The year was 1927 and the future had hardly ever looked brighter for the City of Camden. Times were prosperous, business and industry were booming, and the city was full of recently constructed public buildings, civic improvements, schools, the new Delaware River bridge and its new highway to the suburbs. The stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed were in the unimagined future.
It was in these times that Camden prepare for its 100th anniversary, and in this spirit of optimism that the city fathers under the direction of Mayor Winfield S. Price commissioned the booklet whose text you will find below.
Read more about the first 100 years of Camden and more articles from the Centennial Mirror
By Commissioner David S. Rhone, Director Of Public Safety
In one of his first public statements after taking office, President Coolidge gave utterance to the following
“A city may be judged by its citizens.”
Judged from the standpoint of acts of commission, Camden points to its accomplishments in business, civic and home life to justify our claim to a high standard of intelligence and progressiveness.
We are able to point to a low average of law violations and an almost complete absence of serious criminal acts.
Camden is generous in its support of modern police and fire departments.
Protection of the rights of citizens and of property is the keynote in the training systems for police and firemen.
Camden is boastful of the fact that loss to citizens through acts of criminals is virtually nil, while the. Fire Department through a period of several years has held down the fire loss rate to a point which ranks as one of the lowest for any city its size in the nation,
When business interests and individuals have a realization of a strong protective arm continually and successfully guarding property and preventing crime and fire losses, they have an assurance which spreads its influence into the very hearts of the factory, store, office and home,
As a manufacturer zealously strives to make every part of his product perfect, that the completed article may be perfect, so we strive to make the protective arm of the city government a perfect part of our efforts toward a model city.
OUR SUCCESS SPELLS CITIZEN CONTENTMENT
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