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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Upon the strength of this victory, Wilson was able to push through his
bewildered legislature bills for direct primaries, regulation of public utilities, employers' liability, and other reforms, which were in part inspired
and supported by some of the New Idea Republicans, notably George L.
Record. Thus Wilson sought to justify his belief in the mission of New
Jersey as a "mediating" State, destined to inspire and lead her neighbors
into better ways. His courageous and successful fight for reform made him
President in 1912, in spite of the bitter opposition of the very men who
had deliberately started him on the road to that office.
Wilson held his post in Trenton until March 1, 1913, completing his
program by passage of the "Seven Sisters" acts. With these laws he hoped
to restrain monopolies and to impose penalties against individual officers
of offending corporations. Other States promptly invited the business
which New Jersey turned away; while New Jersey "mediated," they would
take the cash. With Wilson safely in Washington, the "Seven Sisters" acts
were gradually repealed until by 1920 there was hardly a vestige left, but
New Jersey never recaptured her former pre-eminence as the favorite home
for new corporations.
Ironically, at the time when the State was first perceiving the danger of
corporation control, there arose a new industrial power. In 1903 the Public Service Corporation was formed and started on its way toward virtual
control of gas and electric power, trolley and bus transportation.
Under Governor Fielder the reform movement continued at a slower
pace until it was interrupted by the World War. New Jersey's geography
and its industrial resources gave it a strategic part in the conflict. Camp
Dix at Wrightstown was an important training center, and Camp Merritt
(near Dumont) and Hoboken became known to a majority of the men
who went overseas as their last points of contact with the homeland. New
Jersey shipyards were unceasingly busy and New Jersey factories supplied
a large proportion of the Nation's chemicals and munitions. Governor
Walter E. Edge declared, however, that the outstanding features of his
wartime term were "the inauguration of the State highway system, the
Delaware River Bridge, and the Hudson River Tunnels," and the establishment of the State department of institutions and agencies.
The State's post-war improvement of transportation facilities attests
Edge's perspicacity. When the automobile required another modernization
of the New York-Philadelphia highways, New Jersey responded with a
splendid and expensive highway system, a proud bid for the praise of millions of travelers who annually cross its borders. Another post-war development was a widespread popular campaign against the utilities, featured
by attacks on the gas and electric rates and a spreading though scattered
demand for public ownership.
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