Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-08-08
TACTICS TO
BLOCK COLBY
Machine Men Try to Hinder the
Holding of RefOTmers'
Meetings.

scarcely D~e1IIVdDie nave Deeu Iuc
tactics adopted by the machine men
and their hirelings in their vain at
temps to belittle and spoil the meet
ings held by the leaders of the new
idea" in various parts of the state
during the past week. 1t would seem
that the men responsible for such
work with their years of experience
in practical politics, would see plain
ly that such attempts on their part to
interfere with the spirited campaign
of the Colby men could but react on
themselves to their disadvantage, and
the principal papers, both in the state
and those published in New York
have editorially condemned the ma
chine men for their work.
On the day of the meeting in Som
erville the orders went out to the
trusted and tried of Frellnghuysen
followers that everything possible
should be done to discourage the peo-
pie from attending the rally in Ger
mania hall. At the railroad station
were men on hand to greet any in
quiries made for the location of the
hail, and travellers who asked for in
formation were told that the meeting
was called off because Senator Colby
and Mr.. Record had gone on a vaca-
ton. This statement was to be had
from many of the men On the main
street of the town, particularly near
saloons and in hotel cafes. This
work did not satisfy them, however,
for by some means or other the col
ored band hired for the occasion to
parade around the town and to be at
the hall at 8 O'Clock, did not arrive
on the scene until an hour and a
half later. Nevertheless, four hun
bred persons crowded into the hall,
and it was an audience made up of
men of intelligence who took in every
word the speakers said, and showed
their approval of the sentiments Of
fered. After the meeting many of
those present signed enrolment
cards, stating that they were in fa-
vor of the movement and would work
for 1t.
Even more d~astardly were the at
tempts made to close up the meeting
in the opera house in Bordentown on
the night following. On this occa-
sion the meeting had just gotten well
under way, under conditions of tenn
pe~rature almost un~bearable, when the
lights throughout the house, with the
exception of the footlights, were cut
off. A few minutes later it was dis
covered that the chandeliers that had
been lighted originally, were pouring
out gas that in half an hour would
have filled the room and igniting,
blown the roof off. This piece of
work was put down to mischievous
boys. If this was the case the boys
had a remarkable knowledge of the
system of gas pipes in the building.
1t was to be expected that Davy
Baird, Boss of Camden county, who,
although in Europe, would do what
he could through his ~lieutenants to
pour cold water on the initial visit
of the reformers to his bailiwick. In
this instance the local members of
Camden county organization applied
for permission to use the new court
house steps, or in event of rain, the
rotunda inside. Could they have the
permission? one which has been
granted to every quack doctor and
peddler for years past. Not "A bit of
1t. However, this action only served
to rouse up popular feeling and re-
suited in the best part of II thou
sand persons turning GU to see II
they had the right or not to stand on
the steps of a building that had been
built with their money. Perhaps the
most glaring example of the power
of the machine men in this boss-rid-
den county, was the fact that even
the s~tenographer hired by one of
Boss Baird's men, to take down every
word that the speakers uttered, was
given the use of a desk from the
court house, which the ~janitor of the
building obilgingly moved to the
sidewalk for him. Incidentally the
cost of paying this stenographer was
considerably above the entire ex-
penses of the meeting of the Camden
County Equal Rights League.
No better proof of the indomitable
pluck and spirit of Senator Colby,
Mayor Mark M. Pagan and George
L.. Record was the work done by
these men on Thursday last in Mon
mouth county, when in the face of
one of the fiercest transforms of the
summer they went from town to
town, and although it was impossi-
BILE for them to hold open air meet
ings, these men plodded through mud
up to their knees, went from store to
store, into factories and blacksmith
shops spreading the seeds OF reform.
Their efforts and enthusiasm reached
the hearts of the men with whom
they came in contact, and many OF
the men left their FORCES and fires to
shake the speakers by the hand and
promised them their support to get
the people to the primaries on Sep
TENDER 25th.
The result of the days work meant
a big gain in the vQte that will be
rolled up for the delegates supporting
William H. Barnard, who Is one OF