The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
JOSEPH FIRTH DROPS OUT.
PERFECTLY WILLING NOT TO BE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.
Hes Ills Own Man Goes Fishing or Sunday
whenever He wants To and Believes In
Putting Things Up 10 the Republican
PARTY Never Took n Dishonest Dollar.

PUTTING Tninys ap 10 the HrpuDncan
Party Never Took n Dishonest Dollar.
The Democratic members OF the New
Jersey Assembly, who met I'M caucu last
Tuesday and selected Joseph II. Firth,
MAYO Of P~hillipsburg and A~ssemblyman-
elect, for Speaker Of the House at the COM
ing session, have found themselves in a
bad predicament and also that they nave
embarrassed their party seriously. Firth,
who IL a saloon keeper, has been convicted
Of running a disorderly house in his town.
IL consisted Of running "A slot machine.
To make matters worse he has declared
thai he 10 for the reelection of Dryden az
United States Senator, 50 IA to put the
Republicans in a hole. He has also shown
such ideas as to assert. that he is willing
to vote for bills he doesn't approve Of in
order 10 put them on the Republicans and
90 elect Democrats next time.'
As a result of the storm over the dis
closures Of Firth's past and of his ideas
on party matters, pressure has been put
on him to decline the nomination and
another caucus will be held, State Chair
man William b. Gourley will arrange to
have Abram Klenert, chairman. OF the
caucus, summon the members elect to a
new one, at which the contest for Speaker
ship will probably lie between lone w.
Lane of the Essex delegation and Archibald
S. Alexander of the Hudson delegation.
When the members met recently it was
heralded far and wide that ex-United States
Senator James Smith had beaten Bob Davis
of Hudson in the party control contest, and
the selection of Firth for Speaker was the
sign of his victory. Firth says that State
Senator Cornish of Warren brought about
his nomination, and that it was done because
the eastern leaders had TO make terms with
the Democrats in the western part of the
State.
The Hudson leaders, Davis men, had no
part in the selection of Firth, but the Essex
men dill. When the latter learned that
Firth had been convicted Of running a dis
orderly house in 1901 and had been hned
$500 they were amazed.
When he came out for the reelection OF
Dryden, the very thing they were chosen
10 prevent, their rage was beyond pounds.
The Essex and Hudson men, h number
twenty-three out of the t~hirty-one Demo-
cratic Members of the House, decided that
they would Tepudiate the caucus nomina-
tion, and this resulted in the negotiations
by which Firth is 20 withdraw. The new
caucus will be held on Tuesday next.
In an interview on Friday Firth was
quoted as saying:
NO n can say that l ever did any harm
10 any one but myself. l get drunk when l
feel like it and | go fishing on Sunday. That
is why the ministers were all against me in
my last campaign. l do as / please. Any
one who doesn't like my ways can go TO hell.
as far as ! am concerned"
fiIth saws he likes politics and that ia
why he is willing to he Mayor on n nominal
salary. lie is proud of his daughter, who,
he saws, Is an opera singer in London and
gets 500 a week. 1t WAS on account OF
this daughter that he wanted to he Speaker.
When bis wife wrote 70 the girl that her
father had been elected Mayor and Assem-
blvman la spite of the crusade OF the minis
ters, he SAYS his daughter wrote back that
il would be grand IL he would really become
something great"
That put the Speakership idea into his
head and he and Cornish went ahead to ge.
il. Firth says that the three Warren As
semblymen held the balance of power, and
that was why he stayed outside the caucus
and they had to send for him every few
minutes. He declares that he never met
Smith or Davis and that il was Cornish's
own generalship and the fact that he Just
laid low and said nothin'" that Won MIN
the caucus honOr.
This is Firth's statement as TO the United
'ates Senatorship:
Il am for Dryden. There is no man I
would rather see elected. His election
would put the Republican party out of
business and elect a Democratic Governor.
| believe in helping along anything that
Will put the ~RepuDlcarS In a mole L DeleVe
the Democrats should introduce all the bills
the people wan and put them up to the
Republicans. Put up everything to them
that they can. That is the only game"
In speaking of party policy Firth said:
Il will do anything to defeat the Repub-
lican party. l voted for lots of bills last
year | did not believe we're right simply
to put them up to the Republican Legisla-
ture. l voted for the county tax board pill,
and its passage had the effect desired in
my county"
When asked if he approved the county
platform whic denounced the Democratic
District Attorney for not enforcing the vice
and immortality act, Firth said:
"Oh, the PLATFORM That was only hot
air; that doesn't mean anything. They put
u lot of stuff in that which should never
have been put in
The platform was written, 1t is said, by a
committee of five, two of whom were saloon
keepers and one a bartender. 1t read as
ii it had been prepared by. a. Prohibitionist
clergyman.
firth is strong on his own record. He
said.
mo man can dictate to me and make me
do anything l do not think is right. My
religion Is to do good and be honest. |
have been an officeholder for fifteen years,
and there is not one official act OF mine in all
that time that any one can criticise. No
man can sa 4 e er took a dishonest dollar