The Monmouth inquirer., 1921-04-21

house. Both attempts were nipped,
however, and failed. The first came
on open specifications. The Passaic
delegation delayed action on the bill
half an hour while the Constitutional
ty of the bill was discussed with At
torney General McCran. Then they
came In with an amendment they said
had been prepared by him. 1t provid-
ed that nothing in the act should In
terfere with contracts now existing be-
tween contractors and counties.
Majority Leader Rowland knew that
the senate would not pass an open
specifications bill even though the
house did, but he insisted that it was
a Republican party platform pledge
and that the house should go on rec
ord one way or the other. He blocked
all attempts to delay the bill and de-
manded that the members ''unmask
and show where they stood" While
he was talking word came that the
senate had defeated the Glover open
specifications bill and would not con-
slider any other legislation this year.
Notwithstanding this news roll
call vote was taken. The Essex dele
cation voted solidly for open specitica-
tions. Originally five members of the
house voted in the negative, but when
they saw that the measure would go
over they changed to the affirmative.
The final vote was 45 to o.
missing" Bill Put Through
After considerable delay the house
finally got and voted favorably upon
senate 50, a bill giving the State Board
of Taxation the right to go into any
municipality and reassess property.
The bill had been held back in the
senate since early in the week. 1t
was charged that certain manufacture
ing interests were attempting to have
it die. This charge was strengthened
when Governor Edwards announced
that at the request of manufacturers
he would hold hearing on the bill
before acting upon it.
The bill passed the upper branch of
the legislature March 30 and then dis
appeared until Friday afternoon,
when it was sent to the assembly.
Word then leaked out that the bill had
been held by Secretary William H. AL
bright of the senate at the request OF
Republican State Chairman Stokes.
An attempt to amend the measure in
the house failed. 1t passed in that
body by an overwhelming vote. AS
soon as it was brought back to the
senate Mr.. Albright Immediately sent
it to the governor for his considera-
ton.
Assemblyman Lyons of Middlesex,
the same county as the sponsor of the
bill, tried to nullify its intent, Assem-
blyman Plerson charged, by offering
the amendment making it necessary
for the State Tax Board to notify in
dividually every property owner in
municipality when the board intended
to Pe-assesS. He obtained but four
votes. Assemblyman Evans of Pas
sale held up the bill, arguing that the
bill would mean that property owners
would have no right of appeal under
it. Mr.. Pierson explained that owners
could go to the courts for appeal.
The vote on the measure was 80 TO
II. Passaic, Mercer and a few South
Jersey representatives opposed its
passage.
Nelson Probe Move Checked
There were two other fights in the
hourse during the afternoon. Assem-
blyman Nelson of Hudson tried to
have passed a resolution directing the
Mackay probing commission to inves-
tigate housing conditions in Essex and
Hudson. The resolution was killed
when the house voted to refer it to the
Judiciary Committee. In his speech
favoring adoption of the resolution
Mr.. Nelson remarked:
"The commission was authorized to
Investigate things in the state that
would help the Republican PARTY.
Why not dig into housing conditions!"
For Wounded Soldiers Home
Assemblyman Coon of Essex came
in for knock when he opposed the
appropriation of $111,O00 for a home
lOI NOuHucQ SOlulCIo at 1liSh Oiits
Sussex county. He had objected on
the grounds that it was an unneces-
sary expense, as the government was
taking good care of wounded aud
manned soldiers. Assemblyman Corie
of Atlantic in an attack on Mr.. Coon
said
"The Essex assemblyman has been
most consistent in saving money for
the state and preaching economy. He
has voted down salary increasing bills
one after another. He didn't hesitate
one moment, though, in voting for
primary election that will cost the peo-
pie of Newark $4,000 this month";"
The bill passed easily, and after it
had half a dozen soldier members in
the house, who had opposed it at the
instance of the American Legion and
other organizations changed their
votes to the affirmative.