Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1911-12-28
POLITICS AND COMMENT FROM
THE STATE CAPITOL.

| Congressional districts of the state
under the new apportionment of Con-
gress, which gives New Jersey two
more Congressman, making twelve in
all. The Republicans in control OF
both Houses of the Legislature it is
to be expected, of course, that the
new lines will be drawn SO as to get
as many Congressman as possible for
that party. The bill providing for the
redistricting will be one of the most
important measures, from a political
viewpoint, to come before the new
Legislature 1t will be short bill,
merely denominating the counties or
portion of counties which shall COM
prise each district.
The reapportionment will be on the
1910 population basis, the ratio being
about 212,000, to each Congressman as
fixed by Congress. OF course, it will
not be possible to create the new dis
tricts so that each will contain ex-
actly the 212,000 population, but the
lines will be arranged so as to APP
! proximate as near as possible to these
| figures. The two new districts will
be created in the more populous north
eastern section of the state. 1t is un-
derstood that one change proposed is
| detaching Bergen county from the
Sixth district and forming three dis
tricts from Bergen and Hudson coun-
ties. Hudson now has two districts,
the Ninth and Tenth, both Democratic.
The Republican leaders believe that
the lines of these three districts can
be arranged to give at least one Re
publican Congressman, If not two.
There is some talk that a new dis
trict will be formed of Passaic, Sus-
sex and Warren counties. The 5000
Republican plurality of Passaic would
easily overcome the combined Demo-
cratic plurality of 1900 in Sussex and
Warren, and give Republican Con-
gresham here. 1T is thought likely
that the other new districts will be
formed by rearranging the lines in
Essex, Morris and Union counties Es-
sex now has two districts, the Seventh
and Eighth, and Morris, Union and
Warren comprise the Fifth district.
If this plan were adopted four dis
tricts would be formed from the three
counties, and the Republicans figure
that the lines could be arranged to
men.
The First, Second and Fourth dis
tricts as at present arranged are safe
ly Republican, and meet the new ratio
of population so closely that it is
doubtful if any changes are made in
them. The Third district, while its
population is sufficiently close to the
new ratio, is not safely Republican,
and an effort may be made to rear
range the lines so as to throw more
Republican votes into this district in
an effort to insure Republican Con-
gresham If the districts be ar
ranged as here outlined, the Republi-
cans figure that they would have eight
Congressman and the Democrats four,
giving the latter party the benefit of
the Third district If this district
can be changed so as to make it Re-
publican, the New Jersey delegation
will stand nine Republicans to three
Democrats
Will United States Senator James
Smith, Jr., be able to retain through
the Legislative session the advantage
which he secured last week in Hud-
son county in the election of Assem-
blyman Thomas F. Martin, as minor
ity leader in the Assembly? This is
the question which just now is the
subject of lively discussion in state
political circles. Martin, Smith
man, was made leader over Charles
NJ. Egan, an enthusiastic Wilson sup
porter. The vote was seven to five,
though before the caucus of the Hud-
son delegation broke up it was made
unanimous. There is some question,
however, as to whether this unanimity
will be maintained after the Legis-
lature opens. The Hudson delega-
ton, with its twelve members, CON
stitute majority of % Democrats in
the House, and if they shall stand
together the position of Mr.. Martin
as minority leader is assured If, how
ever, the Wilon men should make
their influence felt sufficiently to
bring about break in the Hudson
delegation along the lines indicated
by the seven to five vote the Hudson
men would be unable to control the
situation, in which event the Egan
followers, by combining with the Will
son men from other counties, could
put the Smith hackers of Assembly
man Martin to flight. From politi-
cal standpoint the situation is an in
teresting one, and the outlook is that
it will lead to important complica-
tions before the session ends
*a##
Prohibition party leaders have
raised the question whether under the
Gefan election law their party viii be
entitled to participate in the primary
election May %, for the election of
delegates to their National Conven-
ton. Under the old primary election
act the Prohibitionists were barred
from participating in the primary
election, because they did not poll
enough votes to be, denominated a
political party within the meaning of
the act. The Geran act provides that
delegates and alternates to the Nat
ional Convention shall be chosen at
primary elections. The question is
whether this general provision includ-