The Jersey City news., 1899-06-23
Hudson County Republicans
Insist Upon Having a
New Constitution.
LEADERS DISTORTED THE OLD ONE
Serious Charges Brought
Against the Present Di-
rectors of the Machine.
rFrom the New York "Tribune."1

/ who favor reorganization OF the party
are of the opinion that no Reorganization
| can be successful unless constitutional
! convention is called and an entire new
! constitution is adopted. The constitution
/ under which the present County Commit
| tee is working was adopted by a conven-
| tfon in 1891, and it has been so manlpu-
| lated from time to time by the leaders OF
| the machine that they are in absolute
| control of party affairs. Under the pro-
| visions Of the constitution the party
management was placed in the hands OF
| the County Cqmmittee. 1t was stipulated
| that the constitution could be amended
| only by a two-thirds vote of the members
present and voting at any regular meet
| ing of the County Committee and notice
| in writing of the proposed amendment
was to be sent by mail to every member
of the committee four days prior to the
meeting called to consider 1t. 1t was also
stipulated that amendments adopted by
| the County Committee should be sub
mitted to the next succeeding county con-
vention for approval, and that majority
vote of the convention would be final.
| Nine-tenths of the Republicans in Hud-
son county were satisfied with the con-
stitution of 1884, and for time 1t worked
satisfactorily to all The leaders who un-
dertook to manage the party's affairs
were among the first who found its pro-
visions obnoxious. They realized that, un-
| less it was amended, they would be un-
able to control the machine any longer
| without being subservient to the County
Committee, which was not attractive to
| them for they knew that many members
| of the committee would not sanction their
political methods. They accordingly de-
eided that the constitution should be so
amended that it would not interfere with
| their plans. They began to alter the
original constitution, and changed it from
| time to time in such manner that only
| a small part of it's original provisions re-
mains. No fault would have been found
with this work if the amendments which
! the leaders proposed had been submitted
| to county convention for approval as
| the constitution required. This was not
done, and it gave rise to a bitter contro-
versy. When the leaders wanted to amend
| the constitution they proposed the amend
ments In slipshod manner and had them
| adopted by the County Committee, when
| they could, without ever so much as
| thinking of the county conventions right
| to act. Many Republicans who have al
| ways taken an active interest in affairs,
and who held no seats In the County
/ Committee, were ignored. They could OBJ
| tain no opportunity to make protest
| against amendments that were proposed,
or to have them properly considered,
| when the county convention met and they
were compelled to accept without ques-
| tion the fiat of the bosses.
| Furthermore, it is charged by many
Republicans that the leaders also chang
| ed the constitution in many instances
| without consulting the County Commit
| tee. 1t is charged that when they found
that they could not secure enough votes
to have their plans adopted, such amend
ments as they wanted were boldly in
| serted in the constitution without ever
| being offered at the meeting of the Coun-
| ty Committee In substantiation of these
| charges 1t Is pointed out that the origi-
nal constitution specified that "all Off
| GERS shall be elected at the first meeting
in January of each year by BALLOT The
| constitution as 1t now reads says:-"All IL
| officers shall be elected at the first meet
| ing in January of each year by ballot,
/ or otherwise, as the committee shall then
! determine
| Nobody seems to know how the clause
/ s'or otherwise, as the committee shall
| then determine found its way into the
/ constitution. A prominent member of
/ the County Committee said yesterday
| that such a clause never had been offered
as an amendment to the constitution at
| a meeting of the County Committee.
when Chairman Woolley was a cam
| didate for reelection about two years
| ago." said this Republican, ''he was op-
! posed by Congressman McEwan. The
| leaders who supported him thought he
would defeat McEwan by an overwhe1m-
| ing vote, as they controlled the votes of
! a majority of the County Committeeman.
| The election was by ballot.
| eWhen the result was announced Wool
| lev had defeated McEwan by so majority
out of a total of $50 votes polled. The
| leaders did not anticipate that McEwan
| would poll more than twenty-five votes.
| The large vote he received alarmed them,
| and they declared that Woolley narrowly
| escaped defeat through treaehery. Many
/ of the committeeman whom the leaders
| counted upon to vote for Woolley took
| advantage of the secret ballot and voted
/ for McEwan.
| 'aThe leaders then feared that unless
| other tactics were adopted, the Repub-
| lican continued, they would be defeated
when subsequent elections were held. As
/ a result, they decided to insert the clause
| in the constitution or otherwise, as the
| committee. shall then determine Mo-
body besides themselves knows how such
| a clause found its way into the constitu-
| ton. The clause was what the leaders
| wanted. however, and now no secret ball
lois can be taken without their consent.
| When elections are held the vote is by
| entire delegations, the chairman of each
| ward and township announcing the num-
| her of votes cast A delegate, however,
may cast his vote in opposition to the
| others in the delegation to which he
| belongs. but the leaders keep watchfuf
| eve. and il any committeeman should at
| tempt to vote against their candidate he
| is marked for reprisals. and they will
| make it so unpleasant for him that he
! soon feels that his usefulness on the
/ committee is at an end.
+ Thus the system of eiectfng officers by
4 secret ballot as the original constitution
snecffied. has been ignored by the leaders
| ana such methods of conducting electieas
as they desired were put in force and no
| ono could stop It.
| s'The leaders know that If secret ballots
/ fo- the election of officers were aiken.