Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-03-17

- NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
This attempt to railroad 1t through
shows Dad judgment and bad faith.
why the haste? Is there n
reason why we should not be allowed to
look it over? This Is o sweeping bill
affecting every public utility corpora
ton in the State, and We should be al
lowed to study it in the quiet of our
homes. -...-....
This bill is entitled a supplement
and amendment to the railroad COM
mission law. 1t is important that we
hear from the encouragement whether
in its present form 1t is constitutional
to combine a supplement and amend
ment. If you men on the other side
are sincere. if you really mean it when
you say you iant a public utilities law,
tell me is it unreasonable when | ask
you to let this wait until l. and you,
can get the opinion of the law office of
the State. Not more tina so per cent.
of the members of this House know
anything about this bill and | will
wager that not 90 per cent. ear get UP
and tell us the extent to which it goes.
Il beseech you. gentlemen, don't put
this bill through in this high-handed
amer. l want to say to you that /
sincerely want to put a real public
utility law on the statute books"
IF you rush this bill through second
reading you say to me, You vote for
that bill or not, because it can't be
amended after it reaches third read
ing"
Pierce Defends Measure.
Mr.. Pierce insisted that there was no
desire to railroad the bill. He main
tanned thai last week it had been un-
derstood the question would be taken
up this week and added that. in de-
fance to the minority, the bill had
beer allowed to lay Yer until today.
He added: .
while | am not directly authorized
to speak for the Attorney-Generars Of
fee, L can inform you that the best
lawyers in the State, including the At
torney-General, say that this bill is con-
stitutional." -t
when we get a bill here that has
some such important object as the saw
ing of a cats life" said Mr.. Kenny, of
Hudson, lit is passed with great delib-
Grafton, but it seems that this, perhaps
the most important bill of the session,
must be rushed through in a day. We
have been told that it has been consi6-
cred a day or two. By whom? BY a
select few, some of them not members
of the Legislature. We have not a
it,"
Mr.. Sullivan besought the lawyer
members of the House to note that it.
was provided in Section / of the bill
that it was an amendment to Section l
of the Railroad Commission law, but
that the amended section was not set
out. That, he maintained, vas beyond
question unconstitutional, because it
was provided in paragraph foul of Sec
ton Z of the State Constitution that
no law could be amended in the manner
set forth in the Pierce bill unless the
section affected was set out.
THAT section of the Constitution" he
said. has been construed by the
courts time after time to prevent just
such legislation as this"
Mr.. Pierce commended hat the consti-
tutional requirements had been COM
piled with In the only amendment to
the present law, that to the title, the
rest of his bill being a supplement.
Il am assured by the most competent
authorities in this State he said, that
the constitutional provisions nave beer
strictly observed"
Mr.. McCran, of Passaic, started tc
speak, but the Speaker held that he
and others had depressed far from the
motion and were discussing the merits
of the bill. Mr.. Kenny protested thai
the custom of the House was being
overridden because the bill had moi
been kept on the calendar until 1t hac
been mailed to the homes Of the mem
bers. This, the Speaker held, was MOI
overriding custom, pointing out that Il
was common practise to pass a bill
| through all readings the same week i
was introduced, when the House was
in continuous session for several days
Mr.. Nissan, of Essex, said that as
Mr.. Sullivan had expressed inability t.
understand the bill, he thought ale
would be forthcoming if he would ex-
I plain wherein he did not understand 1t
The speaker stopped further debate
along such lines, and the motion tt
make second reading a special order
for Monday night was put, the frs
real test of strength OF the bill.
The division was strictly on part,
lines, seventeen Democrats voting fo'
and thirty-nine Republicans defeating
it by voting against. Two Democrat
and two Republicans were absent.
Mr.. Sullivan, wonderful fighter tina
he is, was wholly u~ndaunted by tn
discouraging result of the first clasl
| with the enemy. Once the bill was OF
second reading he presented his owi
bill, House 36, with some slight correc
lions, as a substitute for the Pierc'
bill.
I'm offering my substitute" SAID MI
Sullivan "I am moved primarily by
desire to get a good law on the statut
books. and not a sham. You may ca
457 a public utilities bill or anythini
you please, but that does not make
a public utilities law. If a cat ha'
kittens in an oven it would not max
the kittens biscuits.
Majority Leader Edge, who for thu
occasion was hanked on either hant
by Mr.. Nissan, of Essex, and Mr.. Nc
Gran, of Passaic, both lawyers OF apll
ity, took the floor. He said the Re
publicans of the State are responsible
for any legislation of the session an
willing to assume it. He read the part,
pledge on utilities in 1907, and thei
said:
II contend that we ave even gon
further han that pledge requires-fui
Their than anyone could expect a Legs
lature t. go in this matter. We nav
gone so far that even the gentlema
from Hudson objects to some or u
I,uowers we nronose TO confer in Tn