The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-10-04
This paper as Democratic IN principles
nd is independent an its vic'Ss Ga '5 '0ea4
questions. aa :
curn. Tnrows on abe MASK.

- aayelonments of the present cam
naipn is the discovery of the True
Gripss. Perhaps you thought you
knew Griggs, all these years; but oeaf
bless YOU. you didn't. You never plereeu
the artificial shell in which the real man
was encased, and felt the beating Oh ms
gentle heart
For Griggs has a heart, it seems. Inc
sarcastic speaker, the cold stony auNo
cate of the wicked corporations IS IN
his real nature, overlooking with tne
milk of human kindness The poor man
is his brother, and the son OIL toi nNs
first cousin. Isn't it nice?
According to the Republican press ana
+be few speakers who have so far lifted
their voices for Griggs, the entire pup
lie record of that gentleman has peen
controlled by outside influences. 1t mas
been made Independently of his own
mind and will. 1t is not a part OF nm
II ;s a shell which he can thro" on
like a crab, you know, when he comes
before the people as a candidate 1or
Office.
Part of Mr.. Griggs' record, we are
assured, was made for him by the eau
eus-the wicked Republican caucus whlch
endorsed that liquor law of 1880 rms
caueus was so bad that the v1rtuous
Republicans of today Indignantly re-
pudiate it. Even the moral and exaitea
---@L
Flayel McGee, in his memorable speech
at Bergen Hall, took care to make 1t
clear that he was a friend of the liquor
traffic and that such t%yrannous laws as
that of 1889 just wounded him to the
soul. Mr.. Griggs and his admirers have
never before revealed to the world pne
dire compulsion which that caucus eN-
ercisea over him. 1t has been a care
fullv guarded secret. The average man
has thought that Griggs was twenty-one
years old in 1880, was of sound nina,
and was acting for himself when ne
made that speech in criticism of Gov
ernor Green's veto, which we reprinted
in full the other day. Nobody ever sus-
pected until now that the caucus was a
sort of Svengali, hat Griggs was dong
the Trilby act, and that when ne
warbled those words so enticing to the
Prohibition vote he didn't mean them
in the least but was obeying a power
which he couldn't control and couldn't
resist.
And, it seems, it was just the same
way with his water speeches, only here
it was not the caucus that talked through
his lips but the dollars in his pocket.
See? Good gracious, he is in favor OF
the preservation of the streams in the
northern part of the State for the use OF
the public. Isn't that fine? And when
he went down to Trenton and snarlea
and wrangled in the cause Of the Society
for Useful Manufactures and the East
Jersey Water Company, he did not really
mean one word he said. but was only
working for his client and for the GUS
tomary fee. ss4a sd1 saAs aags sdsIss
Presumably it was also in his capacity
man-that he led the fight against Leon
Abbett,s corporation tax law in 1884, and
forced on the State the compromise by
which the railroads only pay one per
cent. on the assessed valuation OF their
property in Jersey City. while all private
owners of real estate nave to pay nearly
three per cent. A large section OF Mr.
Griggs' party has been clamoring for
a revision of this law, putting all prop
erty on an even basis. This is Mr., Tom
McEwan's particular fad. Why does not
Mr.. McEwan force Mr.. Griggs to square,
IN face this issue and tell the people
whether he is in favor of equal taxa
ton or not. So far, he has simply dodg-
ed this issue.
But to return to the real Mr.. Griggs
and the misleading record that has con-
cea1ed him. we find some curious revela-
lions coming from the Democratic side
of the fight as well as from the Repub-
lican. Allan L. McDermott, in a long
letter to the editor of the World" dis
closes. this morning, the interesting fact
that Griggs has been one of the most
jealous agents of the race track and
pool room gamblers that the State has
ever seen. This is not surprising to any
one who thinks over the matter. The
railroads are all in Y Of the race
tracks, heart and soul. The Erie wanted
the Clifton track; the West Shore wanted
Gutenberg, the Central wanted Mon
"a 49, DonrrxJxo rfo want
ed Linden and Gloucester. And VINO
owns Griggs, if the railways do not?
It is. therefore, not really astonishing
to b reminded that Mr. Griggs when
he was Senator, from 1883 to 1888, in
elusive. voted in favor Of every measure
that came up, calculated to aid the race
tracks, and still less surprising to ind
him picked out BY the ~booknakers and