The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-02-21


yet come anywhere near convincing lay-
man that it is. The bill required by this
section is nothing but an enactment APP
proving the plans Of proposed bridge and
an enactment declaring the necessity Of
the bridge at the particular place. It con-
fers no corporate power, it has no moge
effect It the Legislature should approve
those plans than that the Secretary of War
should, the Governor of New Jersey
should, or the Board of Engineers. It is
legislative declaration of necessity for an
improvement and legislative approval Of
the plans for erecting it. There is no con-
ferring corporate powers there. There is
no violation of the constitution there, and
that part of the argument, as it seems to.
me. utterly failed.
Now have endeavored to show. Mr..
President, that this law does not repeal the
general railroad law it does not injure it
it does not make it different from what the
various Legislatures of New Jersey have
understood it to be, and from what many
people believed it would be were it not
for the re- enactment last year of section
Sc by this Legislature. But that general
railroad law, Mr.. President, what was it.
for? IL was not the misfortune Of the
State of New Jersey that should be in the
Legislature which passed that bill. I,
whatever that advocacy was worth, as any
gentleman who was a member of the Lee
gislature. heard the arguments made in
favor of the passage of that bill in the sec
ton of the State in which | reside, and in
my poor way possibly made some of them.
Some of those things that appealed most
directly to the Jerseyman, still remem-
Der. They were statements that the soil
Of New Jersey was the natural terminus of
the outgoing commerce Of the country, and
that the shores of New Jersey were the
places designed by the Creator of them for
the erection of wharves for the incoming
commerce of country to buck up against.
She was to be the great storehouse Of mer-
ehandise to go abroad, and the great store
house of merchandise to go TO the interior.
The railroad termini that would come along
the shores of the Hudson were to build
| up solid city from Commanipaw to Ho-
b0ken. The millions of increase in wealth
were so beyond human calculation that no.
body attempted to fix the figures, and the
grand phrase was frequently used that the
| value of the riparian lands would be so in
creased that money would flow into the
treasury until there would be enough to
set school house upon every hilltop and
to put teacher in it.. have never ceased
| to cherish that dream. I believe that it
From my standpoint it is the duty of every
loyal Jerseyman to do whatever he can to.
| fill the outlines of that picture.
But if the arguments that ] have heard
within the last twenty-four hours repre-
| sent the sentiments of the people Of the
| State-and they do, if may accept the as
| sertion of the gentleman who made them
then either the chief reasons for passing
the general railroad law have been forgot
| ten, or else the people Of the State of New
Jersey have abandoned that high aim, and
instead of New Jersey being the treasure
| house Of the nation in this respect, it is now
proposed that she shall be but the barren
! pathway across which this treasure is car
ried to another State. IIepeat, Mr.. Presi-
dent, that was as earnest an advocate of
the General Railroad law as anybody in the
Legislature, or out of it. That 1 am as
loyal to it to-day as any man in the Legis-
lature or out of it, but if it is to work the
damnation of the State, which would re-
suit from taking the terminal of these rail-
roads from New Jersey to an island of an
other State, if instead of being the dwell
ing place and homes of those corporations
and their wealth she is simply to be used
as passage-way by which they go to and
return from their luxurious locations else
where, then, whatever nay loyalty is and
may have been to the general railroad law,
my loyalty to the State of New Jersey Is
greater, and would like to see the law go
down before to-day's sun.
j But they say Congress regulates post
routes; Congress authorizes the building
of bridges the State of New Jersey must
not stand in the way of internal Develop
ment and Interstate commerce, and be-
cause she has attempted to do this Senators.
have laughed, Assemblymen have laughed,
i the people of the State of New Jersey have
laughed, Congress, who received your re-
monstrance, has laughed, and the people of
the nation have laughed. If we can accept
the statements which have been made, Mr..
President, the passage of the resolution
protesting against the bridging of the Kill
Won Kull by Congress has produced the
most hilarious time that this nation ever
saw. / suspect that it accounts for last
weeks food, that that hilarity extended
throughout the very universe, and that it
was conyulsed to tears. We were told yes
terday, Mr.. President, that no matter what
the State of New Jersey does, this bridge
is to be built. "Oh," they say, "you can
pass this law, but the bridge will be built, y,
tYou can demonstrate Congress, but t.
bridge will be built" You must not pass.
the law, because it is wrong in that it
destroys the general railroad law" Then,
again, {" You must not do anything, be-
cause the State has not the power to do
anything, and the bridge is going to be
built anyhow"
have only this to say, sir if in spite
of the protests of the State to the reso-
luton passed, if in spite Of any
legislation which the State may adopt, her
rights are to be overridden by the nation,
it is unbecoming in Jerseyman 10 stand
here and quail and say We won't do any
thing because it is of no use. When the
National Government wanted the services
of New Jersey to protect the rights of that
Government, she received them, and al
though New Jersey was sometimes driven
: from the field, and on one occasion, re-
member, with her flag torn from the stat,
aut hidden in the bosom of one of her
SONS New Jersey in legal way and ia de-
: tense of her own rights should, appre-
bend, be as persistent and as loyal in de-
Tending them against illegal eneToachments
Of that government as it was in rendering
service to it to defend and promote its
rights. Therefore, if this bill is right, if it
ought to pass, if it is in the interest of New
: Jersey that it should pass, to stand here
; and say it emasculates some law Is legal
argument and legitimate as addressed to
the people of the State, as q matter of pol
: ICY; 10 Stanu oere anu uecihEe tnab YOU h1e
I going to be ridden down, no matter what
. you do about it, and therefore you had
| better quit, is the cry of the funky.
But they say it is to the interest of New
Jersey to encourage competition, and
therefore we must not keep railroad out
Of the State. Now let us look at that Is
there any bill pending before the Legisla-
ture Of New Jersey to keep any railroad
| ont of the State Will this bill prevenk
any railroad from coming into the State
, that wants to come in or, in other words,
would it have kept out of New Jersey any
railroad that ever has come in 1t is not
to keep railroads out of the State that this
bill is presented-it is to keep them into
|. keep the termini in. And now let rs look
,, for moment and see what there is in all
this talk about interstate commerce; about
New Jersey setting herself in the way. As