ISLIP TOWN
BULLETIN
L
^
^
^
^
MEMBERV
1975
rJM-T)
^
M
" \ vH7/
'
lieiTI IIIiPiBE
i
A Champion Stays On
The BULLETIN is pleased to see
that County Republican Chairman
Edwin (Buzz ) Schwenk has changed
his mind and will remain in the post he
has handled so well for the past eight
years . (See story;.
Mr. Schwenk altered his decision
after repeated pleas from responsible
Republican town leaders and other
prominent citizens who want to see the
Republican party cause advanced.
"Buzz ," as he is popularly known ,
has always been able to rally the
troops and this November they will
surely need rallying if the G.O.P.
victor}' skein is to be continued . The
party, quite frankly, could not afford
the scramble that would have resulted
had he left the post.
There is another satisfaction in
having Mr. Schwenk at the helm. He
understands quite clearly the vicious ,
hate-inspireed campaign against
Suffolk Republicans being waged by
the Nassau regional daily with the big
bleeding heart and the spears left over
from the Watergate political bloodbath. Mr . Schwenk will work hard to
see that the people, the ordinary
people with their ballots , will have an
opportunity in November to put down
the vicious smears against the party .
Let us not forget also that it was Mr.
Schwenk who
last
November
repeatedly warned of the debacle that
would result with the election of
Democrat Hugh Carey as governor.
Not heeding him has cost Suffolk
dearly in higher taxes and reduced
services.
Most important of all is the undisputed fact that Mr. Schwenk never
wears a faint heart. He is always a
bold, articulate champion of the party
cause. We are confident that he can
lead it to victory in November.
"The business of America is
business," stated President Calvin
Coolidge, a man not given to unnecessary verbiage.
What he said was true enough~when
he said it.
Since the 1920's, however, government has become steadily more
pervasive and influential in day-today business activities.
Fact: In the last decade alone, 14
new federal departments , agencies
and commissions affecting business
have been created. Calvin Coolidge
never heard of the Consumer Product
the
EnCommission,
Safety
vironmental Protection Agency and a
host of others established since his
presidency.
Fact: In 1929, just after Coolidge 's
presidency had ended , expenditures
by all governments in the U.S.federal, state and local-amounted to
only 10 per cent of the gross national
product. There had been no change in
this figure since 1800.
Yet, government expenditures since
1929 have increased in every decade.
They now stand at 32 per cent of the
national economy-nearly ,40 per cent
including off-budget expenditures of
federal agencies. If this trend continues, 50 per cent of our GNP will be
generated by the government rather
than the private sector of our economy
by the year 2000. Calvin Coolidge,
Vermont businessman, would be
astonished.
Unfortunately, many U.S. business
leaders are still figuratively living in a
now-unaffordable past where active
participation in public affairs is
concerned.
They would do well to heed the
words of another famous statesmen
from an earlier age--the Athenian
leader Pericles who, addressing a
gathering of complacent merchants
when his city-state ruled the world
economically, declared , "The man
who takes no interest m public affairs
is not a man who minds his own
business."
Business and Public Goals
Historic Long Island
by Carl A. Sta race
hai 1\ 1 r\ r or
Inland \\ ater wav
Ihe Long Island Canal Com
pans organized in 1824 for the
purpose of constructing an
from
inside
waterway
Rockaway to East Hampton
must get credi t for the original
concept of an inland route from
J a m a i c a to Shinnecock
A
memorial signed by some 600
Long Islanders who were
residents of the areas adjacen t to
the proposed waterway, together
with a petition signed by
A b r a h a m C Thompson
for
himsel f and his associates was
presented
to
the
State
Legrslature on Jan 13. 1825
The proposal was referred to
the Committee on Canals and
Internal Improvements , thence
to a Select Commtttee, headed by
Senator David Gardiner of East
Hampton , father of Julra Gardner who became the wife of
President John Tyler Although
thrs committee s report favored
the project , the brll to tncorporate
the canal company and give it
State Aid was not acted upon
The 49th Session of the
Legislature which convened on
January 3, 1826 was presented
with a second petition and on
March 7 a bill to incorporate the
company was again introduced
This try also failed to win
enactment as the bill was not
even brought to a vote It was not
until January 12 of the following
year that the State Senate passed
it by a vote of 23 to 5 After many
delays and amendments it
became law on April 15, 1828
The law provided that the
project extend only as far east as
Fire Island Inlet and , to quote the
statute, "whenever $20,000 shall
be subscribed and paid in , the
said company may commence
their operations " A further
amendment was added in 1829
stipulating that "the said capital
stock shall be employed for no
other purpose than as above
expressed , " namely, for the
actual construction of the canal
which must be 30 feet wide at the
bottom , 50 feet side at the surface
and three feet deep at low tide
But the $20,000 in stock sale;* did
not materialize before the
franchise expired and this ended
the first attempt to build an
inland waterway
Nevertheless, some of the same
promoters joined with others to
revive the project twenty years
later and on April 8, 1848 the Long
Island Canal and Navigation
Company was duly incorporated
and empowered to use its capital
stock "in surveying, constructing,
navigating
and
maintaining a line of canal and
water communications" from the
Gravesend Bay to and across
Canoe Place to Peconic Bay, and
also to construct connecting
canals to the village of Jamaica
and the village of Hempstead
But agam the project died for
lack of capttal and Long Island
continued to grow and develop
wrthout the aid of an inland route
Listen Veteran
THE PTA OK THE ANTHONY ALFANO SCHOOL, Central Islip, recently hosted a luncheon for all
Uie teachers in the school. Show n L to K are: Mis. Mildred Kioie. Mrs. Shu lev Keitei . school
teachers ; Mrs. Grace Corrado, co-chairman: Mrs. Joyce Culotta , chairman, and Mrs. Geraldine
LaFontame. PTA president.
