The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-09
UPHOLDS FORT
EAST ORANGE MAN WRITES
TO NEW IDEA MEN.
Fred H. Clark Defends Supreme Court
Justices Record and Also Says
Good Word for sommer.

resident member of the United States Su-
preme Court Bar, has addressed an inter-
esting letter to Gardner Colby, chairman
of the New Idea organization. Mr.. Clarke
was named as delegate to the county con-
vention and county committee from the
Third District OF the Third Ward, East
Orange. ON the Colby ticket, but has asked
City Clerk Lincoln h. Rowley to have his
name taken off the ticket now owing to
the attacks made against Justice j. Frank
lin Fort. His name cannot be removed,
however. Mr.. Clarke's letter Is as follows:
ut is a matter of some concern 20 New
Jersey citizens as to whether they should
~repudiate the confidence reposed for many
years in one State official on the presenta-
ton of his name as a Guberratorial candi-
date at this time. Justice Fort has been In
the public eye as a jurist for a long PERIOD
of years; he has stood the test OF time as q
public servant; his decisions as n Justice
of the Supreme Court OF New Jersey, sit
ting en- banc, and his written opinions
rendered therefrom are quoted as soNno
tiopaI tribute to his ability and maturs
intelligence in the Interpretation and ad-
ADMINISTRATION OF the law.
Justice Fort has seated that II Would DC
Il great personal sacrifice; to himself to sur
render his judicial tenure III exchange for
the Governors chair, not 70 mention the
personal sacrifice In resigning from the
bench on nomination., but that he is Will
ing TO bow TO the will and desire of the
people. in whom his confidence for hon
esty and uprigntness Is unbounded. rms
can be taken 10 mean that II elected Gov
erIor of New jersey, Justice Fort Will not
bow nor cater TO the will of demagogues
and spoilsmen; that he will install clean,
principled men in a%ppointive office; that be
will pursue constructive rather than de-
structive methods in administration; tina .
he will exercise police powers to thwart
individual and corporate transgression of
The law: that he will not throttle corpora
tions because of the mere fact that they
are corporations, but stihe wrongdoing by
corporations when guilty Of illegal acts
and statutory infringement.
1T is significant that in the nomination
OF Sheriff Sommer for Governor of New
Jersey that Colonel Henry A. Potter, of
East Orange. is reported to have borne
an important part of the expense. and tnsit
he, in turn, would not only expect, but
would Furthermore be In a position TO de-
mand recognition and favors should Sheriff
Sommer now become Governor. There Is
no doubt that Sheriff Somnier has fulfilled
his promises, but his work as Sheriff Is
l OF yet completed-Essex County Is not YET
clean-and no man is suggested bearing the
same stamp of character better qualified to
finish this work .n Essex County than the
present Sheriff whom, In the course OF
time, with continued development and eA~
pansion of his abilities and with the ma
turity and stability of judgment which
will come to him, / hope to see merit tie
confluence OF the people of the eutire State
of New Jersey in elevation to the Gov
ernor's chair. a confidence in which JUS
ice cOfL Is now nelU ana IN respect 10
which and in whose favor the friends of
Sheriff Sommer's finishing his crusades
. against vice in Essex County ms Sheriff.
"Caustlc comment has recently been
made of his professional conduct, In one
instance. when he was young in expert
ence, and at q time when he did not pos
sess that maturity of judgment dominate
ing his career during the past twenty
years. Aside from the personal explana-
ton he can give at a time suitable to the
dignity of his office, It is stated by we'll
- Arp,nI ar.Rno ~ that @artAA thai fhn
incident was at~tributable solely to error
of Judgment rather than to strictly I'M
professional conduct. No man is, or can
be. exempt from the charge of error Of
Judgment many times In life. but every
man should be free from such reproach
when his judgment is based on facts and
principles as he honestly understands
them. Affability in Justice Fort has been
misconstructed and misinterpreted by po-
litical opponents as a highway for the
misuse OF his personal influence, a charge
which to those who have measured Justice
Forts breadth and depth Is clearly with
out foundation in point of fact.
THE fact that a Governor in office, so
weak and narrow as to be able to pass
judgment unaided OF the Amboy bridge
construction bill, calls on a member of the
Supreme Court of the State for advice and
thereof. Is n tribute TO the judgment Of
Justice Fort by the present CHER Execu-
tive of.New Jersey Let 1t be said by in
telligent men that when a public official,
occupying with open, honest zeal and with
careful consideration of the constitutional
and statutory rights of citizens. the office
of Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of New Jersey, the conservator of
personal liberty, public order and prop
erty, for a long period of years without
So much as a suggestion of malfeasance in
office. such a man. Der Sc, Is entitled to the
unShaken confidence of the common people.
THE Republican party in New Jersey,
divided into two factions, is untitled to
perform Its duty in the national campaign
work of next year; the wounds caused by
detection from the ranks and exposure of
a system of graft must be healed and the
foundations of the party cemented by the
Installation In office Of men of character,
men of known moral rectitude and stabil-
ity; a man Of mature judgment and proven
faithfulness to the common people for Gov
ernor, wherein Justice Fort fills the re-
uuirements, a nan of younger years, with
~tenacity Of purpose and fearlessness in
stamping out vice In Essex County as
sheriff, of whom a better than Sheriff Som
mer has not been desired. With Justice
Fort at the head of the Republican party
in New Jersey, the reform element can con-
graduate itself as having served its use
fulness In securing suitable men to accept
office who effect drastic, practical reform
and administer the law as it stands on the
statute books; on this Justice Fort can
stand on his record, extending over a long
period Of years, and In this instance the
office of Governor Of New Jersey is seeking
the man N the nomination and election Of
Justice Fort"