Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-03-06
Leaders Had Planned Busy
Week at Trenton.
BUT FEW REACHED CAPITAL
The Probe Into the Labor Department
Postponed Because of the Weather,
The House Has Passed Measure to
Exempt Clergy From Jury Duty.
fspeclal correspondence.l

I0DcCidl OIiCSpOidChNCF
Trenton, n. j.. March 4.-Plans for
a week of great accomplishments by
the legislature in getting numerous
bills out of the way went awry when
the heavy snowstorm of Sunday tied
up all the lines of traffic leading Into
Trenton. Sneaker Beekman of the
house of assembly managed to get to
the statehouse Monday morning and
announced that no effort would be
made to have a session that night
Senator Slocum was not able to reach
here from the shore.
The bill of leading Importance On
the calendar of the senate, which was
TO have been taken up Monday night,
was that to make a borough of Ocean
Grove. 1t was laid over last week at
the request of President Slocum and
his action at that time was interpreted
TO mean that he did not have enough
votes to get it through. He and Sena-
tors Munson and Egan were strong
advocates of the easur The Demo-
cats in fact have made an issue of
the borough bill for the past few years
in Monmouth county and have been
winning out on the platform. Some
believe that only caucus action win
enable the members of the majority
to get it through. The Rev. DR.. A. E.
Ballard, the head of the Ocean Grove
association. which holds a charter for
the grove. is said to have ten votes
against the bill. Republican Leader
Read has asserted that the G.. o.. P.
representatives will not be bound to
any specific action on the measure.
Even should it receive the necessary
eleven votes, the issue will be tied up,
as the Rev. DR.. Ballard has made ar
engagements to carry the case into the
courts. Former Supreme Court JUS
tice Gilbert Collins has been retained
by the association to make the fight
for them.
Franchise Bill.
AS it will affect all public utility
franchises hereafter granted in the
state, the in~determinate franchise bill
by Senator Pierce is another proposed
law of Importance that Is on third
reading In the senate. 1t provides that
every privilege hereafter granted by
any municipality to any other utility
than a steam railroad shall be an in.
d~eterminate permit only. 1t also car
ries the provision that the municipality
In which the greater part of the prop
erty Of the utility is located may pur-
chase the property. There are also
other stringent provisions.
Many hearings that will take some
time for the arguments of proponents
and opponents were also scheduled for
Monday, and these will be delayed
Assemblyman Barbour's bill that will
permit of a three cent fare on trolley
cars in w~orkingmen's rush hour morn
ing and evening was on the calendar
for debate. This will meet with the
united opposition Of the traction compa-
nies. Many of the corporations main
tain that the five cent fare is a necessity
for them to gain a reasonable profit
The majority of the Legislators take
the stand that the Public Utility corpo-
ration is the proper body to determine
the Justice of any changes in rates.
They are answering in this attitude
and vote against domination by the
legislature of lighting, traction and
other companies unless new statutes
are requested by the Public Utilities
corporation. It Is expected, therefore.
that the fare bill will not get through.
The traction companies will probably
win their fight also against the meas
ure which would require them to re-
turn to passengers their fare when the
line is blocked for more than five min
utes.
Postpone Labor Probe.
The probe into the labor department
by the economy and efficiency commits
sion was postponed because of the
weather. The questions that have
been asked SO far tended to show that
this branch of the state service is not
conducted in a systematic
Lewis T. Bryant. the head of the de-
partment, asserted to the assembly
legislators that his inspectors signed
an itemized account of each weeks ex-
penditures. and these were the only
means of ascertaining the expenses of
the men and the ground they covered.
Assemblyman Charles McDermott. one
of the probers, read a list of expendi-
lures by the inspectors of the state
tenement house commission and com
pared them with those of the labor de
partment. The labor department &C
count was the higher, but Commission
or Rrvant rpnIipd that tha work of HE
men vas the more technical. The sal
airy paid Miss Allen, employed in the
Office of Mr.. Bryant and designated as
an inspector, vas also discussed. AS
semblyman McDermott wanted to
know if her work was not purely -cler-
zeal. Commissioner Bryant replied that