Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-02-07
THINGS TALKED ABOUT
EOverflow from last week ]


fOverfow from last week
Last weeks Glassboro Enterprise,
told of numerous petitions to Governor
Stokes, asking him to re-appoint Judge
Jessup 1t is quite probable that the
friends of Judge Jessup are making q
serious mistake. Judges are appoint
ed by the Governor @by and with the
consent of the Senate and from the
wording of the Enterprise statement
the Senate is not regarded as fac
tor in Judge-making. by these petit
TONERS. 1t will be a good thing to
have Senator Avis help in getting
Judge Jessup re-appointed and that
cannot be expected if Senatorial
courtesy" is not recognized.
A correspondent down the county
writes us that the expense to taxpaY-
ers of trying petty criminal cases is
an appalling one in the various coun-
ties of this State. In case of the
theft of a chicken, the case goes to
the Grand Jury and the cost to tax
payers is equal to the value of 100
chickens. He urges that the powers
formerly conferred on the Justices of
the Peace, and taken away, be recon
ferred. Our correspondent contends
that if Justice is competent to try
man for disorderly conduct, and inn
pose the penalty, which he now has
the power to do Why should he not
be competent to try man for assault
or theft? It seems to us that our cor
respondents logic is sound, If the JUS
tice is competent. AS a matter of
fact, many Of them are, and by the
same token, many are not. We have
Justices not a thousand miles from
Woodbury., whose jurisdiction could be
further curtailed with real benefit to
the community. Instead of being JUS
tices of the Peace, they are instiga-
tors of contention and riot. The only
pride of office they have is to collect
fees, and keep communities in a tur-
moil, and then there are real Justices
of the Peace They are as conscien-s
tious as Justice of the U. S. Su-
preme Court; they turn their fines into
the county with promptness and regu-
larity (our correspondent is one of
them). The trouble is that such JUS
tices as our correspondent suffer for
the sins of the incompetent Justices,
and the people suffer too. Senator
Avis, who knows the conditions thor
oughly, should be able to formulate
law that would give relief from the
present expensive system of dealing
with petty causes, and at the same
time make the Office of Justice of the
Peace so important and honorable that
the shyster class would be eliminated
Last Saturday Councilman CatteH
launched his candidacy for County
Clerk, and outlined his plan of cam
paign. So far as he is concerned, po-
1itical methods that have been success
full in this county for so long are to
be cast away He is going to hire
halls and talk to the people, en- masse.
He isn't going to do any kissing and
only the minimum amount of shaking.
1t has been the habit of aspirants
for office in this cbunty to mortgage
their real estate, buy bang-up team,
new buggy and harness, a suit OF
store clothes, and then start out to sur
prise the natives. What money was
left after stocking up for the cam
paign, was invested in cigars and spir-
it's and then the fun began. They
buzzed the farmers, patronized the sa-
looms, attended church fairs and led
the singing, and some have been
known to lead prayer meetings, and
all in one day, and strange to tell, the
candidate who could carry the whole
program and never miss chord, us
ually bagged the prize and paid the
mortgage, while his less versatile COM
petitor went back to his store, his shop,
farm or Office, sad but satisfied that he
was not designed for public life. Mr..
Cattell is going to put his method
against the old method this fall, and
the people will watch the result with
genuine interest, because if he fails.
nobody will try to beat Frank for the
next generation. AS a lot of people
have '.that tired feeling" anent Ridg-
way oratory may win over blarney.