Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-03-23
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

TRENTON, March 23.-The Senate
elections committee will meet at
O'Clock Saturday afternoon for the pur-
pose of passing upon the Geran bill.
Runners are rife here that the bill is
slated for many amendments. Some,
the friends of the measure admit,
are necessary. Others. conservative
Legislators insist, must be made.
The plea for a referendum clause is
being urged in many quarters. The
clearer understanding of its pro-
visions is demanded before 1t is made
a part of the electoral machinery of
the State.
The insistence upon the referendum
does not come from the Democrats
alone, but is made by leading Republi-
cans of the State who see great dangers
ahead in the complexities that are
being passed about the electoral fran
chise.
Many Democrats here are insisting
that the bill is departure from the
document provided in this regard as
follows
Provisions of Platform.
10. Such a simplifcation of the elec-
toral machinery of the State as will
make possible the effectual exercise of
the right of direct nomination on the
part of the voters, and the enactment
of laws ich will secure TO them that
right in the most effectual manner"
Well-wishers of the party are in
favor of "a sinpli.ication of the elec-
toral machinery of the State" but can
see no connection between the party
promise and the-attempt at fulfllment
by the Gerar bill.
Their position today is this:
The bill is not understood by the
people. Its provisions should be care
fully studied before 1T becomes law. To
effect this end, let it be submitted to
abide the result of n special election.
Claim is made that the bill is in the
interest of the people; that 1t Is in
tended to restore popular government.
If this be so the friends of the bill
ought not to fear the result of special
election.
Let the people decide ON a submission
of the bill to popular vote that they
desire it.
1t was said here today that Governor
Wilson would send for the Republican
senators with the purpose of conferring
with them on the Geran bill. This has
been his course on some previous oc-
casions.
Wilson's Course Not Clear.
Governor Wilson's ultimate course at
the moment is not clearly defined, 1t
Is conceded here that lis break with the
| leaders of his party has beset his future
course with dangers. In this regard the
New York Sun editorially today says:
IN the Democratic politics of the
| State of New Jersey there is now pre-
sented, clearly. unmistakably, precisely.
that problem which for four years con-
sumed the attentions and the efforts of
the Republican party of this State. 1t
is comprehended in a single interroga-
| ton: Is it necessary for an executive,
a governor, to disrupt his party in or
der to impose upon it a reform pro-
gram? Inevitably there also follows
! the second question; Can such policy
in the end be successful?
"Whcn the executive quarreIs with
the party leader, therefore, he does in
fact turn adrift the experience, the
Knowledge, without which actual re-
form that could be useful is weIl-niSh
impossible, for in politics, as in every
thing else, knowledge is to be had only
by study, experience. application. The
purpose of the executive may be ac-
cepted as high, sincere, as honor
able, but what he is seeking to do is
to replace system the result of
century of experience by one which has
been created, not upon the basis of
accumulated knowledge, but merely
upon the volume of public dissatisfac-
tion with existing methods and public
demand for n cure-alI for existing po-
Iitical evils.
"But it will be argued that the ex-
ecutive has no other course open to
him, that an honest man seeking re-
forms has inevitably to merit the hos
tility of the professional politician In
point of fact this is only relatively
true. Any politician prefers a COM
| Continued On Second Page..)
@sA.s