The Penn's Grove record., 1904-04-01
brought before the bar of the house

brought before the bar of the house
and be required to adjust all differ
ences by the manly art of self de-
Tense. The two members were brought
forward by their admiring friends and
their hands were incased in boxing
gloves. Then the opponents shook
hands and Assemblyman De Lazier,
the referee, declared the contest a
draw.
Scarcely was the ink from the gov
ernor's pen dry on the bill creating a
legal bureau with the attorney gen.
eral at the head and providing for
an assistant attorney general than
John L. Swayze, private secretary
to Governor Murphy, was appointed to
the new position created. The salary
is $4,000 a year. Mr.. Swayze will as
sumo his new duties esrly in April.
1t has been discovered this week that
the legislature before adjourning
neglected to incorporate an enacting
clause in the incidental appropriation
bill, and the result will be that all the
officers Of the last legislature, except
ing those provided for by statute, will
be compelled to wait until after the
Fourth of July for their compensation.
All bills which do not specify when
they will take effect become operative
July 4 and the incidental appropriation
bill, as one of this kind, must take that
course. The bill amounts to $22,675
and includes the pay of the ministers
who opened the house of the legis-
lature with prayers, a number of dooI
and gallery keepers, committee clerks
and other minor officers.
Nothing was done by the legislature
as to the resolution Of Mr.. Scovel OF
Camden calling for an investigation OF
the state prisons management. The
resolution was referred to the commit
tee on municipal corporations, Of which
Mr.. Scovel is chairman. 1t was re
ported that the threatened inquiry was
used as a club to make the opponents
to the bill providing that all hangings
in the state shall be performed at the
state prison cease their opposition to
the measure. At any rate the "Hang.
town. bill, as it is called, after being
lost in the senate was r~econsidered and
passed, though it was promptly vetoed
by Governor Murphy.
Important Measures Which Failed.
Among the important matters con.
sidered and killed by the legislature
just ended were the state military bill,
the robin killing bill, the meteorological
laboratory bill, the Passaic river com
mission loan bill and the measure
known as the steel corporation bill.
The Morris Canal abandonment project
was laid over.
After the close of the session Gov.
ernor Murphy gave an interview to the
newspaper correspondents, in which he
said that he believed that the results
attained have been, on the whole, sat.
isfactory to the people. He, however,
deprecated the practice of allowing the
early days of the session to slip by
without doing much and piling most of
the work on the last few days. He
thought the legislature should have
takenanp the Morris canal abandon.
ment question and said that the scheme
was so intelligent, fair and wise, first
to the owners of the canals, second to
that section Of the state through which
the canal runs and third to the state,
that the plan was not only without i'm.
portant criticism, but had met with
general commendatiOn.- He also re-
garded as one Of the failures of the
session the refusal of the legislature to
respond to the demand to prohibit the
shooting of pigeons from traps.
Turning to the successes of the ses-
sion, the governor said he was pleased
with the law and appropriation for the
tuberculosis s%anitarium. The appro-
priation vas not as large as he had
hoped for, but it was sufficient. He
was glad also of the passage of the
factory inspection law, a law which
he thought so fair that labor organ
izations, owners of factories and the
people generally recognized it as per
haps the best present law on the sub
ject. He was sorry, he said, that the
tenement house law had been battered
by the legislature, and while it is not
now altogether what he had hoped
AOA ~ 10 q law, AO oo1O, WAlSA plO-
vides light, air and sanitation for the
poor.
The governor expressed his gratif-
cation with the passage of the bill
which provides for the enlargement of
the attorney generals department and
believed that it would mean a saving
to the state of many thousands of dol
lars. The measure for a state auditor,
which, he said, a uniformity of
bookkeeping and a uniformity of the
cost of various supplies, also met with
his commentator, as did the bill
for the enlargement of the state pris-
on, which is ~oyercrowded, and the
measure giving to the governor the su-
pervision of the expenditures of the
supervisor of roads. upon thu
whole" he concluded, II think we may
congratulate the state that so much
has been accomplished"