Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-04-28
PRINTERS ATTACK
E JUDGES JURIES
Convention at Perth AmbOy of
State Organization Adopt
Resolutions of Protest.
SCORE CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION MEASURE
Eighteen Thousand Men Repre-
sented at Meeting-Action
Demanded by Delegates.

SihteA'iASN ~ - = $500
judge made juries and the consti-
futional convention bin suffered a
hard blow at Perth Amboy yesterday
when delegates to the convention of
tho New Jersey State Printers League
passed resolutions emphatically op.
zoosing these two changes.
The delegates present represented
upwards of $4,000 members of the
printing trades unions of the State,
and their action in loudly condemning
bhe much-discussed bills is evidence
shat organized labor is antagonistie
10 the proposed measures.
The printers were unanimous in
HEIR opposition to the two bills, and
she resolutions attacking them were
eseeived with great enthusiasm.
Perth Amboy welcomed the printers
fvitfi open arms. The public buildings
= ere decorated and there was a gen.
aral gala day appearance TO the city
~ large The convention is held
every three months.
Delegate Walker, of the Perth Am
hoy local acted as chairman of the
meeting. Mayor Garrison, of that
1own. welcomed the delegates and
gave them the freedom of the city
His remarks were greeted with APP
piause, as was the address of Sheriff
Bollschweiller, who spoke on the gen.
eral conditions In Middlesex county
The delegates who attended from
Newark were Henry J. Gottlob.
President Elmer Throssell. of the
league. and Robert A McHugh. They
were accompanied by Assemblyman
McCabe, President William II. Cara
.brant, of the Allied Printing Trades
Council; Vice President Charles
Schonart and Treasurer Theodore
Kinney, of Typographical Union.
Local No. 10S.
The resolutions passed were as
follows:
Whereas, An issue has been raised in
this State in regard TO the drawing of
Grand Juries, an issue that Is of vital
Interest to every wage Garner.
Whereas. That Issue is whether the
selection of a Grand Jury shall be taken
from an elected representative of the
people and given to q judge of the court,
Virtually placing the whole power IN the
prosecution of the citizen In the hands
of the judge and prosecutor who are ap-
pointive officers far removed from the
Whereas. It has been shown in many
rases in which the interests and welfare
of the wage-earner were concerned that
INC bias Of the Judge was in favor of
Asealth and class and unfavorable to the
hyorkingman.
Whereas, The Grand Jury was insti-
hnted by our forbears as protection for
khe people against the arrogance and
tyranny of judges and statute to re-
tfore to the, judiciary such dangerous
power would be reactiOnary and wholly
hut of harmony with American principles
and the spirit OF the age.
Resolved, That while we strongly favor
bhe placing of every safeguard about the
brand Jury to protect 1t from political,
l.orporation or class influence, we en-
hhatically condemn the attempt to thrust
kipon the people of New Jersey Grand
Dpry system under the control of indgea
Resolved, That the most serious evil
eonnected with the Grand Jury system
has been the influence OF corporate wealth
ing TO secure a strangle-hold on the
Grand Jury to use 1t as n protection for
btself and a weapon against labor inter
eAts
Resolved, That the proposal for a
kjudge-made jury assails fundamental
Fight of the people. If they are to sur
BENDER that right 1t must be in a refer
kndum in which the people shall give
sonsent For the Legislature, without
fny warrant from the people, to pass. a
1aw taking away that right would be
Abe grossest outrage ever perpetrated by
EasLegislature In New Jersey, 1t would be
" betrayal of personal liberty. 49,.
HRSOlNeu, InHt we upplnuu the EesDiule
stand taken by the Assembly majority
for jury reform without sacrifice of popu.
lar rights, and for referendum, and
we demand that the Legislature at the
extra session shall pass the bill favored
by the Assembly majority.
The resolution on the constitutional
convention bill reads as follows:
Whereas, New Jersey in her legislative
system violates the first principle of
popular government by giving to a
faff
fourth of the voters of the State the
me- iority control of the Senate. aud with
II control of all lawmaking aud the ap-
pointment Of all state officers;
Whereas, This unrepresentatiye system
has created and is maintained by small
counties that are mostly controlled by
ests so that the Senate has always been
and now Is citadel for these interests
and the enemy of labor interests:
Whereas, Under this system govern
ment by majority is impossible in New
Jersey, and the evil grows worse every
year as population increases. No matter
How great the labor vote in Essex Hud-
son. Passaic and Union counties may be
come, and how small the total vote IN
counties like Cape May, Ocean and
Salem may dwindle, the labor vote can
have no effect upon State legislation. 1t
may reach millions. and II will always
have Il minority voice in the Senate and
ian never pass law against the oppo-
Sltion of an Insignificant vote in the
emall borough counties;
Whereas, The Legislature this year was
elected on the promise TO pass bin
nor popular convention to revise the
State Constitution, now nearly seventy
gears old. The Assembly attempted to
hnlfl this promise by passing a bin, but
khe Senate, with the votes of six per-
Eidious Democratic Senators, defeated the
bill, demanding that If convention
should be called IL should be under the
absolute control of less than one-fourtl
the States voters, inhabiting the small
borough counties. which would make the
large corporate interests the controlling
bower in the convention;
BE 1t Resolved, That we call upon the
sbor organizations and wage-earners
generally throughout the State to make
she voice OF labor heard at Trenton at
rhe extra session. to compel the unfaith-
kul Senators to vote for a popular con-
rention representative of the whole
people and controlled by majority
Resolved. That the wage-earner in the
email borough counties, while getting nc
advantage from an oligarehieal system
of government. is as much injured by
81 as all others in the State, and he is
made the instrument of crafty politicians
and officeholders who owe private al
legiance to the special interests
Resolved, That we demand of the SEN
are the passage of the Assembly bin
providing for a popular convention with
delegates elected on the basis of the
Assembly representation.
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