the town government is a highly im- portant one, as it records and files documents and minutes of the town board and board of health. When Town Clerk Franklin G. Gil- bert took office in 1911 the business of the office could be taken care of by two persons. The work now re- quires the services of three and more will likely be required when the town .clerk moves to his enlarged quarters'in the new town hall. There were only 27 election dis- tricts in the town in 1911. The number Ras been increased to 50. 'This has added considerably to the expenses of - town _ government, through the hiring of polling places and officials to conduct the elections. The installation of voting machines has also added to the expenses of elections, but at the same time ex- pedited voting and counting returns, Twenty districts in the town have machines, and more would have been uation g: While the poultry exhibit held under auspices of theAgricultural Society of Queens-Nassau counties |. bas always been an important fea- ture, thisyear's show will excel those of the past, both in the num- ber of entries and the variety of birds. The annual exhibition of the so- clety will be held at the Mineola fair grounds, September 23 to Sep- tember 24, inclusive. The entries will positively close September 6 at6 p.m.. and may be sent any time prior to this date. The societies' grounds will be opened for the reception of birds at 8 a.m. Mon- day, September 22, and those not caged by Tuesday, September 23, at 9 a.m., will be debarred from com- petition. The society has spared no efforts to make the poultry exhibit the big- gest in the long historyof its ca- reer, and this is apparent from the list of judges, who are the most fa- mous in the poultry world. They are W. J. Stanton, New York; W. H. Card, Manchester, Conn.; Judge Le- one D. Howell, Mineola; J. Courtney, Punderford, N. Y.; J. Harry Wolsief- fer, Vineland, N. J., and W. H. Hearsfield, Babylon. The entries in the cattle depart- ment close September 13. This de- partment promises to be one of the most interesting events of the fair. There will beaparade of cattle on Wedn yand Friday afternoons of fair week at 2 p.m. at the cattle barns. SUMMER SERVICE - UNTIL OCTOBER 15 The Long Island Railroad has an- nounced that it will maintain its Tamed 14 wih te saseption of s few changes in trains running to beaches. Heretofore the road has «bandoned the summer schedule soon after Labor Day. From statistics, it is announced that the road sold 44,695 commuta- tion tickets in July, an increase of $,883 tickets over the same month of July, 1918, and itis believed the Long Island is carrying more com- muters than any other trunk line railroad entering New York city. There were thirteen station having over 600 commuters last month. In- cluded in the listis Freeport with 1,280; Rockville Centrewith 1,078; Lynbrook, $60; Long Beach, 955. With a searcity of houses . and apartments in the city, the Long Is}- and management looks forward to handling a very large commutation business all through the winter, and is arranging the train schedule to takecare of It. pomme meme e efit to all navigators, . The buoy maps are soldat $2 each, and con- sidered cheap at that price. Dredging has also been given much consideration by the town gov- ernment, with Supervisor Smith as leading advocate. Important work with town fundshasbeen accom- plished in the vicinity of Bellmore, Wantagh, Freeport, Baldwin E Rockaway. . Each year It planned to continue the dredging in various localities as funds per- 'The new $75,000 town house, with its artistic clock tower and set of chimes, !s another evidence of the progressiveness of the town officials, aiso the people. Realizing that the old town hall of wood was em- tirely too small to house thevarious teof government, Super- mm wor oun IN NEW YORK STATE Total Registration New 504,771-- Increase Cycles and Trailers Decrease. 'There has been a fourteen per cant increase in automobiles in this state thus far this year, Figures made public by Francis M. Hugo, secretary of state and head of the world's largest motor vehicle bureau, show a growth in motor vehicles during the past six months that has ex- ceeded all expectations and \is' litile short of marvelous. Motorcycles and trailers, however, have decreased in their numbers. In six months over $8,000 more cars have been added to York state's hundreds of thou- sands. 'There is now a total regis- tration of 504,771 care. Compared with August 1, 1918, Mr, Hugo's figures show that there are today 21,000 more chauffeurs in this state thar a year ago this time and that commercial cars have in- creased by over 13,000. As the number of cars and chauf- feurs have increased during the past six months, so have the receipts in Mr. Hugo's office. In the first six months of a year ago. the automo- bile bureau took in $4,621,015, or $607,136 less than during the first six months this year, receipts to date being $5,228,151, or QINMWC more than all last year. * fret hall ofthis year, as. compared of year, as compared with a year ago, furnishes the basis of a prediction on the part of Mr. Hugo that the year's ' registration will amount to at least $25,000, with receipts of at least siz million dol- lars. The first half of this year has brough increase of 32, pleas- arm-rt! curt and above rei ration of all of last year. It should be borne in mind that this increase in pleasure cars is for a six months' period this year as compar ed with the twelve months of 1918 The following figures, being a comparison between August 1 last year and the sam tell & story of growth tory of New York state Aug. 1, 1918. .L. 1009. Plossore Aug. 1, 1919, Increase. Omntbas Commercial - 69, Trailers Dealers Motoreycies Chauffeurs 2.200 26.418 120,076 HUNTING SEASON DATES Long Island Only Section Where Quail May be Shot. The waning of summer, which forecasts the approach of fall, has caused Long Island sportsmen to look over their guns and shooting traps preparatory to season, which ope From that date on Long bits may be shot until December 31. the season having been sortened to make it conform to that for game birds, so as not to ba for rabbits with th shoot quail, partridg in aloud season even before then. open season on other game on Long Island, as established by the state conservation commission, is as follows: ber 31. No
