Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-03-13
GODFREY BILLS
R|DDLED At TRADE
BOARD SESSION
Lehigh Valley Canal Abandon
ment Scheme Called Rob-
berry of the People.
HOUSE SPEAKER AND
MARTIN IN VERBAL TILT
Result of Newark Meeting a
Smashing BI,w to Plans
of Corporation.

The fight to defeat Speaker God
frey's Morris canal abandonment
bills will be resumed in the House on
Monday, according to a statement
made last night by Minority Leader
Thomas F. Martin, of Hudson. speak
ing at a special meeting of the New
ark Board Of Trade. The meeting
was called for the purpose Of dis
cussing the question with a view to
having Mr.. Godfrey amend his bills in
a manner satisfactory to Jersey City.
His offer was rejected and Mr.. Mar
tin concluded by declaring If Mr.
Godfrey offered to give Jersey City
everything it wanted he wouldn' t
vote for the measures.
Speaker Godfrey was present. He
said he stood ready to amend his
canal abandonment bills so as to give
Jersey City the same rights as New
ark-that of preferential right to pur-
chase the canal strip running through
that city.
The whole proposition was de-
nounced by former United States
Senator James Smith, jr., who char
acterized the scheme of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad Company as a rob-
berry of the peoples rights.
| The meeting was one of the livelest
ever held by the Board of Trade.
About 15o members were present, and
the session did not adjourn until
after midnight. The members re-
fused to indorse the canal bills.
The meeting was presided over by
President A. v. Hamburg. In the
audience were a number of the Essex
county legislators. as well as officials
of Jersey Citv and the JERSEY City
Chamber of Commerce, the Paterson
| Board of Trade and other such or
ganizations which have taken a lively
interest In the disposition of the
canal.
Governor Fielder Not Present.
Governor Fielder, who had been in
vited to attend the conference gent
a letter exp aiming that he could not
| be present, because of a previous en-
gagement. In his letter, Governor
| Fielder commented on the canal
abandonment scheme as follows:
THE matter should be h1ndied from
the viewpoint of the State. because
/ the State owns an interest in the ca
nal properties, and not the localities
through which the canal passes. If
j the canal Is to be abandoned. 1t should
/ be first determined what terms are
fair to the State. and the interest of
Newark and other places should next
j be considered. do not believe the
! problem can be properly solved If 1t
is complicated by plans for the ex :
| penditure of the money the State may
receive on abandonment. This leads
| to 'wire-pulling' and sectional feeling
| and tends to confuse the main issue
i A straight abandonment bill Is what
we want. so that all we need deter
mine is whether the terms for div's-
ion Of the properties are fair to the
| State and to the railroad"
sticlxel Makes Compositions.
1t was some time after the meeting
was called to order that the discussion
| on the Godfrey bills was opened up.
The meeting waited for Surrogate
Fred G. Stickel. jr., who was address,
| ing a meeting In another section of
the city. 1t was after o'clock be-
! fore he arrived. His address consist
project. He dealt with the matter
from a historical standpoint and from
that went into a comparison of the
Godfrey, Martin and Ostrom bills
pending In the legislature, together
with comment on Governor Fielder's
special message on the subject. As a
final conclusion, Mr.. Stickel approvnd
the Godfrey bills as they now stand.
Then Mr.. Martin and Mr. Godfrey
were called upon. Each objected to
speaking at that time, saying they
would prefer to wait until they heard
the sentiment Of the members on the
question.
Former o. 9. Senator Smith Scores Bills.
Former United States Senator
Smith. after listening to the discus
sion, arose to denounce the canal
abandonment scheme. He said:
ut surprises me to hear you talk
about Morris canal abandonment.
How ridiculous. How can you
abandon anything that has not exist
ed in twenty years. My purpose Is to
ask you to not lndorse any of these
bills l am going to appeal to you
to treat the question as a business
one and act upon 1t from that stand
point.
when was a boy I saw the tow
paths lined with mules hauling boats
aden with not only coal, but with all
manner of farm products. They went
back and forth between the farming
districts from the breaking up of the
Ice in the spring until the closing of
navigation in the winter. When the
canal company received It's charter II
was freed from taxation in order to
make the stock of value and for fifty
years has not been taxed Every
ton of coal brought down on the
canal to Newark and Jersey City was
delivered at difference of rs cents
less than that by rail.
wien the Lehigh Valley Railroad
bought the canal they did 1t for lust
what they have done, practically
abandoned the canal, stopped the
running of the boats and raised the
price of coal by creating a railroad
monopoly, and they forfeited their
charter when they ceased to conduct
the canal as waterway. 1t has cost
them $40, 900 to maintain it as 1t
is and it would cost them $40, 900, 900
to keep up that property before their
charter ran out.
Canal Belongs to People.
"Now you come along and want to
give them all of that under the pre-
text that 1t will stop an open stream
running through Newark. in order to
give a school house to some southern
county. and a basin to Jersey City.
and l suppose few automobiles or
gold watches to Sussex and Bergen.
and you ask the Board of Trade to,
sanction this.
"The Lehigh has made millions of
Continued ON Page 4, Column ~
Table tiassware sod at Retail.
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