Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-04-19
ASSEMBLYMEN- :
WOODEN IMAGES
That is Some of Them, Says
Sen. Perry Who Learned
Much at State House.

IBy The Associated Fiese
TRENTON, April Ex-senator
william III. Parry, Independent Re-
publican from Essex county. in q
statement today, based upon the ex-
periences Of his first year in the
state senate, declared that some OF
the assemblymen, who have an IDEA
that they are of great value to the
state are of about as much use as
so many wooden Indians" Contin.
ing, Senator Parry defined the legis-
lature as IAN elastic body, winch Is
surrounded by a bunch OF profes-
sional lobbyists, who know exactly
what they want"
Senator Parry's statement in uli
follows:
ION the opening day of the sea-
son, a senator who is noted for ms
independence prophecied that Z
would be sadly disillusioned as a re-
suit of my experiences in the legisia,
ture. His warning was timely anu
helped to prepare me for what a
was soon to discover. To define tn0
you might we'll call it an elastic Dooy:
which is surrounded by a bunch OK
professional lobbyists, who know ex-
actly what they want.
Every time you walked through
the corridors of the State House.
the pension hunters and seekers al
ter salary raises swarmed around
you like mosquitoes in a walk
through a South Jersey swamp.
There is a group of legislators,
whose long suit is the thought that
the public are forgetful, but the
special interests have less memories.
The moral of this group is: Spend
your time looking after the special
interests
II have often heard judges in
court, in constituting statutes, refer
to the intention OF the legislature.
Tie House of Assembly passed laws
galore which few had apparently
read and less understood. The only
intention which many of the legisla-
tors have in voting for many bills
is to get the votes of the sponsors for
some bills of'their own
The Senate had some bright cap.
able lawyers like Simpson. Runyon,
Case and Brown who were able to
give a bill a careful dissection. Some
OF the assemblymen. who have an
idea that they are of great value to
the state are of about as much use
as so many wooden Indians.
1.-The more I have seen of party
government as it works OUT in the
New Jersey legislature. the less l
think of it. Most of the so-called
party leaders, who dominated cer-
tain members of the legislature, are
in politics for their private gain ard
not for the public good. While at
times, the party rule was invoked to
carry out platform pledges, there
were other times when it was re-
sorted to because the measures weres
so odoriferous that some of the moreS
pdnnnn1nn p1or,,hora hopan m sniff
BY making them party measures.
these members were enabled to hold
their noses while they voted for the
Objectionable measures.
THE State House was filled with
people looking for legislation which
would favor this group or that
group. this special interest or that.
1 failed to discover anyone around
who was lobbying for the public.
when I asked for a square deal
for the public in the trolley valua-
ton fight I was called a radical;
when I asked that New Jersey fol-
low the lead of other progressive
states and adopt a permissive city
clause, / was styled an idealist; when
+ demanded that New Jersey release
the grip of the patented paving ring
and adopt an open specification law,
| was classed as impossible.
while l stood alone on some
matters, l was not lonesome. I en-
| joyed the experience immensely. I
| made the errors of the un~initiated.
For one thing. I attempted to spon-
sor too many measures. 1 realize
now that you can accomplish more
by concentrating your efforts on a
few important matters. I have
found there is one weapon that the
bosses fear and that is 'pitiless pub
licity.'
1.-THE leaven of independence is
working in New Jersey. The days
of some of the old time bosses, with
their corrupt methods, are number
cd. New Jersey has always been a
conservative state. It's transitions
are made gradually. But with the
advent IF the woman vote and dying
out of the liquor question as a polf-
teal issue, I look for the gradual
e~levating of the tone of politics ir'
this state" Z