Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-19
JERSEY REPUBLICANS
STAKE ALL ON BUGBEE
@. O. p. Leaders Declare He Is
Only Man That Has Chance
to Defeat Nugent
EDGES HAND Is ON HELM


With the state wide primaries for the
for President Wilson's home common
wealth little more than two months dis
win or lose this year with Newton A.
X. Bugbee, state comptroller, for years
chairman of the Republican state com =
mittee.
This is the firm conviction Of many
of the foremost party men in New
Jersey. in view of the sensational de-
velopments which few weeks have
evolved in the Democratic camp with
the appearance of that picturesque
figure. "Jim' Nugrnt. boss Of Essex
county. foe of Wilson policies, radical
as the outstanding seeker for the Demo
cratic nomination. and witt it the poll
teal domination of the state.
1t is the conviction of former Gov
ernor Edge. still the G.. O. L. field
marshal, dcsuitc his removal to Wash
ington and his assumption OF the scna
torial toga Senator Edge has not made
his pronouncCmcnt publicly as yet hut
he is prepared to do so if necessary to
save his party from what he believes
would be a monumental disaster.
That "Bugbce is the only man who
can win against Nugent." is the con
servativc conclusion also of Attorney
General Robert McCran, William +.
Read, of Camden. state treasurer
State Committeeman Hamilton K"nn,
Enoch l.. johnson. clerk of the Su-
preme Court, and OK Senator Emerson
Richards. of Atlantic. who comprise tn,
Edge cabinet. through which the new
junior senator will continue to hold the
balance of power unless Nugcnt anc
his "liberality" program upset thu
G. o. p. bandwagon.
Has No Organization
Governor RunyOn. ostcnsibly randi
date, cannot win the nomination, it /
believed. Despite the power he neCes
sarily wields as the accidental success
sor of Governor Edge in conscQucnc
of the series of incidents which mad
him president of the Senate last win
ter, he has been unable thus far t
surround himself with an organization
Outside of his home county of Union
his political following is nil. He ha
nothing, one of the best informed Re
publicans in the state said today, t
base winning campaign upon.
The candidacy of Warren c. King
president of the Manufacturers COun
ell of New Jersey is not regarded seri
ously, because he is political strange
to the state as whole. EX Mayo
Thomas Raymond, of Newark. is hell
TO be out of the fight because it i
now evident he could not carry hi
home county of Essex on a straightou
liberalty program, his strongest clair
to recognition. Had conditions bee
otherwise, without the prohibition is
sue to complicatc matters, Raymon
might have made an acceptable stand
ard bearer because he has a magnet
personality and is vcrsed in all tn
tricks of the political game. Ray
! mond's aspirations were frosted Sc
verely in the lower tier when the Re
publican insurgents under the Kuchnl
banner in Atlantic decided agains
making a fight for him in the Edg
stronghold.
Bugbee Trained for Office
One point in Bugbee's favor, whic
may be expected to count strongly wit
the thinking voters after the campaig
gets Strengthened out, is his famliarit
with the office he wants to fill for thrC
A.,
his finger upon every institution an
every branch of state activity, checkin
them closely because he pays every bi
that is presented against the common
wealth. He knows the run of ever
department around the State Houst
the county jobs out in the high brusl
the highways, the waterways, and h
probably could have taken over II
governorship at any time during tt
last thre years and given a good &C
count of himself.
There is not so much as sign of
fight thus far anywhere in the sOuther
tier of counties. Even in Burlington
a center of factional unrest for sever;
years, plans are being formulated I
establish a more or less permaneI
whose first name is Blanchard, in II
state Senate to succeed Senator liarol
Wells, whom Governor Edge made
county judge.
White and his followers gave Wei
battle last fall and they will have I
be reckoned with until the former
taken care of. The Edge regime di
pretty we'll by Burlington, considcriu
all its votes could be lost in one pre-
cinct of some of the populous mort
tier counties. Harry Knight is fxe
indefinitely in the Public Utility Com
mission and Wells is on the benc
Putting his political lieutenants on II
bench got to be almost a habit wit
Governor Edge and there is no tellir
what might have happened if he ha
not been removed from the plum tire