Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-10-20
WILSON TALKS
ABOUT REFORM
Elect Good Men and You
Will be Sure OF Good
Government.
TOUR SOMERSET COUNTY

S~omerville, Oct. 20:-Toward the
close of his speech last night Wood
row Wilson told of a confession made
to him by a New York reformer. The
New York man had said with some
show of modification that he's had
been going to Albany a good many
years, had used every legitimate
force to get his measures through
and had generally succeeded. But
do you know" said this man, Eve
found out that the statutes always
leave something wrong and that
when you come right down to 1t the
only way to get good government is
to elect good men"
N"And that's the TRUTH said Mr..
Wilson. IF you elect good men they
will torture out of any set of statutes
a reasonably good government"
Mr.. Wilson said this at the end of
a speech to 1900 men and women of
%contented Somerset county, a speech
in which for the first time he out
lined the order In which he believes
proposed reforms ought to come.
The order is corrupt practices legls-
lation, a reorganization of the
Estates business, the Public Service
Commission with rate making power,
the conservation and regulation of
water powers and sites, direct pri-
maries.
In discussing corrupt practices
legislation Mr.. Wilson said that pub
~l1cation of the sources of campaign
money must be followed by a limit
ing of the amount and object OF con
tribution, else they could be given
through obscure individuals as freely
as ever. And then you have only
exposed partnership between big
business and political machines. So
you must forbid corporate contribu-
tions.
In speaking Of corporations Mr..
Wilson said that he believed they
should not only pay taxes but should
pay well for the privilege of existing
as corporations.
The states business must be re-
modelled with a rigidly considered
economy as the touchstone. Public
utilities corporations, being by ma
ture private affairs with government
al owner and functions, must be
brought under the peoples constant
eye. The rate making power must
be conferred on a capable public SER
vice commission.
The question Of water powers and
sites has been shamefully neglected.
1t was of peculiar Importance to
north Jersey. Two of the states
canals are now owned by railroads.
The chance of competitive t%ranspor-
tation must here be reestablished.
Direct primaries we must have that
we may get inside the political game.
80 you see," said Mr.. Wilson,
how all our reform desires are as
beads on a single string"
Mr.. Wilson said he believed this
program would appeal to the legisla-
tors themselves. He believes they
would be glad as men to put 1t
through, for he knows some state
representatives and knows that moth
ing gals them so much as taking
orders from a machine.
The speech fairly caught the SOM
erset audience, which like all Somer-
set audiences was disposed to be
coolly contemplative. Thus when
Mr.. Wilson and his party picked
their way through the press the
whole audience, without call or urg-
ing, rose to it's feet and stood still
till he was seated. 1t was a mark of
respect and consideration, not a YER
dict, for while they all stood there
wasn't a handicap. Almost a verdict
was the greeting when. Mr.. Wilson
rose to speak. Here, as in Newark,
men jumped to their feet, hats off
and cheering.
At the beginning of his speech Mr..
Wilson declared that 1t is vain for
parties now to point to past records,
The democratic party has throughout
the nation broken with its past. 1t
is nominating new men to office and
men are focking to the standard 1t
now raises. Particularly in New
Jersey, said MIR. Wilson, the demo-
Gratis have gone outside the party
organization, not for n candidate
but for several. And the republican
party, he concluded, has broken with
its past throughout the whole coun-
try almost except in this state.
Mr.. Wilson referred to the remark
of former Governor John w. Griggs,
who said a few days ago he disliked
the word reform" applied to the re-
publican party, since it implied that
the party had been wrong. Mr.. Griggs
added that improvement vas a much
mor appropriate term. HE thus
graciously conceded that there was
some roo for Improvement" said
Mr.. Wilson, whereatsthere was a gen
eral laugh.
The Princeton man now laid down
as an axiom, you can't reform an
organization by keeping 1t in power.
At this point he got the Somerset
audience with him. He cinched his
hold on the crowd by saying that the
trouble was we can now hardly tell
where business ends and politics be-
gins.
1t was an important as we'll as a
successful meeting, for Somerset
county gave Governor Fort a repub-
lican majority of only 1853. The
farmers here, all comfortably well
off, vote pretty much as they please
and are always alive and voting.
Richard V. Lindabury, head of the
legal department of the Prudential
Insurance Company, who introduced
Mr.. Wilson, undertook to shed some
light on his nomination. To the
dience he said:
II was N of a number of gentle
men who came to Mr.. Wilson last
summer and said that in our opinion
the time had now come when there
was a great public service to be done
In this state If he would become a
for office we believed that
he could perform that service and
perform it to a great degree before
election day We asked Mr.. Wilson,
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