Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-07-19
GOVERNOR HAS
SHARP DEBATE
Clashes With Katzenbach at
M0nmOut Dinner.

the annual dinner Of the Monmouth
County Democratic Executive Com
mittee, at SCOTS, on Neptune
Heights, last night, when Frank S.
Katzenbach, of Trenton, and Govern
or Wilson spoke from opposite view
points on these issues.
Governor Wilson had lot arrived
at the hall when Mr.. KatZenbach
took up the cudgels for representa-
tive government as against general
direct legislation.
When the executive did come he
was met outside by his secretary, Jo-
seph p. Tumulty, and others, who in
formed him of the gist of Mr.. Kat
zenbach's speech. The governor soon
directed his u~tteranCes toward a de-
Tense of the initiative, referendum
and recall, and was unsparing in his
criticisms of some of it's opponents.
State Chairman James R. Nugent,
who sat at the guest table, and who
had been the first speaker of the ev-
ening, was an interested listener to
both speeches.
Mr.. K~atzenbach is very popular in
these parts. Whether it was due to
this fact or not, the divergent ex-
presiOns of opinion came as a Earring
note after a speech that was a plea
for harmony in Monmouth by DR..
Obadiah H. B~ogardus, who was
POSTMASTER.
There was a vastness to the silence
as the governor began to pay his re
spects to the opponents of the tnitia-
tive, referendum and recall. Before
he was through, however, he was
greeted with considerable applause
at times. But there was a notable
lack of unanimity in the audience as
to the virtues of the initiative, ref
erendum and recall.
Near the outset of his speech, Mr..
Katzenbach related how he watched
a vast electric sign at a prominent
corner in New York as it flashed now
and again a chariot race. He Hkened
some of the poIitical-idea of today
to this pictFa-gOne in a moment,
after : brief existence and arriving
1owhere.
- The Democratic party ought not
'r0\be a party Of stand-patters,' he
contfqued, /B1Ft- IT 0Hg3nt to make
sure that every new idea means more
to the people than the idea of the
electric sign. Have a policy that will
lead you somewhere, not only for the
good of the Democratic party, but
for the good of the country. In an
Gent Rome they had a race in which
the victor was not the Il who cross
ed the line first, but the II who
crossed the line first with his torch
lighted. l hope to see the Democra-
tic party cross the goal line with its
torch lighted"
Mr.. Katzenbach then briefly traced
the history of representative govern
ment. The government which we
have today" he continued, is a rep
~resentative government. We ought
not to cast lightly aside this system
of representative government. 1t
should not be struck down in a mo-
ment by the influences Of a single day
by those seeking to make direct leg
islation our system instead of repre-
sentative government"
Mr.. KatZenbach said that repre-
sentative government was never at
fault because of any defect in the
system, but because OF lack of care in
the exercise of it by the voters. He
referred to the fact hat the initia-
tive. referendum and recall had been
| engrafted on one of the laws passed
bv the last Legislature, the commits
sion government law.
He pointed out that fifteen per
cent. of the voters may thus initiate
legislation, and if the governing body
does not favorably pass upon the pro-
| posed act it is submitted to the peO-
pie. There is a primary, a sitting
process, an election" he said, 'and
if somebody gets through that you
don't want, you have the recall. So
| there Is a condition of constant tur-
MOL.
Il believe" he concluded, that
we do not want to cast aside repre-
sentative government for direct leg
islatfon. The theory of direct legis-
lation is that the mass of the people
are better qualified to pass on legis-
| Iation than duly elected representa-
tiyes; that the whole contains more
wisdom than those they especially Sc
lect to act for them"
Senator Osborne, of Essex, who
was wedged in between kitenbach
and Wilson, indirectly opposed the
doctrine preached by Katenbach.
Then the governor came on the scene.
/ After some general remarks the gov
ernor said in part:
This government, for the first
time in it's history. is yielding to the
conceptions of Thomas Jefferson.
You talk Of representative govern
ment in the spirit of those who resist
the peoples control of their own af-
fairs. ] tell you that something sig
lnifcant is going on in America. Gov
lernment is tested by this test-dOes
It respond to the real purposes of
the people? Is it showing adapta-
bilftv to present institutions and
present needs?
Nobody can predict who will
compose the Democratic party after
|l9l2. Nobody can predict who will
compose the Republican party after
|19I2. But all can see who will have
the names Democrats and Republi-
cans after that election.
you have heard much Of party
harmony. No artificial bonds Will
make harmony. No organization
seIf-sacrifcing devotion will do that.
Listen to no man who pleads for
party. Let him plead for country" -
Here was an ~utterance from the
governor that the audience did not
know how to take: "Whenla man
talks of the initiative and referen-
dunn as a means of tmpairing the gov
eminent of America be assured that
he does not know what he is talking
about; bs>@ced that he Is ignor-