The Penn's Grove record., 1917-01-26
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1917
State News
Continued from page y

next year, four per cent, and in 1919
and permanently thereafter, five per
cent. At present they pay two per
cent. This bill is going to meet with
determined opposition. Even some of
the Republican legislators are already
expressing themselves as against it.
They say it will drive some of the small
er utility corporations that are now un-
able even to pay dividends, to the wall.
= .
The joint meeting of the Legislature
for the election of a State Comptroller
will be held next Tuesday at noon.
There is no opposition to Republican
State Chairman Newton A. X. Bugbee,
of Trenton, and he will be chosen by
a party vote. The Democratic candi-
date will be Edward l. Edwards, of Jer-
sey City, the present Comptroller.
The bills drafted by the Home Rule
Commission appointed by Governor
Fielder under the McCran act of 1916
were introduced Monday evening. They
will be given a public hearing at the
State House on Monday, February 5,
at , o'clock p. m. On the same date the
highway bills will be given a public
hearing at IL a. m.
=
Two rival local option bills were in
troduced in the Senate on Monaay even
ing. Senator Wells, acting for Presi-
dent Gaunt, of Gloucester, introduced
the regular measure which has passed
the Senate two years in succession but
failed in the Assembly. 1t provides for
an election ON the question of permit
ing saloons upon filing with the county
judge a petition signed by so per cent
of the legal voters. The rival measure
was put in by Senator Mackay, of Ber-
gen county, Republican. 1t provides
that the 80 per cent petition shall be
submitted to the municipal authorities
instead of to the county judge; also that
the vote on the question be taken at the
general election instead of at a special
election, as provided in the Gaunt bill.
Senator Osorne, of Essex, introduced
a resolution calling for an investigation
of the alleged use of money illegally IN
the last campaign in Essex county, par
ticularly by the brewers. 1t was refer
red to the judiciary Committee.
The annual report of State Motor We
hicle Commissioner Dill was submitted
to the Legislature this week. 1t shows
total collections by his department last
year of 81 ,402, 066. an increase over
1915 of $33S,S59. During the year 215
persons were killed by automobiles in
this State, compared with PAL in 1915.
= . y
Supreme Court Clerk William c.. Geb-
hardt, of Hunterdon county, Democrat,
has sent a telegram to President Will
son for his peace address to the United
States Senate. He says he regards the
speech as the most courageous act of
the Presidents career. Here is the mes
sage: God bless you for your message
to the Senate. The whole Christian
world will praise and thank you.
President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson
sent to Governor Edge an invitation to
be a guest at a reception at the White
House on Tuesday of this week. Gov
ernor Edge was compelled to decline
with regrets, as he was already engaged
for the dinner to be rendered him On
Tuesday evening by the New Jersey Leg
lSldIlVe RESPOND C1uD.
The newspapers dinner to the Gov
ernor was at the Trenton House and
was attended by nearly 100 correspond
ents and men prominent in State affairs.
Governor Edge, being in the newspaper
publishing business as part owner of two
papers in Atlantic City, is a member of
the Club, and the dinner was rendered
to him as the first member to reach the
Governorship. Peter O'Toole, of New
ark, president of the Club, was toast
master. Governor Edge made a brief
speech which carried no statements IF
political Significance, as the function was
purely a social one. Among those
present were: State Treasurer William
T. Read, Democratic State Chairman
Edward E. Grosscup, and Hamilton f.
Kean, of Elizabeth, brother of the late
United States Senator John Kean, and
one of the Republican leaders of the
State.
Answering the attacks on the crowded
condition of the State Prison, officials Of
the Prison declare that there are now
42S vacant cells and the population is
lower than it has been in % years. This
IS due largely to the use of convlctS on
the State roads and at the Prison Farm
in South Jersey. There are 920 in
mates, including Is At times
there have been as high as 1900 in
mates, when it became necessary to put
two %convicts together in many of the
cells. Under Keeper Hughes, Wing No.
3, the most unsanitary of all the sec
tons, has been unused.
More satisfaction would have been
manifested with the Errors Court de-
cision in favor of Congressman Thomas
j. Scully, Democrat, in the Carson
Scully fight in the Third District, had
the vote not been so divided. The
Court voted Z to Z On the question of
whether the recount obtained by Rob-
ert Carson, the Republican candidate,
was legal, and as this was not a major
ltV the SuDrpmp Cont daciSion in favo,