The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-10-29
The Campaign In Essex.

AC "a
1t Is extraordinary how estimates diff
fer about Essex. There are Republicans
who claim that it win go for Griggs by
5000 majority, and there are Republicans
who say it must do that to elect him,
We believe that if Republican hopes arc
based on any such estimate, they are
ridiculously fanciful. 1t is simply in
credible that Essex will give even half
that majority for the Republican can
didate.
AS an antithesis to the over-confdent
Republicans, there are Democrats who
claim that the party will this year re-
| store Essex to the Democratic column.
This, also, We believe to be an
ranted expectation. The county is nor
mally Republican, and, with a less vul-
nerable candidate han Grigss, and with
the Republican party in a little better
shape on local matters. it might be set
down for $500 to 5000 Republican ma
jority.
TOUT OA v SlcAlCllto Ill SAC PAOSCAt
campaign, however, are seriously adverse
to Mr.. Griggs' chances. One of these,
beyond all doubt, Is his attitude in 1888
on the liquor question. We talk of the
German vote, and no doubt three-fourths
of the German vote will go against
him; but does not this position of narrow
-l.-l - 49,. .@AIr ~
hurt him with every man who is OPP
posed to prohibition as a feature of
State policy? Then there is the attitude
of the man upon all labor questions.
Newark is a city of vast industries, en-
ploying thousands of laborers. The union
spirit is tremendously strong in it. If
Mr.. Griggs' votes on labor bills have been
properly made known to this class of
voters, at least min out of ten of them
will vote against him. The strength of
the mugwump spirit in some of the fine
residential towns in the north and east
of the county is also injurious to Mr..
Griggs. He is the Blaine in his cam
paign-the dashing, dangerous man; Nc
Gill is the Cleveland, the careful, con-
sentative, high-minded, conscientious
friend of the whole people. One other
small factor occurs to us which may
help to cut down Griggs' vote if not to
swell that of his adversary. This is
the unqualified hatred of the commuter
class for the D., L. & w. Railway. There
must be at least a thousand men in
Montclair, the Oranges and other towns,
who feel sufficiently aggrieved against
that churlish corporation to stay away
from the polls rather han vote for its
principal representative in the State.
Then there are the local causes, af-
fecting Newark only. The rottenness of
the Street and Water Board, the fight
between Mayor Lebkuecher and the Board
of Health, the strong suspicion, if not
absolute proof, of bribery and corruption
in the police force; the denunciation of
the whole city government by Republican
Leader Stainsby as the rottenest the
State had ever ~seen-these are elements
calculated to estrange from Republican
ism many voters who ave supported
that party for the last three years. On
the one hand, an annex of that party, a
sort of Parkhurstian society, is persecut-
ing the beer sellers of the town; on the
other, it is an undeniable fact that
Charles A. Schober, one of the Repub-
lican candidates for Assembly, has been
running a saloon for months without a
license.
Is it conceivable in presence of all
these elements of Republican weakness,
that the party can poll any large vote
or secure any considerable majority in
Essex county? We certainly cannot rec
oncile it with reason. The weakness of
the Democratic campaign in Newark is
the total lack of a newspaper organ.
Every English paper in the place-the
News Advertiser, and Sunday Call"
is for Griggs. Naturally, the cam
paign material is less available on this
account; but the facts are matters of
general notoriety, above ali in Essex
itself, and they must have their effect.
WHY do all Griggs' pictures present