The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-03-24
TILT over WATER
Bill to Permit Companies to
Exercise Condemnation
Rights Defeated.
M'DERMOTTUPHOLDS FLYHNcoNTRACT
He Denounces the Appropria-
ton Bill as the Largest
Ever Passed by the
State.
dDERMOTTUPHOLDS FLYNNCONTRACT
especial Is ..rhe Jersey city News.'l

yesterday afternoon Dy q LII osei ~
Senate bill which authorizes water com
panies to acquire by condemnation ana
otherwise, lands, waters and rights LOT
public use. The trouble began with a
motion by Mr.. Pitney that the bill be in
definitely postponed. He said that the Dill
was prepared six months or more ago ana
that it had been held back purposely SO
that the Senators would not nave SUI
fcient time to examine the measure. lie
did not pretend to understand 1t himself
but it had all the earmarks of danger
about it. This bill, he declared, was a
companion to a measure introduced in the
House for the abandonment of the Morris
Canal and the use ofsthe company's prop
erty for other purposes. Mr.. McDermott
Indignantly denied the truth of MI. FIT
ney's statement.
Under the existing law" he said,
Jersey City can exercise the right of
eminent domain and by condemnation Sc
cure the necessary lands. Blu the con-
tractor who is to furnish her with a new
water supply, Patrick Flynn, has not that
right, and at every obstacle in his path
is compelled to apply to the municipal
authorities for assistance. The bill pro-
poses simply to relieve the contractor
from that inconvenience"
II feel that I should apologize to the
gentleman from Hudson said Mr.. Pitney,
'sbut l can distinctly recollect hearing
him say that he knew every trick in the
game. But perhaps he does not know
that this contractor took steps to stlHe
all opposition to his scheme and to corral
all the water of the upper portion OF the
State for his purposes. Thu Senator from
Hudson has boosted hat he has had a
hand in the framing of every platform OF
his party for years. and if that be the
case then he must have been one of those
whose voice were raised some time age
against the taking of waters of Morris
county"
1T is true that I rave raised my voice
in the past,'' said MI. McDermott,
against the wholesale gobbling up of the
waters of the State by private corpora
lions for private gain. like the great East
Jersey Water Company. The gentleman
from Morris did not cry out in protest
when his friends and clients were COB
bling
..Will the gentleman from Hudson
please state what friends and clients of
mine he refers to-" interrupted Mr.. Pit
ney.
II had supposed that every good lawyer
in Morris county a been retained by
the East Jersey Water Company" re-
piled Mr.. McDermott, sweetly, land /
knew if that was the case my friend
could not have escaped"
II hope the Senator will please confine
himself to what he knows" dryly retorted
Mr.. Pitney.
IF l might presume I would suggest
that the gentleman from Morris do the
same thing replied Mr.. McDermott.
HE has been talking all afternoon about
what he doesn't know. 1 will say that
the Jersey City water contract is the very
best contract any city ever had and that
the contractor did not want to sign when
the time came for him to afix his sig
nature. He had learned while he was
waiting to sign, that the price of cement
and piping had gone up $500, 900. Now,
Jersey City wants water, and as we pro-
pose to go on living like a civilized COM
munity, we must lave it. This is the
proposition embodied in the contract with
this outrageous foreigner, a man who has
carried to successful completion great
operations. Mr.. Flynn gives to Jersey
City a blessing. and when his counsel,
who drew this bill, came to me with it
I felt it my duty to introduce it and l feel
it my duty to support it now. 1t is as
meritorious a measure as has been in
troduced in this Senate. I do not know
of any companionship between this and
any other bill, and I here wish to refute
the statement of the gentleman from
Morris
Mr.. Pitney's motion to Indefinitely post
pone was carried and killed the measure.
Later in the session Mr.. McDermott had
another oratorical duel, this time with
Senator Johnson over the supplemental
appropriation bill. It was explained by
Mr.. w. M johnson, who closed with a
warm eulogy Of the State Comptroller's
department for the efficiency displayed in
its fiscal reports and the courtesy of the
officials in aiding in the heavy task of
preparing the appropriation bill.
Mr.. McDermott said that he had no
particular criticism o.. the separate items
of the bill, but he desired to direct atten-
ton to the fact that the budget as a
whole exceeded any ever before appro-
priated in New Jersey, larger than had
ever been appropriated or spent by a
Democratic administration. BY reason of
the States enlarged incofne-an income
that was by no means -settled-extra ex-
penses had been gradually rowde in
here and there, and if this thing were
permitted to go on he would warn the
people of the State that they were being
loaded down with charges that they could
not later relieve themselves of. Institu-
lions are being built up which will have
to be maintained even though the States
income fall away, and the result perhaps
within five years, will be q State tax.
Mr.. w. NJ. johnson tried to get Mr..
McDermott to name some ~xtravagan
item in the bill, pointing out that the ad..
population, etc. The care of the insane.
for instance, was q constantly increasing
MI. McDermott, after Mr.. Johnson had
vainlv tried to get him to dicusS, said
that if the Senator from Bergen desired
to know where State expenditures might
be curtainled. the Senate should appoint
him (Mr. McDermotD on the Appropria-
tion Committee next year an dhe would
oive him ali the enlightment desired.
Mr.. w. M. johnson lac a sharp retort
to the effect that Mr.. McDermott was
criticising without coming to any head.
He said the gentleman had been posing
40 a sort of deputy leader of his party
tb~ro,,ehout the session and his following
seemed greatly divided, for he had talked
e. much that nobody took him seriously;
n fact he didn't appear to take himself
seriously. for he not ~infrequently talked
on one side of a question and voted the
other wa.