The Penn's Grove record., 1909-01-15

norIry. He advocated the Introduction
of fewer bills and the enactment 81
fewer laws He requested the men
bers of the committees he appointed tc
go into session as early as possible.
Captain Parker was her reelected
clerk for another term, and the Re
publican caucus nominees were elected
to the offices for which they were
named respectively.
Opening Scrap In the House.
A forecast of the troublesome times
which are ahead of the present house
constituted as it is, appeared early in
the session. The Republican caucus
had decided upon seventeen dcorkeep
ers and sixteen pages, and when Grit
fifth w. Lewis of Burlington. the Re
publican leader, placed that number
in nomination Democratic Leader Sui
livan moved the number be reduced tt
twelve doorkeepers and ten pages.
An act of 1895, he said, provided fol
that number of doorkeepers and pages
and he contended that one legislature
could not repeal an act. of a previous
one by a mere resolution, but must
do so by a regularly passed and signed
law.
Henry Young of Essex replied that il
was.-a fundamental principle that the
acts of one legislature could not bind
another and that the present house
could have as many officers as it chose
Leader Lewis reminded Mr.. Sullivan
that when his party was in control o
the house two years ago the number
of doorkeepers and pages was even
larger than the n he proposed. Any
how, he declared, the number he hal
named was considered by the majorit.
to be warranted by the statute re-
ferred to by Mr.. Sullivan.
The young man from Hudson retort-
ed that even If the Democrats had vio-
lated the statute that was no reason
why the Republicans should do so.
Mr.. Baker of Hudson, who was the
humorist of the last house, made som
facetious remarks about the upright
ness and general holiness of the Re
publican members, but all the Demo-
cratic thunder was in vain, and the
number of pages and doorkeepers
agreed upon was sanctioned by the Re
publican majority.
The speaker appointed Leader Lewis,
Mr.. Young and Mr.. Keffer of Atlantic
the committee OF rules, and Mr.. Lewis
moved that the rules of last year be
adopted with the exception of what
Wac Hnnuvn nc fhn sfNTorOap ,1,1o y
This vas driven through the last
horse by William Fellowes Morgan, one
Of the new idea" members and the
unsuccessful candidate for sheriff of
Essex county on the Republican ticket
last fall. 1t provided that at the writ
ten request of fifteen members a com
mittee should within twenty-four hours
report a bill which it had under con
sideration intended to stop the prac-
tice some committees had of killing
bills by refusing to report them. In
it's place Mr.. Lewis offered a rule in
creasing the number of signers of the
request from fifteen to twenty.
The amendment had hardly been pro
posed when William P. Martin of Essex
the leader of the "new idea'' men in
the house, was on his feet with the old
Morgan rule as a substitute for Mr.
Lewis amendment. The only reason
for the latter was, he declared, that the
corporations and special interests de-
manded it. The desire to increase the
number from fifteen to twenty was
simply to make the rule ~impracticable
and impossible.
at is only a move" he declared, ''to
suppress those members favoring pro.
gressiye legislation and is the opening
wedge in the steam roller process now
under way"
James Blauvelt of Passaic, the new
idea" leader of that county, woke the
lobbies and galleries up with his Wig
orous support of Mr.. Martins substi-
tute. The Lewis motion, he said, was
high handed business and the entire
procedure could not be squared with
reason or logic. The speaker, he de-
clared, had pledged himself to see fair
play, and such action proposed by Mr.
Lewis would be in contradiction to the
plOLliSC.
Mr.. Young declared that the Lewis
amendment brought the house five
votes nearer majority rule, and he re-
GREETED the matter had been brought
up when it had. Mr.. Martin retorted
and the debate was getting acrimoni
Gus when 'Uncle Dory" Gibbs of Cam
den, the patriarch of the house," put
an end to it by moving the previous
question. The Martin substitute was
lost by a vote Of 26 to SO, and on the
adoption of the Lewis amendment the
vote was A to 16.
After the organization of both houses
Leslie r. Fort, secretary to the gov
ernor, appeared with John Franklin
Forts first annual message to the leg.
islature. 1t was noticed that more
than ordinary attention was given to
the message.