Showing posts with label New-York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New-York. Show all posts

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Value of Competition

New York, 1895

The town was recently in need of dockets for the Justices of the Peace, which the law requires them to keep, and bids were asked from the town printers for 25 books, printed and bound. The Standard bid $10 a book; that would have been $250 for the 25 books. THE FARMER bid $37.50 for the 25 books. Now if Republican officeholders had given this work to the Standard, under the resolution of the Republican town committee, there would have been no competition, and the town would have had to pay $250 for what it gets for $37.50. This proves the value of the Town Board's resolution to have all work done by contract.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

Wyckoff's Bad Methods

New York, 1895

They Impose Taxes Unjustly on the Town of Jamaica.

A Superintendent of the County Poor said to a reporter on Monday:

"The Overseer of the Poor of Jamaica will bankrupt the town if he keeps on at his present business."

The reporter asked the Superintendent to explain the situation.

"That fellow Wyckoff is sending persons to the county poorhouse who are not residents of the town of Jamaica, nor of the county. They are tramps, and if the Overseer knew his business, he would have them sent to the penitentiary under the tramp abatement law of 1891. The Superintendents will not permit these tramps to be supported at the expense of the county, but as they have a commitment to the poorhouse, we are bound to receive them, and so we charge their support to the town of Jamaica. It is bad business for the town."

The Superintendent was asked to explain what the Overseer of the Poor should do.

"When he finds a person in need of relief who is not a resident of the town, it is his duty to notify one of the Superintendents. The Superintendent will send the person to the county poorhouse at county expense, provided he or she be a resident of the county. If not a resident of the county, we send the person back to the county in which he or she last resided."

The tax-payers of Jamaica can understand from this statement why the support of the poor is costing so much. The people have got to pay in taxes this year nearly $9,000 against $3,500 last year, and they are a good deal poorer this year than they were last year. It is an outrage to compel this town to pay the board of tramps at Barnum Island.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

Crooker Has Got to Go

New York, 1895

On the first Wednesday in February the Legislature will elect a new State Superintendent of public instruction to succeed Superintendent Crooker. He has got to go, and the educational interests of the State will not suffer by his absence.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.