FLAG - VETERANS BURIALA flag of the United States will be
furnished by the VA to drape the
casked of a deceased vetera n
discharged under other than
dishonorable conditions who la)
Had wartime service, or , (b )
Had Mexican Border Service,
January 1, 1911 to April 5 1917, or
(c) If peacetime served at least
one enlistment , or (d) Was
released from active service
because of disability incurred in
or aggravated in line of duty, or
(e) Had service subsequent to
January 31, 1955
FEMALE VETERANS
In May 1897 the Legrslature
auopted a concurrent resolution
providing for a survey for a
bet ween
permanent
canal
Shrnnecock and Peconic Bays
with a view of aiding keeping
open an inlet into the ocean from
Shinnecock
Bav
and
of
navigation between the two bays
tor smacks sailboats and other
like craft of light burthen
State Engineer and Surveyor
Horatro Seymour Jr reported
back favorably to the Legrslature
April 7 1880 He noted that there
was a di fference of water level in
the two bays of about two and
one-thrrd feet which would cause
water velocity of 330 fe et per
minute ' nearly five times as
great as would be safe
He
recommen ded that a lock be
installed with a double set of
gates, and a breakwater at the
Peconic end The estimated cost
was $52,800 for construction ,
$1 ,500 a year for maintenance
It was not until 1884 that the
Legislature made its first appropriation for the work , and it
was only for $12,000 Addrtronal
sums were approprrated in each
of the next four years , again in
1891 and 1892, when the amounts
totalled $98,000, almost doubl e
the original estimate In 1887 the
Legislature
also
granted
Southampton town the right to
provide an inlet from Shinnecock
Bay to the ocean, to purify the
bay and benefit the flow of water
through the canal
The canal was completed in
1892 It was described as being
"4,000 feet long, 40 feet wide on
the bottom , 58 at water surface,
with a dept h of four and one-half
at low tide " Although officially
completed , changes had to be
made in the tidal gates to keep
the canal open Also, the railroad
br idge, built by the State, was
condemned by the LIRR
engineers The railroad company
made alterations to the extent of
$22,344 68 sued the State and
ultimately collected within a
thousand dollars of the outlay By
1893 the canal had cost the State
$188,000
In 1899 the railroad bridge was
again declared unsafe due to
undermining of the abutements
and this time the railroad rebuilt
the structure at a cost of $21,135
and again sued the State but lost
the case Appeal was taken to the
Appellate Division but we don't
know the outcome We understand that the matter lay
undecided for many years and
that the State was called upon to
change the tidal gates again , as
well as dredge at various points
and mak e other improvements,
the costs of which were in part
borne by Suffolk County
Although the canal proved
costlier than estimated, first as
early as 1824, the end surely
justified the outlays Comparatively great sums have since
been spent on new locks and
bridges but thousands of craft use
the facrlrty annually and it is an
important part of the Atlantic
Coast inland waterw ay
BENEFIT S Female veterans of
the Armed Forces are eligibl e for
the same basic entitlement as
male veterans
Generally,
women operated under the same
military and naval laws as did
men and , as veterans , they are
entitled to the same veteran
benefits Certain procedures
vary, insofar as women veterans
are concer ned , in recognition of
the difference in sex, such as the
manner of providing medical,
hospital, and domiciliary care
However, there is no difference in
(Continued on Page 13)