The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-03
WAR ON SYND|CATES
Continued from First Page.

GOV. wERTs TAKES THE MATTER VI.
Governor Werts, in his inaugural address,
took the matter up and said
"Private parties and corporations are also
now claiming and asserting ownership, not
only of the sources of the potable water sup
ply in the northern part of the State, but OF
the supply itself, with the right of storage
and sale. This is a matter of universal con
Germ, and if such claims be well founded.
and not against public policy, it is manifest
that, ultimately. a very large proportion OF
our population will be dependent for this alb
solute necessity of life upon the demands, ex-
tortionate or otherwise, of those controlling
its supply. On this subject, | fully concur
with the views of Governor Albeit, ex,
pressed in his annual message of 1892, that
the attempt of private corporations to with,
draw water from rivers and streams, to sell
to the public, and to obtain q monopoly
thereof, under which they claim the right to
prevent great cities and communities from
using the same for public purposes, is dan
gerous to the public interests. tn unusual
and dangerous powers which have been
given to these corporations should be limited
and the rights of the great body of citizens
and of the municipalities of the State, not
having contracts with these corporations,
should be protected. The right to regulate
the use of water for public purposes can
only be safely vested, either in the State or
in its municipalities, FOR the equal benefit OF
ALL
BOARD OF TRADES BILL.
Immediately after Governor Werts deliv-
! cred this address the Jersey City Board OF
Trade, rejecting the general opinion of the
citizens, determined to promote to the best OF
its ability legislation providing for an effect
i've executive control by the State OF the
mountainous water sheds of the northern
counties, substantially on the lines laid down
by The State Water Board in its reports of
ten wears previous. deemiIfg such action to
| be dictated by the soundest public policy.
At a meeting specially called for the pur-
pose, Mr.. Dear. President of the Board, was
authorized TO appoint a committee to draft
an act substantially in conformity with the
views of the State Water Commissioners
| This committee, of which William A. Lewis
was Chairman, produced the bill popularity
known as 1.-The Board of Trade Water bill. "
which was introduced in the Assembly
| March Z, 1898, by Mr.. O'Brien of Morris.
The bill came in late in the session and got
no further than the printing stage. 1t EN-
braced twenty-eight sections and was pre-
pared with great care. The subject was
covered by it very fully in its practical de-
tails. 1t is entitled, IAN act 10 ascertain the
rights of the State in certain of the waters
] of the State, and to provide for furnishing a
| State water supply to the municipalities
| thereof. and to create a State Water Board,
empowered to construct and maintain
works for that purpose"
The bill was founded upon the States par
amount right to dispose of the water of rum
ming streams and natural lakes, and was es-
sentially a scheme to enable diverse munich
palities in any part of the State to unite in
the construction of ~aqueducts and storage
reservoirs for the purpose of collecting and
conveying from the sources of supply to
| their several boundaries, the potable waters
| obtainable from the area defined In the act
as the State Water Shed, and which is
therein set apart exclusively for exploitation
under the provisions of the act.
The act provided for the creation of a
Board of Water Commissioner of State ap-
| pointment, which board should act s%ubstanti-
ally as the trustee or organ of the municipal
tiles, with power to enforce upon each NUM-
cipality the observance OF its financial OBJ
legations to the whole; the several municipal
tiles in order to avail themselves of the bene-
fits of the act, being required to accept its
provisions by a popular vote, thereby be-
coming in effect permanent partners in the
general scheme. The board was clothed
with the delegated authority of the Legisla-
ture to control the waters of the State
Water Shed in the interests Of the munich
palIties. and was authorized to construct and
maintain all a~queducts and engineering
works necessary Tor that end.
BOARD TO ISSUE BONDS,
1t was also authorized to issue bonds in its
own name and borrow money thereon. aud
for that purpose and to enable it to hold prop.
ertv, and to cquA a standing i'll courts was
erected into u public corporation whose
functions were TO be exercised under the
immediate supervision of the Governor and
Legislature. For the payment of the interest
and principal of its bonds, the board was
empowered to levy upon and collect from
the several municipalities an annual assess
ment which was to be a prior lien to all
municipal taxes, with a precise for the APP
,laipfp,a9,t hU tho SInronp (Ourtn t q Io-
ceiver in the case of any delinquent NUM-
~cipality, the power of local taxation thus
conferred being the sole security for the
debt.
Another feature of the bill of great prac-
tical Importance was that, under it, the
State Water Board is constituted the official
guardian of the purity of all the potable
waters of the State mot merely those of the
State watershed), with authority to prose-
cute trespassers in this regard Ill the name
of the State. and at its expens. and obliges
the Attorney General to maintain such ac-
lions as the board shall direct for that pur-
pose. By the exercise of this power in the
hands or able and faithful commissioners,
the perpetration of sach outrages as the dis
charge of the refuse of manufactures and
the sewage of towns into streams used for
public water supply, would be effectually
checked. The new board was to succeed
also to the powers and function of the exist
ing commission.
In his animal message of 1894 Governor
Werts again called attention to the necessity
for legislation, in the line of the O'Brien
bill. IN order to protect the public right in
potable waters of the State. After quoting
a cogent statement of the situation from the
report of the State Geologist for 1892, he
aads:-
ssThe time has certainly arrived when the
State, acting for the general welfare. should
exert its authority to prevent the acquisition
o the sources of potable water-supply, by
private corporations for private gain, or the
exclusive appropriation thereof by single
municipalities. All legally vested rights of
be respected, bat the prerogative of eminent
to its fullest extent by the State in its own
behalf.
Thereupon the Board of Trade and the
citizens of Jersey City renewed the attack,
| Senator Bradley, attorney for the
syndicate, introducing the measure
in the Senate. The Monmouth
| Senator became deeply interested in the
bill and fought hard for its passage, sue
| ceeding so far as to nave it reported by the
| Committee . on Municipal Corporations to
which it was referred. The water com
panies, however, led by Candidate Hobart
and his man Friday, John w. Griggs,
| clamored so loudly for a hearing that the
bill was ~recomInitted, and the committee
gave another hearing upon it.
Griggs and Joseph Coult of Newark
/ ~savagely attacked the measure, claiming
that its provision for the issuing
of bonds was unconstitutional, inasmuch as
II ~ nad the cradit. of the State The hill