Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-05-06
OUT TO KILL AMENDMENTS.
The Elements that will oppose then

The Elements that will oppose them.
That the proposed constitutional
amendments will encounter snaggs at
the special election to be held on Sep
tember Ia for their acceptance or re-
lection by the voters became very evil
dent to-day at an informal confab of
political leaders here. There is SER
ious opposition to the amendment in
several quarters and it would neither
surprise nor grieve the politicians If
some if not all the amendments should
be buried out of sight on election day.
Both the Republican and the Demo-
cratic machines, for instance, are op-
posed to the amendment providing for
the election of Assemblymen by dis
tricts, and the new idea men are op-
posed to the proposition of extending
the terms of Assemblymen from one to
two years and those of the Governor
and Senators from three to four years.
1t so happens that these joint PROPOSE
tions cannot be voted on separately.
They must stand or fall together.
Therefore, the machines will be against
one part of the amendments, the dis
trict plan of election, and the New
Idea crowd against the other part, the.
term extender feature, and under the
assaults of both factions it is hard to
figure out how the amendment is go
ing to get through alive.
Labor men pretty generally are OPP
posed to the judiciary amendments,
and it is no secret that the Judges,
from the Supreme Court Justices
down, woud shed no tears if these
amendments should be slaughtered on
election day. The labor men don't like
the omission in the amendment to
provide for jury trials in contempt
cases when the alleged contempt is
not committed in the presence of the
Court. This is in effect the PROPOSE
tion over which Samuel Gompers kick
ed up such fuss in the last Presi-
Dental election
The way things look now, all the
amendments stand in danger of defeat
The peope at large don't seem to be
at all enthusiastic over the proposal
to increase the salary of Senators and
Assemblymen from $500 to 1000 a
year and popular prejudice, it is adj
mitted by the politicians, may take the
shape of opposition to all the amend
ments on general principles.
1t is easy to see why the machines
should be against the district plan
for the election of Assemblymen. In
Hudson County, for example, it would
mean that, under the district plan,
Robert Davis would lose probably four
or five Democratic Assemblymen, for
a division of the county into districts
would inevitably result in the crea-
tion of that number of Republican
districts. Davis and his machine
could hardly be expected to work to
bring that sort of thing about.
In Essex tthe Republican machine
would stand to lose. All the towns
and townships outside of Newark,
would probably elect New Idea AS
semblymen, and the city of Newark
if divided into districts would return
two or three Democratic Assembly
men, and probably more.
Similar conditions exist in Passaic,
Camden, Middlesex and Union and
the machine men in these counties
that is, those who are now in pos
session-dont relish the idea of TAX
ing chances which would imperil their
prospects.
The New Idea leaders have called
meeting to be held at the Republican
Club in New York tomorrow night
for the purpose, among other things
of deciding what stand they should
take in regard to the term extension
amendment There is hardly a ques-
tion that they will decide to oppose it.
One of the New Idea leaders said to-
day:
"Our people cannot support an
amendment providing for lengthening
of the terms of Assemblymen, Sena-
tors and Governor. Such an extension
would only remove those officials fur
ther and further from the people. The
political machines and the corpora
tions are in favor of this amendment,
because it would strengthen the grasp
on lawmakers friendly to them, but
I don't think the people of New Jer-
sey want it. Another thing we don't
like is the proposition to increase the
salaries of Assemblymen and Senators
to $1,000. New Jersey now pays its
lawmakers as much as any other State
of equal population, and more than
most of the States"
The indications are that the special
election in September will be siren
uous affair Instead of going by de-
fault, as has often. been the case with
such elections in the past, all the pol
iticians will be mixed up in it one
way or another. Combinations be-
tween the political machines of OPP
posing parties are talked of to take up
the fight for or against certain of the
amendments, as the case may be.
There are likely to be some strange
alliances
The general public does not seem
to take any interest in the fate of the
Judiciary amendments. Only lawyers
and probably not all of them, it is said
care to see them adopted. The New
Idea people favor the district plan for
the election of Assemblymen, but they
apparently don't care enough about it
to swallow along with it the term of
Office extender.
Back in 1885 CampbelPs varnish