Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-02-05
Fate Of lssua Before LegisIa-
tuTe Is In Doubt.
SUFFRAGE WINS IN HOUSE
Senate Is Expected to Pass "votes For
Women Bill-Then 1t Will Be Ready
For Referendum Test Unless Ants
Delay It by Court Action-Fight Is
Brewing on Efficiency Measure.
Especial correspondenee.l

Trenton. N. j., Feb. 3.-Local option
had another inning before the legisla-
ture when the municipal corporations
committee of the senate and assembly
conducted a hearing on it. Both b ad-
vocates and the opponents of the meas
ure had an array of speakers, and
cheers echoed through the assembly
chamber when telling points We're adj
yanced. The fate of the measure is In
doubt. with the probabilities that 1t
cannot get even through the senate Its
%introducer. Senator Gaunt. has assert
ed that he has the eleven votes re
quired in the upper body, but he is not
giving the names of the supporters.
Other senators do not believe he will
have them when the balloting has
taken place. James *. Shields of New
ark, state superintendent of the Anti
Saloon league, declared at the hearing
that the measure was simply a major
ity rule proposition. 1t provides that
any city. town, borough or village
which decided to hold an election to
pass on the license question could set
tie the contest itself If so per cent of
the voters asked for an election. Cler-
gymen were out in numbers, and some
of them enthusiastically mentioned
that Evangelist Sunday would later
come to the state and drive the saloon
out of business. An odd feature of the
hearing was that a minister arrayed
himself against local option and a hotel
man supported it. The Rev. Edward A..
Mason of Newark, an ~Episcopalian,
surprised many Of the other church
men when he declared that Maine.
with sixty years of dryness as a rec
ord, was fOrty-sixth on the list of di-
yorces. Only two states have a higher
percentage. New Jersey. the liberal,
leads the nation in the purity of home
life as shown by divorce statistics, he
asserted. A. I. Bell, one of the proprie-
tors Of the Chalfonte hotel. Atlantic
City, sent a message in which he stated
that a licensed bar was not necessary
in a hotel. The misery and suffering
caused by liquor were pointed out on
one hand as a eason why local option
should prevail. and the operation of
speakeasies in dry territory was a
rebuttal argument for the continuance
of present conditions. Organized labor,
Henry Hilfers. secretary of the State
Federation of Labor. asserted. was OPP
posed to local option.
Unanimous For Suffrage.
Woman suffrage provided an occasion
for oratorical fireworks in the as
sembly, and then the measure designed
to extend the right of franchise was
passed unanimously. Similar action is
anticipated in the senate, and then the
proposition will be submitted to the
voters in the next election unless the
"antis" succeed in delaying the voting
by court action. They have threatened
to take this course on the ground that
the resolution is defective.
Great opposition to the economy and
efficiency bills has developed and fur
Their hearings on them are to be held
next week.
The house committee on miscellane-
Gus business will conduct a hearing
next Tuesday IN two measures in
troduced by Assemblyman johnson.
One takes from the justices of the
peace jurisdiction in cruelty to animal
cases. and the other provides for an
| equal division between the state and
the ASociety for the Prevention Of
Cruelty TO Animals of fines collected
under the act. Senator Ackerson would
make it unlawful for any person to
smoke in stables or places where hay.
straw and cornstalks are Kept. Boards
of freeholders would be deprived of
the naming of wardens of the county
Jail by the provisions of a bill by As
semblyman Oliphant and the right
would be given TO the sheriff.
Atlantic City will oe permitted to
expend $1,000 for the entertainment of
the civil war veterans attending the
national encampment of the organiza-
ton there next summer. Because of
the age of the former soldiers it is
planned to make this the final encamp-
ment. and the veterans are to be
royalty entertained.
Assemblyman Stevens has had adopt
ed in the house his resolution to pre-
rent the shooting of migratory birds.
anu u Dl mas Deen presented TOT the
appointment of a commission on the
erection of the John Woolman mem
Iorial bridge across the Delaware at
Burlington. The former commission
is suspended until Pennsylvania CO.
operates with it.
Memorial For Labor.
For the State Federation of Labor
Assemblyman Quinn has had present .
ed in the house a memorial Of the
wishes of the organized workers. It
declares that workmen get only 60 per
cent of compensation allowed under
the liability law and would like the
naming Of a paid commission to han
die the money going from the manu-
facturer to the worker. A compulsory
---l.--- - $500