Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-01-13
big ISSUES BEFORE 144TH
LEGISLATURE At OPENING
CONTINUED from page -

The most picturesque and interest
ing exercises characterized the organ
ization Of the House OF Assembly,
where the entire membership OF sixty
I took the oath Of office, pledgfng ale
! glance to the constitution of the
United States and of New Jersey. In
! ~cidentally, Assemblyman Henry G.
Hershffeld, of Passaic. who served in
! the sessions of 1917, 1918 and 1919,
took UP his duties as Republican. lead
er and as hat party holds the major
ity he presented all the resolutions
Of organization today, formally set
ting in motion the machinery OF the
House. Opposed to him on the Dem
ocratic side of the chamber will be
Assemblyman Hugh C. Barrett. of Es-
sex, who held the same position in
the last Legislature. A year ago the
honor was thrust upon Mr.. Barrett,
who was then an entirely new and I'M
tried member. Today he took up the
minority leadership as an experienced
of a year ago.
Eight state senators were sworn IN
in the upper branch of the lawmak-
ing body today. They were: White.
Atlantic; Reeves, Cumberland; Mac
kay, Bergen; White. Burlington; Ste
vens. Monmouth; Hagaman. Ocean,
Republicans; Heath. Mercer and
simpson, r1uusoli, DeIioSio@' ~
are new men in the Senate except
Mackay, of Bergen. who has just
been reelected and "Blanch" White,
of Burlington, who is a political
comeback" after five years absence
from thai body. Senator White met
several defeats in his attempts to be
reelected, but finally won out last
fall. Senator Mackay was reelected
In Bergen by the overwhelming plu-
rality of 1000.
Although some of the senators are
now in the Upper House they are not
new to the Legislature or public life
of the State. Alexander Simpson
took his seat today from Hudson
county and will be conspicuous in the
new Democratic administration as
one of its Spokesman. Simpson was
&c rmerly Democratic House leader in
1918. Senator Hagaman, of Ocean,
and Reeves. Of Cumberland, are
promotions from the last House OF
Assembly. White, of Atlantic, was a
member of the Atlantic City Board OF
Commissioners, and Stevens, of Mon
mouth, was city counsel Tor Long
Branch. Heath, the new Democratic
senator from Mercer, made his debut
today in the affairs of State. lie is
the first Democrat from Mercer in
t~hirty-f1ve years.
Senator Allen. Of Salem, became the
Republican Senate leader today n
Senator tom" Brown, of Middle
sex. the Democratic spokesman,
Mackay will likely be assistant whip
for Allen and Simpson will undoubt-
edly back up Brown, who last year
showed his fighting qualities on the
floor.
AS the lawmakers convened today
both the membership of the two
Houses and the spectators waited e%-
pectantly for the first partisan CLASH
which was anticipated If the Repub-
| lican majority attempted to carry out
it's program to jam through the bl.ls
taking from Governor-elect Edwards.
who is inaugurated q week from to-
day, the right to remove members OF
| State boards without first giving them
a hearing. The boards to be pro-
tected by the plans of the majority
are the Highway Commission, Bridge
| of Institutions and Agencies. All
three were created under the Edge
| administration and the laws passed
would have permitted the Repitoll-
| can Governor to summar1iy remove
| any member or members without
hearing. The Democrats IN eacn
House were expected to contend To-
day, when this matter was reached,
| hat IL such authority was good Tor a
| Republican Governor to WELD. why
| shouldn't 1t be retained under a
| Democratic administration
Acting Governor Runyon's mes
sage, both the annual n pudget
communications, were received IN the
Senate and Assembly this afternoon
| after each body had organized ana
| notified the executive OF that TACT
| With the communicating OF his two
messages, Mr.. Runyon practlcaily
| ceased to function as the ncumben
of he Governors chair. Under the
ruling Of the Attorney General, Sen
ate President Case Is the Acting GOV
ernor of the State for the present
week and until next Tuesday, when
| Mr.. Edwards is sworn in. Mr.. Kun
yon will be a member of the Legisla-
| ture to which he spoke today. as tbs
| occupant Of the executive chair. haV
| ing a year to serve as the senator
from Union county. In this respect
his position is unique In state gov
ternmental history, at least Tor the
years within memory.
It was not expected that the Dem
ocrats would present any of the Ed
wards administration bills today. bul
would wait until next week and aftel
the Democratic administration has
been officially launched before start
ing the fight when h new GoVernol
Is expected to make to carry U hi