The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-19
OUTRAGEOUS METHODS,
The Lobby Reverses a Vote
and Secures the Rejec-
ton of a Passed
Bill.
TWO CENT FERRY EPISODE
Mayor Nanser Fighting the Har-
rison and Kearny Annexation
Bauer Scores Again.
Speciat to the Jersep Citu Ne,us.

TRENTON, March 10, 1S96.-One Of the
most peculiar transactions of this or any
other Legislature took place in the
House yesterday. Mr.. Cagney called up
his two cent ferriage bill at the close of
the morning session, but before action
could be taken upon it the Senators
came in to attend the joint meeting. and
the session adjourned without doing any
thing else. AT the opening of the after
noon session the Speaker called the bill
up the first thing. The members were
hardly settled in their seats and the con-
fusion incident to the gathering had not
substded. Mr.. Cagney very shrewdly re-
Trained from saying anything upon the
measure. and the clerk began to call
the roll. The members having no idea
what the bill was, voted AYE the
Speaker among them. Suddenly one of
the lobby discovered what was going on.
and one OF them rushed up frantically
to the Speakers chair and told him that
1t was the two cent ferriage bill. Before
the Speaker could announce the result
he, in a loud voice. changed his vote
from faye to mo" The lobby had
not been idle, and soon other members
began crowding about the desk clamor-
ing to have their votes changed. The
confusion ratified the clerk, but when
all were done he announced that the
bill had passed by a vote of 80 to 10.
The railroad lobbyist declared that the
bill had not received over rs votes, n
started out to do missionary work. As
a result, when the House met in the
evening, the Speaker that the
ynfo had ham r,,4rffoS,ol a-1 u. IL
to remove all doubt the clerk would read
wrong he would have an opportunity
to correct 1t. Mr.. Reed thought that the
best way out of the dificulty would be
to reconsider the vote by which the
bin passed, The Speaker said that. af-
ter looking over the check list, he would
reverse his decision Of the afternoon and
declare the bill lost. Consequently Mr..
Reeds motion was out Of order.
There was a long wrangle over the
best way to straighten the matter out,
but 1t was finally decided to do as the
Speaker directed, and the clerk called
the roll. Several members who were re-
corded in the affirmative declared thai
they had voted in the negative, and
when three changes had been made it
bill and 25 against it. and consequently
the bill was lost. A motion to reconsider
met with the same fate.
Mayor Wanser of Jersey City appeared
Townships yesterday afternoon in regard
to the bill providing for the annexation
Of Harrison and Kearny to Essex coun-
ty. He had heard that the committee
proposed to report the bill and he went
to protest. He wanted a hearing on the
measure. He said that a number of
citizens OF Jersey City wished an oppor-
tunity to SHOW the committee why the
m60 SI1Ta Ghnl1I6 nnf no CO Jnhn I[ar,. a M
Assemblyman Benedict denounced the
Mayors request as a motive for delay
for the purpose OF killing the measure.
very important bill to Jersey City, and
if the committee would give him until
Monday he would produce a number of
citizens to give the committee convince
ing reasons why the measur should not
pass. The committee held a consultation
and finally agreed to give the Mayor a
hearing. at o'clock Monday. Kearny
time at both the afternoon and evening
sessions. Mr.. Mullin wanted to Withdraw
his bill which . provides for the appor-
tionment of the debt of Kearny between
Newark, which has recently seeded from
Kearny. He SAID the bill had been
amended in such a way as to defeat its
object, and the citizens and taxpayers of
kearny were unanimous in the opposi-
ton to the bill.
Mr.. Duncan, Mr.. Skinner and other
Newark members ~strenuousiy resisted
Mr.. Mullins request and a long fight
ensued 1t ended in a sort of draw,
as the Measure went over to Monday.
Mr.. Frank Fort, the champion of mon
opolies, appeared before the Senate Com
mittee on Railroads and Canals with the
amendments which he had prepared to
the bill. which seeks to permit
cross the State and break up
the monopoly of the Standard Oil Com
pany. The amendments cover about
twenty typewriter pages and are very
voluminous. The friends of the bill also
submitted some. Mr.. Herbert took the
amendments and said he would try to put
them into the form of a new bill by Mon
kill the bill by delay has somewhat dis
couraged the friends of the measure, but
they have not given up the fight, and
duce a new bill in the House