The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1904-11-14

teen Republican Senators in the next
Senate, and eight of them will be enough
to bestow the nomination. Now, Senator's
Wakelee, Lee, Hutchinson, ,Hillery, Shinn
Bachelor and jackson will be for Cross,
| know, and they, with his own vote, will
give him the caucus nomination even if
he has no more, which is by no means
certain
There is one man who was reelected
to the Assembly Tuesday who does not
share the views of the willy Camden lead
er and that one is John Boyd Avis, Of
Gloucester. Mr.. Avis was speaker of the
last House and he sees no reason why he
should not WELD the gavel over the in
coming one. His friends fail to see the
grounds on which Mr.. Baird or any one
else bases North jerseys claims to the
Speakership. They point out that from
1856 to 1886. their section of the State
had only three Speakers-G. w. n.
Curtis in 1867, E. Amber Armstrong in
1856 and Louis I. Derousse in 1896
and all of the them came from Camden.
Since 1896 however, the southern section
has had six, still they see no reason why
Mr.. Avis should not succeed himself.
Two terms for the Speaker Of the
House is not such an easy matter as
Speakers Who have been chosen since
the adoption Of the present Constitution,
only seven have served two terms, and
they were John w. O. Evans, of Burling-
ton, in 1s4T-s; John W. Fennimore of
Burlington, 1854; leon Albeit of Hud-
sen, 1s69-70; e. Ambler Armstrong of
Camden, 1855; James ]. Bergen of
Somerset, 1892; David O. Watson of
Gloucester, 1889, and William J. Brad
ley of Camden, 1901-02.
The election of Speaker to succeed
himself has always been considered an
extraordinary occurrence, and there is no
established precedent, as the foregoing
list Will show, by which the incumbent of
the office can consistently base a claim
to a second term For that reason there
are those among the members of the As
sembly who are inclined to give little
consideration to the candidacy of Mr.
Avis. In view of the fact that Senator
Cross's election to the Presidency of the
Senate at this time appears to be assur-
ed it is probable that Essex viii not
present any candidate for the Speaker
ship. But should anything occur, and all
things are possible in this era of political
surprises, to make it seem advisable to
select the Speaker from this end of the
State. it is probable that this county will
present the name of Everett Colby, of
West Orange Mr.. Colby has many
warm friends among the old members of
the Assembly, and would make formid-
able candidate for the position.
Even in case the speakership should
be allotted to South Jersey, Mr.. Avis
would not be able to secure it without a
struggle, for there are several Assembly
men in that section who think their quail
ifications and the claims Of their respec-
tive counties entitle them to recognition
in this respect. There is Thomas G. Ell
wins, of Atlantic, who has been elected
to the House four times and on each oc-
casion by pluralities which demonstrated
the confidence which his constituents re-
pose in him. He has always been con-
sidered one of the brightest of the young
men of the Legislature and it is known
that he would not be averse to welding
the gavel.
Harry Scovel. who goes Mr.. Elvins one
better, having been elected to the Legis-
lature by the people of Camden five times
though not all in succession, would not
object to being speaker. but if that should
prove to be impossible be could be per-
suaded to take the leadership.
With an increased number of members
of the Legislature there is going to be.
more trouble than ever in meeting the
claims of the various Republican coun-
ties to the share of the legislative patron
age to which they consider themselves
entitled, and there will have to be some
scientific manoeuvring to find enough
places to go around without increasing
the number of useless Offices and the
cost of conducting the session.
FOR The SCHOOL LIBRARY.