Evening star., 1947-06-20

nary investigation had not been
able to bring to light any evidence
to lay before a Federal grand jury.
And then, this month, newspaper
headlines carried the announcement
that Frank ('I am the laW") Hague
had resigned as Mayor of Jersey
City, where he has been dictator for
80 years, in order to devote more
time to the Democratic Party of New
Jersey. No flowers, please yet.
Certainly something needs to be
done for the Democratic Party in
New Jersey. But Frank Hague is
not the man to do it. There is still
a spark OF life left in the party and
Mr.. Hague Is more of an expert with
embalming fluid.
Here Are Political Facts.
The fact is that no Democratic
State candidate had been elected IN
New Jersey since 1887 except in
those years when Franklin D. Roose-
velt was running for President. And
when it got down to 1914, even the
political maestro himself had diff
Guilty in escaping the Hague blight.
In that year Mr.. Roosevelt won over
Gov. Dewey by a mere 26,539 (ac-
counted for by the absentee ballots
of servicemen) whereas, in 1910, he
had won by 61,62S. and in 1896 by
a humping 363,528. w.,
AS bearing on Mr.. Hague,s quail
tiles as a political leader, it should
be noted that no Democrat has been
elected Senator from New Jersey
since 1886, when William H. Smath-
eps was carried over the line by
Roosevelt Charles Edison was the
last Democratic Governor to win in
the State And Mr.. Edison repudi-
ated Mr.. Hague during the cam
paign. That was in 1910 when Mr..
Roosevelt was again a candidate
So it is clear that it was not Frank
Hague who kept carrying New Jersey
for Mr.. Roosevelt, but the reverse.
1t was more than likely that Mr..
Roosevelt got off to good start in
New Jersey initially, because Frank
Hague had so vigorously opposed his
nomination in 1882.
At this time, New Jersey is hav-
ing its second Republican Governor
since the incumbency of Gov. Edi-
son. Both Senators and IL out of
IA Representatives are Republicans.
The two Democratic Representa-
tives who survived the Republican
landslide last year are Mrs. Mary
Teresa Norton and Edward J. Hart.
Significantly, both are from Hudson
County, in which lies Jersey City,
dominated by the Hague machine.
1t should be said that Mrs. Norton
has served since 1894, and she has
done so with ability and distinction,
despite her strong adherence to the
Hague machine.
This Is No Secret.
Although elected as a Democrat,
Gov. Edison did not have to be told
that the mephitic odor that as
sailed his nostrils was borne on the
north wind blowing down over Jer-
sey City's Hague machine to the
State capitol in Trenton. 1t is not
a secret that President Roosevelt
had good deal to do with the selec-
ton of Mr. Edison as the Demo-
cratic candidate for Governor. Mr..
Edison had. been an outstanding
member of President Roosevelt's
cabinet, as Secretary of the Navy,
and 1t can hardly be doubted that
the President wanted the very an
tithesis of Frank Hague and all that
he stood for as the candidate for
Governor in order to overcome, so
far as possible, the handicap that
the Hague machine constituted.
In summing up on the Demo-
cratic situation in his State Gov.
Edison said in February of I943:
"We know that the Democratic
Party in New Jersey has virtually
lost its rating as separate party.
These are not my words: they are
the cold facts related by the record
of the past seven years" Gov. Edi-
son then went on to cite the cold
facts that sustained his Judgment.