Gloucester County Democrat., 1900-03-01
GISLATORS At WORK
Both Houses at Trenton Hives
of Industry.
MANY HEARINGS THIS WEEK
Big Crowd of Teachers and Educa-
tiOnaI Experts Attracted to the Dis
cussion of the New school Bill
News of General Legislation.
LspecIal Correspondence.l ]

/
Especial Correspondence.l
TRENTON, Feb. 23-At length the leg.
| islature has got down to hard work
Both houses hi I been quite busy this
week, and there have been several in
| portant committee hearings. The in
vestigation of the State Industrial
School For Girls is also engaging the
attention of an assembly committee
| The members of the committee visited
the institution on Monday and madt
many inquiries of the officials relative
| to the rules and discipline enforced.
! This was preliminary TO the taking of
testimony. which began yesterday at
| the statehouse. The general feeling is
that the inquiry should be thorough
one so as to pass finally upon the vari,
GUS charges that have been bruited in
the newspapers for months past Many
members of the legislature consider
| that the charges have been grossly ex-
aggerated. but that there may be room
| for reform in some respects.
The New school Bill.
A large number of ladies and gentle.
men visited the statehouse yesterday
! to attend the hearing on the new bill
| codifying the school laws. The hear
| ing was before the senate committee
| on education. The first speaker was
| County Superintendent Enright of
Monmouth, who thought the bill an
excellent one, with the exception of
| the manner of distributing money on
]
would initiate seriously against the
| rural schools and in favor of the towns.
The State Association of School
Boards presented a series of changes
| to the law which had been formulated
at meeting held by them. The power
! given county superintendent to re.
move members of the board, some de-
tails as to the election of boards and
| the provision that member can hold
no other office were provisions of the
measure recommended to be stricken
out.
| Mrs. Emily e. Williamson, represent
ing the Federation of Woman's Clubs;
| Mrs. Florence Hall Howe, Miss Belle l.
| Snyder of Montclair and Mrs. Julia
Miller, Elizabeth, were present in favor
of the bill. They especially approved
the change of the kindergarten age to
years. They also favored the cleo
ton of boards of education by the peo-
| pie. Mrs. Williamson says that she
has examined the school laws of a
number of states, and none of them
was equal to this one.
President Mulvaney of the board OF
education of Jersey City objected to
| the feature of the bill making boards
of education in cities elective. He said
the members of the Jersey City board
were men of high standing and scarce
ly one would go into a political contest
to get the office. Continuing, the
| speaker said that the boards of munic
ipalities which give the money to be
used ought to have some control over
| it. 1t is dangerous thing to give the
school department or any other depart
ment full control. 1t is not right TO
separate such boards as this from other
municipal machinery The board of
school estimate provided for does not
| go far enough. There should be no
such board. The board of education
should make up its budget and have
done with it. There ought to be the
power of veto lodged somewhere. The
mayor should have that power.
| Frederick Chamberlain of Bayonne OBJ
jected to the section placing within the
power of the state superintendent the
right to suspend any officer. He thought
| the grand jury should be the proper
| body to regulate this matter, if an Off
Ger were guilty of wrongdoing He said
it was merely an effort to create a
court without providing a system of
procedure.
Mr.. Snyder of Jersey City added his
protest to many sections of the bill.
He said the general plan outlined was
| inferior to the system now existing in
! his city. Two sections, however. were
superior to the present plan and could
| easily become a law by themselves.
These sections were those relating to
| the board of estimate and the manner
| of issuing bonds for erecting schools
He was particularly opposed to the
manner of electing boards of education
and declared that an appointive board
would prove of better advantage TO the
localities concerned. No special com
mittee delegated to codify the school
laws up to this time has recommended
an elective board, and the present COM
missioners were not altogether in ia
vor of that point. He expressed a hope
that the bill would be defeated.
The hearing was adjourned until
next Tuesday at ! o'clock.
Matters In the Senate
The senate considered several meas
ures of interest this week. One of
them was Senator Reeds bill requiring
the publication every other year of the
list of taxpayers in each taxing dis
trict, together with the list of their
properties and the amount of taxes
paid. Senator McDermott opposed the
bill because of the expense it would
involve in large cities like Jersey City
and Newark. He thought the cost
would run up to $250000 if an intelli-
gent description of each property were
printed Senator Reed regarded these
figures as extravagant. In his judg
ment. about $4,000 would be the sum
total of expense, even in Jersey City,
and this word occur only every sec
ond year. In return for this outlay of
money Senator Reed believed the pub
lie would derive the great advantage
of securing an equalization of taxes.
Each man could see what taxes his
neighbors paid and compare the
amounts with his o5Yn. If there were
Irregularities, AID II was notorious that
Irregularities do est in many places,
complaints would soon be made, and
corrections would follow. Senator
Reed got his bill through second read
ing, but Senator McDermott promised
to renew the attack when it comes up
on third reading.
The Newark police bill also came in
for some opposition from Senator Nc
Dermott. This bill provides that the
board of finance at Newark shall be
compelled to raise for police purposes
annually a sum of money equal to 3
mills on the dollar of ratables Sena-
tor McDermott said the constitution
declared against this style of legisla
ton because such laws were vioiative