The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-04-18
Gives the Senator's a
Chance to Discuss
Many Things.
VOTING PLANS WERE MENTIONED.
Senator Edwards Defends the Sub
stitute and the Democratic
Record.
[specio, to the Jersev oity Ne,os.,

" ON1
substitute for the Kane Australian Elec
ton bill was passed in the Senate today
after a debate of great range and length
Manners and customs of the nations OF
the globe, Senator McPherson's pronun-
citation of Alcibiades, partisan Legislation
of the last decade, the principles of both
parties, and this winters work of the ma
! jority at Trenton, were among the sub
jects discussed in addition to the need O
reforming the present election methods.
Nh. Adrain began it with a speech an
hour and a half long, in which he charged
the Republicans with having heightened
the session unnecessarily by their resist
anee to reform measures. In regard to
the Kane bill, he said that the gentlemen
who have been urging it, includ-
ing President Gates, of Rutgers
College, and Herbert Boggs, did
not understand what it's practica
working would be. 1t was drawn, he del
clared, with the purpose of injuring the
Democratic party. 1t it became law
people would become candidates for office
merely with the idea of selling out. The
substitute corrected the defects in the
present law and would prevent bribery
and intimidation. Further legislation
could be enacted next year if necessary.
The substitute did not change the present
methods of organization.
POLITICS IN THE DEBATE.
Senator Nevius, who is talked of as a
possible Republican candidate for GOV
enor, injected politics, pure and simple,
into the debate by replying to the political
part of the Middlesex mans speech. Sen
a tor Carter urged the passage of the
Australian bill, saying that workingmen
all over the State were asking for it.
Senator Gardner asked for the Kane
bill. and then attacked the Democratic
majority's record. Greed for spoils, he
said, had been the characteristic of the
winters lawmak1ng.
Senator Edwards defended not only the
Werts substitute, but the work done by
the Democrats. The only measures eau
Z cussed by the Senators. were the Werts
Excise bill, the Redistricting bill, and the
Harrison-Kearney consolidation. The
democratic Senators had united on the
other bills because the measures were in
the interest of good government. The
appointments taken from the Joint Meet
ing and restored to the Governor were
those which properly belonged to him.
Senator Edwards continued.-"We have
increased the offices. There are the adj
ditional Vice Chancellors. | find that
twenty Senators voted for this bill, and
that the remaining Senator was absent
when the vote was taken. Was a demo-
cratic spokesman appointed to the place?
No; on the contrary the Chancellor named
Henry G. Pitney, whose voice had been
heard with no small effect for years on
the republican side. Democratic spoiis-
men? A Republican was r%eappointed to
the Supreme Court by the democratic
Governor, and confirmed without refer
ence.
1.-THE very first bill of the session re-
stored to workingmen the right to cast
their vote without losing a days work.
That bill was never mentioned in the
Democratic caucus. Did the Democrats re-
peal the jury bill for spoils? The result
was to put the control of the jurors into
the hands of thirteen republican Sheriffs
and eight democratic Sheriffs. All these
measures were passed by the democratic
Senate, not because they were for the ben
eft of the Democratic party, but for the
benefit of the people.
A REPUBLICAN TRICK.
taThe substitute offered for the Kane
bill is better adapted to the spirit of
American institutions than the original
measure. The Kane bill was made a Re-
publican caucus measure for the express
purpose of putting the Democrats in a
hole. They proposed, these peanut
defeat on the Democratic party,
knowing they could not pass it
themselves. The Democrats have taken
it up, and nave substituted a better one
for it. Suffrage in the United States is
universal, save in certain republican rot
ten boroughs such as Rhode Island. There
is nc educational OF property requirement.
1t is in contradistinction with Great Brit
ain, where acres, not men, vote.
What are the objects of the bill? To
prevent bad nominations? We believe in
Hudson county in beating bad nomina-
tons. A second object is to suppress cor
ruption. / represent a county where the
great Doodle question has not yet entered.
Elections in Hudson county have always
been free from the faint of money. In the
last election it cost less to elect a demo
cratic Senator and nine democratic As
semblymen than it cost 70 elect
many q single republican sena-
Assemblyman. In that county, at least,
the disciples of Matthew S. Quay have
not come into power; the knee has not
been bowed to St. Wanamaker. L have
heard that in parts of South Jersey voters
are marched up to the polls, holding up
their ballots in the air, everywhere in the
sight of the men who have purchased
them. Under the substitute bill his will
be impossible. Vote buyers won'ttrust men
where they can't see them vote, and as a
result of this bill, vote buying will proba-
bly, disappear. The third great desider-
dtull Is " pI6NeuG ~ItIllliudI1On. Inc
great republican manufacturers were &C
cHstomed to drive their employees to the
polls like sheep, and to vote for the candi-
dates indicated. That will be impossible
under the present bill.
A SIMPLE, EASY DEVICE.
AS for the reason. for substituting the
Werts bill for the Kane bill, he said that
while the Australian system offers radical
methods of reform which were legitimate
in the old countries, they were not neces-
sary here. The Australian system made
it very easy for election officers to form
combinations to count in whom they
pleased. One effect of the Kane bill would
b etc increase the Republican majorities
n South Jersey, where many of the Elec-
ton Boards were composed of three re-
publicans and a democratic republican Or
republican democrat.
s"The Democratic party in New jersey
understand the exigencies of the hour.b
he said in conclusion. s1rhey see the
spectre of Boodleism stalking over certain
parts of the State. They provide a remedy.
not by intricate machinery. but by d
simple, easy device, which can be under
stood by every one, and is in
with republican institutions and laws.n
Senator Gardner denied Senator Ed
wards charges of political corruption in
South Jersey, and said that the ballots
should be printed by the State and be
official.
Senator Pfeiffer gave one example of
election methods in South Jersey bv de-
scribing a scene he had witnessed In Cam
den. Headed by a band of music, 145 men
marched up to the polls, took their ballots