Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-11-04

In the Evening News yesterday there
appeared statement in the form of
an interview attributed TO my opponent
in the race for the mayoralty, in which
he discusses the project for the re-
clamation of the Newark meadows and
gives his views thereupon. The state
lnent is chiefly important as 1 view it.
from the fact that it contains an as
sertion that there has been sudden
revival of interest III the meadow
project, and an intimaticn that officiai
attention to the matter is based upon
a desire 10 aid certain individuals who
own tracts of meadow land and who
are said by my opponent to have "in-
1uence and political power" This as
sertiun and lnnueDdo are equally false
and equally discreditable to him who
puts them forth. l have no doubt that
the voters of Newark will be able to
appraise accurately the character of
such an effusion, coming as it does in
the eleventh hour of the campaign and
also the character of the individual
who is responsible for it.
Proceedings Cited.
After the charge that there had been
sudden revival of interest in the
meadow reclamation project ii is suff-
cient 10 cite the proceedings that are
matters of official record. The law un-
der which the city has acted was ap-
proved in october, 1907. 1t was sub
mitted 10 the people at the election in
the November following, and approved
by a majority of the votes cast on
the question In my annual message
for 1908, presented in January of that
year, l referred 10 the matter. urging
that there was no necessity for i'm
mediate action. The Board of Street
and Water Commissioners appointed Z
so-called advisory commission consist
ing OF engineers and laymen to study
the situation and to advise the pest
use, in their opinion, that could be
made Of the appropriat ton Of 8, 600. 900
authorized in the law.
Ihls commission made d report bear
ing date of June % 1908, outlining a
certain area OF meadow land which its
members deemed most suitable for i'm
provement, and reported also a certain
plan under which the members deemed
the Improvement could best be carriad
out, In due course steps were taken
by the city officially to set aside the
area contemplated for the improvement
under the designation OF the shin canal
zone, as a ship canal was an essential
and prominent feature of the proposed
scheme of improvement. Meantime
however, doubts arose as to the con-
stitutionality Of the law. Proceaainss
We're instituted in the courts with
view 10 testing them. Eventually these
proceedings resulted in the confirma-
tion of the law by the court, but neces-
sarily official action was held in abev.
anee until the decision was rendered
However in my annual message pre-
sented for 1909 referred to the nroiect
in the following words:
Improvement Needed.
on account of court proceedings in
stituted with view TO affirming the
law, the project for the Reclamation
of the vast tract of meadow land
within the city limits, by means of a
ship canal, which would afford ali
facilities for ocean going vessels. in
Guiding docks. warehouses and the
like. has temporarily been halted.
have always approved of the plan in
general However. after the commits
sion appointed by the Board of Street
and Water Commissioners had pre-
sented its report last year there were
sundry criticisms of the findings OF
that body of which I took note %
the extent of consulting with certain
engineers who were familiar with this
kind of work The judgments Of these
engineers were of such nature as to
lead me to believe that The plan OF
the commission was not. in all its de-
tails the best that could be secured
Il am by no means disposed TO ac-
cept these judgments as final. but the