The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-10
Arguments Submitted by
Both Sides to the Chief
Justice.
POSSIBILITIES OF DELAY.
A Long Fight May Occur Before
the Question Is Finally Settled.
Especial to the Jersey cttu Ne,cs.l

IhENION, Indy D. lOCJ.-ll tt LlCH1OCA
of the new city government of Jersey
City, appointed by Mayor Cleveland, had
been in the Supreme Court room today
and heard the argument on the question
who should rule until the charter fight is
over, he might have felt that the delights
of office holding. such as they are, were
far away from him.
1t was not that the case of the old char
ter developed any unexpected strength,
or that any surprise was sprung on coun-
sci for the new; but ex-Mayor Gilbert
Collins talked for three hours against the
new charter and suggested SO many possi-
bilities of legal devices for delay that a
feeling of hope deferred might have been
caused.
The lawyers for the new charter lis
tened attentively to the argument and
came away expressing the firm convic-
tion that they would win in the end. The
lawyers on the other side did not give up,
either.
The chief spectators were Mr. Sharp, of
handshaking fame, and Janitor Brown,
of the State House The latter listened
to Mr.. Collins with grin. He hopes to
see the new charter knocked out, on ac-
count of the part the Hudson county
members took in passing the bill to GUST
him from his fat office.
Ex-Governor Albeit. Senator Edwards
and Speaker Hudspeth appeared for the
new charter. Reading Clerk James E.
Connolly sat near them Mr.. Collins, ex-
Senator Brinkerhoff and ex-Judge Sey-
mour did duty for the old charter.
EX-GOVERNOR ABBETT's ADDRESS.
In opening the argument Ex-Governor
Albeit confined himself strictly to the
question at issue. Speaking of the O'Neill
proclamation, he cited the, testimony OF
Mayor Cleveland to show that it was not
the act of an Acting Mayor who rushed
in during the absence of Mayor and did
something which was opposed by the
Mayor On the contrary, Mayor Cleve-
land had strongly favored the charter, and
had left instructions about issuing the
proclamation, which was as much his act
as if he had issued it.
In regard to the second contention of the
opponents of the new charter, that the
law as passed. differed from the law as
published in the proclamation, in that the
provision making the new Tax Board non
partisan, was stricken out the Ex-Governor
aTRu6u Ou UUe t6Ab b1dU Wlltt bllC pCOplC
voted on was the new charter, as ap-
pointed by the Governor, not on what
was published in the proclamation.
The law was correctly described by its
title and the date of it's approval, and that
was all that was necessary. There was
nothing in the act which required state
ment of it's provisions to be made. The
submitting it to a vote should be given to
some local authority, so that no one
should be surprised by having an election
on the subject sprung on them. If some
thing had been published which was so
grossly inaccurate as to be misleading,
the court might rule that there had been
a fraud which would render the election
inoperative; but the O'Neill proclamation
stated the title and date correctly, while q
portion of a sentence was omitted in one
section. This was not fatal error. A
majority of all the votes cast at the cleo
tion were in favor of the charter.
THE CHIEF JUSTICES POWER.
Chief Justice Beasley discussed with
Ex-Governor Albeit the nature of his
powers under the act. The latter sug-
gested that the Chief Justices powers
were judicial. He compared the power of
designating the officials who should act,
with the power of the Court to appoint
receiver for a private corporation. He
urged that the Chief Justice should act to
save the city from the evils OF dual gov
ernment, and to protect its credit; to let
the people know to whom they should
yield obedience and pay taxes. AS to the
set of officials to be designated, eX-Gov-
ernot Albeit said he would only ask the
Chief Justice to do what was wiSest and
best for the city. The people, by a large
majority, had voted in favor of a change,
and the popular will should take effect
immediately.
POINTS AGAINST THE CHARTER.
Ex-Mayor Collins declared that the new
Tax Board could not get its work done in
time The supplement to the charter was
possibly unconstitutional because the title
did not express its contents. The original
act had to be accepted by the people, and
therefore the supplement should also be
voted on AS to O'NeilPs proclamation,
he contended that the acting Mayor had no
power to submit the charter to vote. If
this power were acknowledged, no Mayor
of city in New Jersey would dare go
outside its limits for an hour if he were at
odds with the official who acted in his
stead, for fear lest the latter might
issue charter proclamation. He declared
that as the act had been passed after the
last day of registration many citizens
who did not care enough about voting for
local candidates to register might have
been deprived of the privilege of voting
on the charter by the imposSibility of
registering. Chief Justice Beasley did
not seem particularly impressed by this
point. Then Mr.. Collins went into poll
tics. till Ex-Governor Albeit suggested
that he confine himself to the evidence.
CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS.
Mr.. Collins claimed that the old govern
ment was still doing business. In conclu-
sion he presented three points i'll regard
to the constitutionality of the charter,
with view of showing that there was SO
serious doubt ON that score that the old
officials should not be disturbed The
points were that the submission to
popular vote was unconstitutional; that
the charter was special legislation and
therefore unconstitutional, and that the
limitation of time in which the act could
be submitted to vote made it unconsti-
tutional.
Senator Edwards made very brief an
swer, denying Mr.. Collins contentious,
and then the lawyers handed up new
papers, books and documents to the Chief
Justice and went home. The Chief JUS
tice took glass of mineral water, and
then prepared to wrestle with the law
and the facts.
rr..