Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-05-24

ed States senator in the following an
nounceme7t which he made public
today:
| have decided to become repub-
lican candidate for United States SEN
ator. II elected | shall act as a
maintenance or adoption of the prin-
ciples OF the republican party as set
forth in the last national republican
platform. Within the party, I shall
be Roosevelt republican.
/ have been moved to enter the
field by various considerations. The
equal tax agitation, led by Mayor Fa-
gan and Senator Colby, has disclosed
the fact that the state republican or
ganization, and in large measure the
local county ones, are controlled by
political leaders who are directly or
indirectly the representatives of the
great corporations of the state. While
these leaders. in fear of popular opin-
ion, have allowed us measure OF
railroad taxation, their determine
tion to grant as little as possible to
the people wa. shown by the organi-
cation of the legislature and the sup
preston in committee of many bills
deE <nded by the public interest. The
control by these men or the party ma
chinery has been to them very profit
able, and thev will not surrender
that control unth they are driven out.
The financial issues at stake on the
part of these leaders and their back
ers are much greater uhsn the public
suspect. To make this contest sue
cessful we must fight the machine all
along the line, wherever we lind 1t
entrenched. The principal Offices
which arc the Key to the machine
strength of this state are the COVER
norship and the United States SEN
atorships These offices control
vast amount of patronage, the pos
session of which is absolutely essen
tial to the machine. The United States
senators practically select all the fed
eral employees in the state. These Of
fees are bestowed in accordance with
the demands of the local bosses in
each county, and are thus used 10
strengthen the whole machine That
the corporations, acting through the
state leaders, will endeavor to select
the United States senator to be elect
ed next winter, goes without saying
The choice of the machine is Senator
Dryden. They will not proclaim this
the fact from the housetops, because
they fear that Mr.. Dryden's corpor-
ate Affiliations and his record have
made him unpopular with the peo-
pie. Their legislative candidates VIII
therefore dodge the question, so far
as they can. They will say they have
reached no conclusion on the subject,
or that they will decide after consid-
ering all the candidates who may be
before the legislature next winter, or
they will give out that they are for
some other candidate who may have
some local popularity. But this
lodging will fool nobody. The ma
chine, the bosses and the corpora
tions are all for Mr.. Dryden. They
know him. They have tried him. or
all men in public life in New Jersey
Mr.. Dryden best typifies and repre-
sents the fundamental idea of ma
chine politics, the alliance between
corporations enjoying or desiring spe-
ciaI privileges and the bosses of the
party machines. Mr.. Dryden is pres
ident of the Prudential Insurance
Company, whose surplus of over
$12,O0O,000 gives him a powerful
influence in sundry great banks and
trust companies. He is or has been
associated in New Jersey enterprises
with the leading men of the United
Gas Improvement Company, of Phil
adelphia, the disclosure of whose re-
lations with the corrupt republican
machine bosses of that city recently
attracted national attention. He is
or was one of the leading men in the
control of the Public Service Corpor-
alton of New Jersey, whose alliance
with the bosses of both parties has
become notorious.
Mr.. Dryden has been five years in
public life. Although his wealth
came from the fingers of the poor, :
as Mr.. Lindabury phrased it, he has
by his record created the impression
of being in sympathy with corpora
tions having or desiring special priv
ileges. He has opposed in the senate
the proposition to elect United States
senators by popular vote. He has
been counted among the "Aldrich'
or corporation senators in the rail
road rate regulation contest. In the
debate upon the rate bill he offered
or supported an amendment postpon-
ing for FIVE years the provision re-
uuiring railroads to abandon the
ownership and operation of coal
mines, practice which has led te
gross discrimination and to virtual
monopoly, and which had been de.
clara6 illegal BY the supreme court