I know that the people of New Jersey do not desire Mr. James Smith,
Jr., to be sent again to the Senate. If he should be, he will not go
as their representative. The only means I have of knowing whom they do
desire to represent them is the vote at the recent primaries, where
48,000 Democratic voters, a majority of the whole number who voted at
the primaries, declared their preference for Mr. Martine, of Union
County. For me that vote is conclusive. I think it should be for every
member of the Legislature.

Absolute good faith in dealing with the people, an unhesitating
fidelity to every principle avowed, is the highest law of political
morality under a constitutional government. The Democratic party has
been given a majority in the Legislature; the Democratic voters of the
state have expressed their preference under a law advocated and
supported by the opinion of their party, declared alike in platforms
and in enacted law. It is clearly the duty of every Democratic
legislator who would keep faith with the law of the state with the
avowed principles of his party to vote for Mr. Martine. It is my duty
to advocate his election--to urge it by every honourable means at my
command.

Immediately the work of organizing our forces for the fight was set in
motion. I had been designated by the Governor-elect to handle the fight in
Hudson County, the Davis stronghold. Meetings were arranged for at what
were considered the strategic points in the fight: Jersey City and Newark.
The announcement of the Governor-elect's acceptance of the challenge had
given a thrill to the whole state and immediately the reaction against the
Old Guard's attempt to discredit the primary choice was evident. The
bitterness in the ranks of the contesting factions began to express itself
in charges and counter-charges that were made. Speeches for and against