The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-20
THE TWO PARTY PLATFORMS.

THE TWO PARTY PLATFORMS.
In former years political platforms
were perfunctory performances. Com
mittees met, adopted q set of for
mulas, conventions adopted them with
out listening when they were read, and
twenty-four hours afterwards the plat
forms were forgotten. Platform prom
Uses were so much pie crust, made TO be
broken, and nobody expected them to
be carried out. The platform was
merely a formality of the proceedings.
But there is a change.
Political platforms mean something
now. They go into live questions; they
deal with actual affairs; they make
genuine issues. The people who were
once Indifferent to party declarations
and pledges are attentive and exact
ing. They want to know what a party
organization represents in current
affairs, what it has done and what 1t
proposes in good faith to do. No more
barren formulas and no more plati-
tudes. A platform must talk and mean
business.
Hence. the platforms of the two
political organizations in this State in
1907 say something and speak more
directly and clearly than ever before.
~. - - -, aDi5o,t Hocfra m uat aw1V
from the Bishops law. Neither plat
form mentions it, and the subject is
handled with a pair of tongs." But
the meanings are there. The Repub-
lican platform upholds the excise leg1s-
lation of 1906, which is the Bishops
bill, and the Democratic platform
would substitute local option by legis-
lative grant of home rule "in all mat
tiers requiring local administration"
In some essential respects the Re-
publican and Democratic planks are
duplicates in spirit, if not in text, while
in Others the Republican propositions
lean to conservatism. Both are COM
$1,000
mitted to a public utilities law, al
though it may be found in the Legis-
lature, as in the case of the Railroad
Commission act, that there is a wid
divergence of opinion as to details,
which is the important thing. In the
matter of the election of United States
Senators there is a material difference
in the two platform propositions. While
the Republican platform advocates
biennial Legislatures for h sake OF
separating local and general elections,
the Democratic platform proposes
the restoration of spring elections,
which would obviate any necessity for
| ~curtailing the power of the people in
law-making. Plant that in the Con-
~stitution and it will stick there as OBJ
stinately as does the system of Senate
representation which makes popular
majorities in New Jersey impotent for
control of State legislation. The peo-
pie of New Jersey will be slow to put
any new constitutional shackles on the
popular will.
The State has earnestly supported
the Hahn investigation from the start
The best commentary on its results is
found in the promises of the two party
platforms in respect to reforms in the
departments n commissions. The
Republican platform pledges a law fol
all public funds to be deposited with
the State treasurer and for all bill:
to be payable by him on warrant OF
the Comptroller. Commissions exercis-
ing similar functions are to be con
solidated and departmental abuses
ended. Naturally, the Democratic plat
form is more explicit and covers mor'
ground. 1t would abolish dual office
holding; make state officials give daily
attention to their offices, instead o
spending three or four hours a week il
them, and compel advertisement for al
public contracts and all public supplies
Perhaps before the Assembly and Sen
ate investigating committees ge
through with their work the necessit.
for sweeping reforms in State, count.
and municipal government viii fairl,
overshadow everything else.