The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-06-02
ink the voters when again looking for

Mr.. Davis continued as follows
II 4 man employs an agent for a term
Of years BY contract and that agent be-
trays his principal the principal may
terminate the contract and get rid of the
faithless one. Officeholders stand in the
same position to the public as the agent
does to the principal. They are simply
the instruments for carrying on tlie busi-
ness Of the public, and if they are faith-
less in performing their duties the law
should provide adequate means for get
ting rid Of them and putting others in
their places.
This thought, no doubt, has been in
the minds Of people for a long time but
It was not until such a method Of pro
cedure, which has been designated the
'reeah, was put into effect ii Los An
geles, Cal, that tits section Of the coun-
try came to the conclusion that their
theories had materialized in the far
West and an agitation has been accord
ingly started TO consider the advisable
ity q such a law in New Jersey
The recall is a method by which it
is possible for the pubaic to free itself
from Incompetent and Objectionable Of
fcials: AS outlined in the Los Angeles
statute the law applies to elective Of
feers. # the public wishes to vacate
the ofiice Of an Objectionable official a
petition must be signed by twenty five
per cent. Of the entire vote for al candi-
dates for that Office, demanding the cleo
ton Of a successor to the office sought to
be removed, The petition must state
the grounds upon which the removal is
sought. The signers must put their adj
dresses after their names and the whole
petition shall be verified by Che oath d
at least one person who saw al Of The
others sign.
..The petition, thus verified, is filed
with the City Clerk, who within Ten
days after fling examines il for the p'l-
pose Of ascertaining if the necessary
number has signed. and issues certih-
cate as 70 his finding. If he finds the
petition insufficient it may be amended
in ten days after the issuance Of the
certificate II still insufficient after such
amendment, it is returned to Inc petition
ers without prejudice against the fling
Of another petition. Il the petition is
founa 81 the clerk % be sufiieient, lle is-
sues his certificate to the municipal GOV
erning body 70 that effect.
.srhe governing body shall then order
an election to be held within not less
than thirty days and not more than
forty days from the date Of the eertid- I
cate. The election shall be conducted
as other elections are conducted. The
Los Angeles statute provides that the
person sought to be removed may be a
candidate to succeed himself, unless he
requests otherwise in writing, and un-
less he so requests the clerk puts his
name on the ticket as candidate. II
some candidate other than the incumbent
receives the highest number Of votes he
shall be elected and serve for The mex
pired time Of the person eonplained
against, who shall be removed. If the in
eurnbent receives the highest number Of
votes he shall continue in his office
''These, briefly, are the provisions Of
what is designated as 'fhe recall. and
are a part Of the statute law governing
the city of Los Angeles.
In the consideration Of ii here the FIRST
question naturally ASKED would be, 60
we need it? 1t would appear 10 me to be
unnecessary 10 go into any extended ar
gument to convince all present and all
who are not present that if the recall
Will do what the provisions that | have
stated allege then we undoubtedly need
it. and need it very badly, and have
needed it for a great many years. Prob
ably there are very few here present who
have followed municipal, county and
State affairs in New Jersey who do not
now conclude that had we the recall in
New Jersey in years gone by. and If
things then happened that have happen
ed the law Of recall would certainly
have had to work overtime. Without
particularizing instances we can each
recall 10 onr minds cases within orr own
knowledge where the people Of our own
neighborhoods would have welcomed such
a measure in order to rid themselves Of
officials not only incompetent, but who
we believe to have yielded 70 the cor
rnpting influence of money
When AIr. Davis had concluded, Mr..
sumerwell presented tliis resolution.
which was unanimously adopted:
siIoealxod fFhat tl,a Nax. Tt,.so4 es4a+