The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1902-05-14
MEET
Many Hudson Delegates at
the Annual Session
Of the Order.
Special to s'The, Jersey city News y

Especial to The Jersey City News.')
NEWARK. May II. 1902.-Delegates from
all parts of New Jersey attended the
thirteenth regular session of the Grand
Court of New Jersey, Foresters of Amer
lea. which opened yesterday morning in
Birkenhauer & Baumann's Hall on South
Orange avenue. There were about 200
members at the convention and 135 of
them are voting delegates. The morning
session did not begin until after eleven
o'clock, notwithstanding the fact that
many of the delegates were on hand two
hours before that time.
Much time was given over to election
eering on the part of the candidates for
Office and the indications were that some
lively contests would ensue. The Office
of the Grand Chief Ranger was the pirm
which caused most of the discussion
There were three candidates, A. j. Martin
of New Brunswick, P. ]. Donnel1y Of
Court General Phil Kearny, and Samuel
NJ. Edwards OF Court Frank of Orange.
The latter is said to have large number
of the Hudson and Bergen delegates with
him, but to offset this the Newark dele
gates were announced as being against
lis ~ l4AC iAASl ttik1C III 4ud4iy yEeiAS
that the Essex delegates have been split
to any extent on an issue and on that
account a hard fight was predicted.
There were at least three candidates for
each of the other offices, and some of
them had five aspirants.
The morning session was a stormy one,
and Chief Ranger William F. Malmbach.
who presided. had his hands full The
convention is a secret one, but sounds of
disputes frequently passed through the
closely guarded door, and the Chief
Rangers gavel was frequently heard
There was SO much electioneering going
on among the delegates before the con-
vention that it was difficult to ascertain
just where the various factions stood, but
some of the better informed ones said it
looked as though Essex and Hudson and
Bergen counties would be arrayed against
the rest of the State on most of the is
sues.
The South Jersey contingent announced
their intention OF attempting to break an
existing bylaw to the effect that all con-
Newark. They declare that the law is
unfair and claim that other cities should
get chance to entertain the conventions
There are about forty-Ave delegates
from Hudson county and they claimed
that they could command enough other
votes to control the situation. but the
Newark people were not so sure OF this.
and on issues where the Essex and HUI
son people disagreed there was spirited
debate. The morning session which enl-
ed at 2 o'clock, was given over to cor--
mittee work Herman Jedel and Issac
Chericl1, of this city, who were appointed
to wait on the Mayor and invite MIN to
address the convention, returned with Il
letter from that official, who expressed
his regrets at being unable to attend. and
offered the Foresters the freedom of the
city with his congratulations.
Chief Ranger Randall, of Connecticut,
and w. C. Kleinecke, grand secretary of
Connecticut, were visitors, and both of
them mado addresses before the eonven-
ton got down to business. The committee
on credentials reported that all of the
delegates were entitled to votes, and
then the reports OF the officers were read.
They showed that there was gain dur
ing the year of 100 members, and four
new courts were instituted. The present
membership was announced as 10,504, and
tho order was said TO be represented in
fifteen counties in the State. Hudson
county has the largest Membership and
Essex is third. Hudson and Essex coun-
ties each have thirty-nine courts, and
Middlesex county is second in point Of
membership. though It has only ten courts
1t was reported that during the year
Essex county courts initiated 800 candi-
dates into the order in two large class
limitations They were reported as record
breaking limitations.