Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-02-26


Our contemporary, the News, wades
rial type to say that telephone rates
can be fixed by a utilities commission.
Who said nay? But a commission
must have that power delegated to it
by the Legislature, and obviously it is
necessary to show to the Legislature
beforehand that there is a necessity for
the exercise of that power. Hence an
investigation. : 1t Is whispered at Tren-
ton that no public. utilities bill will be
passed at this session. The suggestion,
therefore, that the matter of an inves-
LEGATION be dropped and the subject be
left to the action of a commission sa-
vors of the artless. The representa-
tives of the New York Telephone Com
pany might, indeed, favor that means
of ~disposing of the question. 1t would
hang the whole thing in the air.
The wide difference between the typi-
cal militia company under the system
NV pu5oAiiB away dS oil SllCSLlNo
force is shown in Philadelphia. A bat
talon of about 200 uniformed young
men, trained under the ordinary mill
tia system, was sent to a strike
disturbed neighborhood and scattered
by an ignorant major. The result was
utter discontinue and humiliation.
About the same number of State con-
stabulary, all trained men, sent to the
city, completely changed the aspect of
affairs. What is the sense of expen-
sively maintaining a military establish
ment that amounts to nothing in an
emergency? And yet there are men in
government in New Jersey who would
stick to the old militia system.
The refusal by the street railroad
company in Philadelphia to arbitrate
at this stage might have been expected
by the well-meaning c%lergymen who
offered their mediation. The traction
company is at a point where it can't
retreat. If the company had displayed
tact at the outset, there would have
been no strike. Having ~blundered into
the trouble, there is no way to back
out. But for the riotous element In
the city, the question would be one
simply OF endurance, and the company
would win in the end. To what extent
the disorders of the past week will be
repeated depends on the outcome of the
meeting of labor union representatives
tomorrow.
The grand jury investigation of the
County Hospital for the Insane at Over
brook has gone beyond the maladmin-
istration in the management. 1t now
seeks information about the construc-
ton of the hospital buildings. This
may be embarrassing to somebody con-
nected with the making and carrying
out or the Contracts. There are men on
the grand jury who understand con-
struction work and they have been
making a study of the contracts and
specifications, as we'll as of the work
done. But let us hope everything will
appear ION the square"
HE great auto snow IN the ESSEX i
Troop Armory this week is a record
breaker. The large armory hall has
been filed with people throughout the
week, and the attendance far exceeds
that of the show last year. The inter
est exhibited by the visitors has also
been more intelligent. People know
more bout automobiles, their make
and quality than they did before, and
appreciate the great advances made In
construction. The exhibition will close
tonight, when, no doubt, the troop arm
Org will see the largest crowd of the
week.
While the Crestnut Hill Land Com
pany is now enabled, as a riparian
| owner, to prosecute Newark and Jersey
City and the East Jersey Water Com
pany in chancery for $4,000 damages
for diversion of Passaic water, it doesn't
follow that the company will get the
coveted $50, 900. Probably an investiga-
ton of the total value Of its land would
show that it does not much exceed the
| mount of damage claimed.