QrESTIOXS OF POLICY 



The discnssion, while it lasted, was entertaining. It was 

 also instructive, in reflecting, as it did^ the practical aims 

 and ideals of many otherwise good citizens in dealing with 

 questions of party control, and in showing how serrices, pro- 

 vided for at the taxpayers^ expense, are, in party parlance, 

 really looked upon as "the spoils of oflBce.'' 



The Xewark Xews of May 29, 1895, gave an amusing ac- 

 count of this episode, quoting from some of the aggrieved 

 publicists who thns had opportnnity to vent their 

 grievances. 



^HYhy shouldn't the county pay the legitimate expenses 

 of the man who goes to Trenton in its interests ?^ was the 

 way one of the party statesmen expressed his sentiments. 

 This observation might, by the cynically inclined, be deemed 

 of much significance, in view of the appearance, a few 

 months later, of Mr. Munn before the Assembly Municipal 

 Corporations Committee in favoring the "Eoll trolley bills. 

 Then, with much earnestness, he contended that the control 

 of all such county roads as Bloomfield avenue "rightfully 

 belonged" to the freeholders, "the only logical body to con- 

 trol county roads" — a board then, as since, well under "trol- 

 ley" influences. "When objection was made to the "'undue 

 interest displayed by the Board of Freeholders in reference 

 to the passage of those bills," Charles D, Thompson asked 

 if ^Ir. Munn "represented the freeholders or the Park Com- 

 mission, or appe^ired as the counsel of East Orange in this 

 matter." Mr. Munn replied: "I do not; I represent my- 

 self;" but added that '^Tie knew several freeholders who 

 were in favor of the bills." As these measures sought to 

 deprive municipalities and property owners of all control 

 or voice in granting trolley road franchises, and vested that 

 right exclusively in the Board of Freeholders — then, as 

 afterward, to all appearances, under corporate and party 

 boss dictation — ^the counsel's efforts to secure their passage 

 was, indeed, significant. 



POLICY IX SELECTIXG PAEKS. 



In public matters, as in other affairs of life^, there are 



