Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-04-23
HENNESSY TELLS
OF HIS PET BILL
Bergen Senator Defends Home
Rule Measure That Has
Stirred Criticism.

| About 100 members OF the Men S
Club of the Forest Hill Presbyterian
| Church were present at the last
meeting of the year held last night
in the chapel. at Highland avenue
and Heller parkway, and heard Sen
! ator Charles O'Connor Hennessy, of
Bergen county, talk on Free New
Jersey Cities and Home Rule" Fol-
lowing Mr.. Hennessy's lecture, DIR.
| Lee Galloway, professor of COM
meree and industry at New York
University, spoke on Commodity
Price Regulation"
Gentle men," began Senator Hen
messy, cit is indeed an honor to be
here to talk to you tonight. The only
address ! have had time to prepare Is
one that the subject is worthy of.
I'm going to talk about home rule in
New Jersey municipalities. I have
no doubt many ofof you have read
about Senate bill No. 291, otherwise
known as the 'Hennessy commission
government act. Senate bill No. go
is bill designed to amend the So
called Walsh act, which was passed
in 1911, giving municipalities that
right to adopt commission form of
government. The amendments in
Senate 290 are merely to clarity GER
tain terms of the Walsh act. Senate
290 only amends two parts of the
Walsh act
1.-The theory of the Walsh act, as l
conceive it. is that there was to be
created in New Jersey a new class of
municipalities by the citizens. When
the citizens voted to adopt commits
sion government those cities fell into
a class by themselves. Every mu-
nicipality that adopted the commits
sion government idea became a city,
no matter what its work was before.
Section of the Walsh act pro-
vided for the powers granted in the
act The theory was that every NIL
nicpality which adopted the Walsh
act became free to make its own
municipal charter, subject to initia-
tive, referendum and recall. The the
DRY Of the Walsh act further is that
the people should govern. 1t pro-
vided for the selection by the citizens
of three or five men to do what they
could to promote the welfare or the
city subject to certain limitations
namely, the State constitution ana
the laws of the State departments.
In the Walsh act there Is embodied
the power for any city which adopts
it to make it's own ordinances and
also the power to remove any officials
when not found competent. Shortly
after the Walsh act went into erect
end was adopted by one OF New Jer-
sey's leading cities, 1t was brought
into the courts. One of the judges in
the Supreme Court, in an opinion,
said that when the city of Trenton
adopted the Walsh act 1t did not
change its charter.
"In my own city of RidgeWood there
was another case. The city wanted
to purchase an automobile fire APP
paratus. An ordinance was adopted
to issue bonds to raise the necessary
funds. One of the principal bonding
in the State, In fact the
one which controls nearly all munich
pal bonding business in this state
said You cannot issue bonds, you
are still village The commission
ers then went to Trenton about it.
81 had the honor of having been in
the conference with three Ridgewood
and Governor Wilson.
Governor Wilson said that inasmuch
as the citizens adopted the Walsh
act, which gave a village or town
the right to make it's own ordinances,
in his opinion the city had a right
to issue bonds. If / remember cor
rectly. Governor Wilson's words were
Either this act means what 1t says
that the citizens of a municipality
IAN govern themselves-or the Legis- |
lature of 1911 builded better than it |
knew.
Last year / introduced the home |
rule bill" At this point Senate Hen |
Messy read an extract from Wilson's |
message to the Senate during his |
term as governor, in which he COM |
mended the Walsh act.