Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-10-20


He nominated Alton b. Parker for
President at the convention in 1904.
members except the few members
belonging to the New Idea faction.
When Governor Wilson came into
power he set himself actively in good
faith to secure a radical reform OF the
primary and election laws, in accord
ance with the principles advocated
for so many years by the New Idea
faction of the Republican parry. he
Immediately encountered the biparti-
san alliance of machine Republicans
and machine Democrats, which always
appears whenever anybody makes
real fight for a real reform. The rs
sex machine Democrats Joined with
the Republican leaders of the State,
including, according to my tnforma-
ton, yourself, in the effort to beat
Governor Wilson's bills. The whole
fate of his administration and OF the
several reforms to which he was COM
mitted turned upon the question OF
his ability to put through the primary
and election law. By common con-
sent this bill was recognized as the
test of strength between him and the
allied Republican and Democratic
machines. l personally drew the
original draft of the so-called Geran
act. This was later changed and i'm
proved in many details by Governor
Wilson and his advisers in the Senate
and the House. When the bill as per-
fected was finally put before the
House, the Democratic and Repub-
lican machine leaders saw that 1t
meant the destruction of machine
power over nominations, and they
openly united to defeat the bill.
Not a Republican of prominence in
the State of New Jersey outside of
the New Idea faction appeared in
Trenton to help in the passage of this
bill. Thomas McCran was the leader
of the Republican minority on the
floor of the house and he fought the
bill by every parliamentary device of
which he was master, and with all of
his remarkable ability. 1 personally
was present in every session of the
Legislature upon which this matter
was discussed, and can speak with
authority. / listened to Mr.. McCran'S
repeated arguments to defeat this bill.
In the effort to put it through Gov
ernor Wilson had IL made a caucus
measure, and the Essex Democratic
assemblymen bolted the party caucus
and joined with Mr. McCran and the
Republican members in the attempt
to defeat the bill upon the, floor of the
House. Governor Wilson was able to
muster only twenty-nine Democratic
votes, and it needed thirty-one to
pass. l then personally used my in
fiuence to get the two Republican
votes necessary to pass this bill. 1
urged Assemblyman Layden,of Pater-
son, and Assemblyman Jackson, of
pacGain IN fr,- ha
agreed to do so. With their votes
pledged Governor Wilson had thirty
one votes, enough to pass the bill,
and the final vote was twenty-nine
Democrats and Assemblymen Jack
son and Layden and one other Re-
publican, whose name escapes me at
the moment. in favor of the bill, and
all the remainder of the Republicans,
together with the Essex Democratic
members. voted against the bill
What became OF these Republican
assemblymen. Layden and Jackson,
after voting for this bill? They were
denied denomination by the party
leaders and driven out of public life,
and Mr.. Layden is today a supporter
of Senator Colby for Governor. Nc
Gran, who did all he could to defeat
the bill, was renominated by the ma
You seek to make capital for
the Republican party by saying that
the bill as thus passed was an i'm
perfect and unavoidable measure, and
that the Republican party in control
of the Senate put this bill into shape
and passed it and is entitled to the
credit for it. This is a monstrous
perversion of the facts. 1t is true that
numerous changes and improvements
were made in the bill while it was
pending by Governor Wilson and his
and at the time of it's pas
sage in the House the bill had many
verbal and technical inaccuracies, but
all these were mere matters of detail,
and Mr.. McCran and the Democratic
who joined him in OPP
position to the bill declined to CO.
operate in the correction of these
and merely used them as
a pretext for defeating the bill.
Each of these defects was merely
technical, and If Mr.. McCran and the
Democratic machine members had
honestly wished TO cure these defects
they had only to say so, and every
one of them would have been changed
in the House, as they were later in
the Senate, When the bill reached the
Senate the Republican machine
AoVh tlltIc " Dtdl lIle Dill WIN
the Democratic machine help, as they
had done in the House Two Re
publican senators, however, refused
to be party to defeat this bill, Sena-
tors Bradley and Frelinghuysen.
These two men, with Senator Field
er, were the committee in charge of
the bill in the Senate, and | person
ally, at the request of this commit
tee, labored with the committee for
several days and nights in the re-
moVal of the Inaccuracies and mis-
takes which were in the bill as 1t
passed the House. None of these cor
rections changed the essential fea-
lures of the bill in any material re-
spect. The Republican State leaders,
faced with the detection of Senators
Bradley and Frelinghuysen, and the
certainty of campaign in the fall
led by Governor Wilson and the New
Idea Republicans, finally surrendered
and reluctantly allowed the bill to
pass.
The important thing to remember
which you carefully failed to men
ton. is that Senator Bradley, because
of his action in supporting Governor
Wilson in the passage of this bill
was Immediately declared a political
outlaw by David Baird and refused a
denomination to the Senate. Senator
N a ~ r H. IL.