Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-11-12
CONSTITUTION Of
STATE OUT OF DATE
Clinton Hill Impr0vers Hear of
Changes That Are
Planned.
REV. MR.. ROEDER OUTLINES
PLANS OF FEDERATION
Conditions Under Which Docu-
ment Was Drawn No
Longer Exist.

ent State constitution is faulty, in
asmuch as it is the outgrowth OF
conditions that no longer exist, the
Rev. Adolph Roeder, of Orange, last
night addressed the Clinton Hill I'M
provement Association on the changes
that will be advocated by the New
Jersey State Civic Federation, OF
which he is president. The proposed
changes will be discussed at a Goa
ference of the officers of the fedora
ton in Jersey City on December 2.
From the start of his talk DIR.
Roeder had the strict attention of
his 200 or more auditors, and he ont
lined to them in detail the history
of the movement for a new constitu-
ton which began to take definite
shape in 1907. He went over the
present constitution carefully and
sought to show just where it was
lacking and failed to provide for the
evils of the present day. He also
took up the report on the question
issued by the federation several years
ago, and dwelt on points brought out
by an able jurist, who, he said, had
much to do with the codifcation OF
the laws of New York.
Conditions Exist No Longer.
I'm this report" said DIR. Roeder,
"it is shown that a document drawn
in 1874 would naturally be the out
! growth of conditions, many of which
nc longer prevail, and would with
equal na%turalness fail to provide for
conditions since arisen which it was
absolutely impossible to foresee. The
date of the instrument lies entirely
within the boundaries of slavery,
since abolished, of the press gang,
since abolished; of public lotteries,
since abolished; in fact within the
boundaries of a. core of human hab-
its of government, since dropped.
"On the other hand it lies barely
on the edge of the railroad as a. fac
tor in commerce. Since then new
forms of life, of government, of lib
erty, of the pursuit of happiness,
have arisen. We are living in a
world new to all intents and purposes
and the Constitution, together with
other things, has been naturally out
grown. Other States have entered on
this work, several of them having ac-
complished it, and New Jersey should
now enter upon the work of a. re-
construction of its fundamental law.
To Revise Judicial System.
Things to be provided for, that will
naturally come to the surface and APP
pear in the grist. of constitutional
matter which the people will bring
to the hopper of this preliminary
conference" continued the speaker.
will comprehend movements born
since New jerseys Constitution was
written and even since it's newest
modification in 1875 and 1897.
Among them will be the revision of
have, as Ohio has, one trial and one
appeal, and not so much of the laws
delay. There will be recognition of
the new methods of government, the
initiation, the referendum, the recall:
of the ultimate hope of. the city.
home rule; of the element of leaving
sections of territory to levy their own
taxes in their own way, of woman's
suffrage and many other new features
of our present day life.
New attitudes of the State with
reference to finance, to the trust, to
income, inheritances, stocks and
bonds, the enterprises based upon the
savings of others and involving trust
funds of every description, and also
new attitudes of the State with refer
ence to it's administrative machinery.
In the days just dead we used to
create office after office for the pur-
pose of paying somebody a salary, be-
cause he needed the money But
since the death of that system we
have accepted that close organiza-
ton, the Capitalization of response
bility, the spotlight of publicity on