The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-31
The Ward Gerrymander Was
Concocted By the Ex-Pnst-
master.
DEMOCRATS DISFRANCHISED
Republican Commissioners Ran
Lines Which Will Give Them
the Aldermen.

which the Republican Ward Line Commis-
sioners have acted in redistrictng the city is
to be tested In fact Judge Lippincott may
today grant the application recently made
by ex-senator William d. Edwards for al
order carrying the matter to the Supreme
Court for review.
In addition to the contention that the re-
districting law was smuggled through both
Houses under false representations and that
the intent of the law is not apparent in its
title, counsel for the Democratic party will
show the manifest unfairness of the redis
tricting 1t will also be shown the Court
that sections of the city charter will have to
be repealed, unless there is TO be a clash in
the election law The charter provides for
the appointment of one Director of Educa-
ton from each of the six districts in the
city, with one menber-at-large. Nothing
about wards is mentioned in the charter.
nor does the redistricting bill repeal any
part of the city charter.
QUESTIONS FOR THE COURT.
The Court will be asked, if the redistrict-
ing law is not upset, in what manner a
Board of Education is to be created. If its
members are to be appointed by districts in
compliance with the charter, while all other
city officers are to be elected by wards.
Another thing that the attention of the
Court will be called to is that the redistrict-
ing deprives the Democratic voters of the
city of any representation in the Board of
Aldermen for at least one year. The char
ter provides that the Board of Aldermen
shall consist of twelve members, with one
member-at-large, two members being elected
from each district. To get around this law
the Republicans claim that one Alderman
shall be elected from each ward, with one
at-large. Next spring an election for Alder
men will be held and under the present re-
:1istricting 1t will be necessary to elect only
six Aldermen, while of the six hold over
members only one will be democrat.
ALDERMANIC MIDDLE.
Aldermen Day and Witter represent the
First district. Day goes out and Witter re-
mains to represent the First ward. In the
Second district Alderman Fleming goes out
and Connolly will represent the Second
ward Alderman McCeobery retires in the
Third, leaving Mitchell, Republican, in the
board from the Third ward In the Fourth,
Alderman Harry Hill will be renominated
The gerrymander makes the ward SO hope
lessly Republican that any Republican can
didate can win.
IN the Fifth ward an Alderman will have
to be elected. 1t is Democratic ward, and
this will make the second democrat to be in
tae board The Sixth will have to elect an
Alderman The Ward has only Republican
voters in it. The Seventh ward will be
represented by Alderman Wilson, who holds
over In the Eighth Dusenbery retires
The ward is Republican. and republican
will have walk over there The Ninth
ward will have Alderman Mccarthy, hold
over, for it's representative In the Tenth
Martin goes out. He will be reelected
without struggle In the Eleventh Dohr.
mann will be the representative. being a
hold over In the Twelfth representative
will have to be elected. He will be re-
publican.
FINCK'S FINE HAND.
So it will be seen that Martin Finck, who
prepared the gerrymander map, made Re-
publican perpetuity surety, regardless of
the rights of voters. Democratic leaders
have been huddled together in strongly Re-
publican wards in an amusing manner. For
instance, in the Second ex-Justice NJ j.
ODonnell. Assemblyman Carroll, John
Braun, Peter Donnelly, Alderman Connolly
and Dennis Gallagher are 70 be found. In
the Third there is a finer array:-John p
Fceaey, Dennis Mclaughlin. ex-Mayor
o1Neill, ex-Sherif Cronin, John Madden
and Counsellor Grifliths. The willy Sam
Dickinson is boss of the Third, and he will
no doubt try to rub it into Feeney and Nc
Laughlin mercilessiy. He has taken the
prccaution to have his ward made about six
hundred Republican
The gerrvmander as concocted by Colonel
Sam Dickinson and bis scheming confeder-
ates, is characterized by democrats as being
the most despicable illustration of partisan
politics that the voters of Jersey City have
ever been subjected to. The wards. it is
claimed, are not equally divided and, fur
ther. that the lines are so drawn that Demo-
cratic victory in any save three, viz, the
f1rSL, foecCilu anu AlGu5 ID upLcAAJi liipOSSi-
bic. The underlying peridy of the scheme,
however. is not visible in the location of the
ward lines The trickery of the whole
scheme is concealed in the precincs lines, it
is said, under which Democratic voters are
disfranchised.
DEMOCRATS DISFRANCHIsED.
: Disfrancbised in this way, in Democratic
strongholds, it will be noticed when the
precinct lines are published that precincts
are cut up into every conceivable shape,
made many blocks in length and width, the
object being to locate polling places as to
make it too inconvenient for Democratic
voters who go to work early and return
late, to go to them. One Of the Democratic
Ward Line Commissioners characterizes the
redistricting OF the city as farcical.
'sThen we were appointed" he said, we
expected to be able TO get democrats fair
show AS soon as we organized we we're sat
down upon AT a meeting held early in
JilIy;it was decided to have each member
prepare map showing how tho city should
be retlistrcted Believing the Republicans
to be sincere, myself and colleague procured
maps of the city at Harrison's, and marked
sut lines which we believed would work no
ri Justice to either party. We considered
ilation, not party strongholds. We dis
Il kred that we had wasted our time at a
meeting early in August when we all pre-