CAROLINE B. ALEXANDER
Hoboken, N. J.
In attempting a review of the social legislation passed in New Jersey
during the administration of Woodrow Wilson, it is difficult to
disentangle his share in its accomplishment. It is also difficult to
distinguish between purely political measures and those which would be
of special interest to social workers.
Measures for better primaries and corrupt practices acts had been
introduced several times while he was still president of Princeton
University. The Employers’ Liability Act was recommended by a commission
named by his predecessor, Governor Fort. The Consumer’s League and
Federation of Women’s Clubs had been working for a long time to improve
laws relating to the hours and condition of women and children in
industry. At the same time, no one who has been in touch with the
marvelous change which has brought New Jersey to the first rank of
progressive states can fail to realize that in practically one session
of the Legislature the astounding insight, force and influence of one
man achieved what might otherwise have taken years to accomplish. It
must be remembered that almost all the important Wilson legislation was
passed by the Legislature of 1911, when the House was Democratic. The
Senate, although Republican, was brought into line by the governor. The
session of 1912, when both Houses were Republican, produced little
important legislation, and the Legislature of this year up to the time
when President Wilson resigned to assume his duties at Washington passed
but one important measure—that regulating the trusts incorporated in New
Jersey. The jury reform bill is still under discussion and will be the
subject of a special session of the Legislature in May.
I shall attempt to give a list of the laws primarily relating to social
legislation, but the great reforms which will always be associated with
Wilson’s name, although specifically political in their nature, must
have a vast influence on the whole structure of the state. If our
politics become cleaner, inefficiency and graft must gradually disappear
and the citizens will grow to feel that they can trust their
representatives with larger and larger sums to be used for the relief
and care of the wards of the state.
Among these laws perhaps the most important are the following:
Limitation of the working hours of women to sixty a week, the first
regulation of any kind for New Jersey women in industry; appropriation
for the first time for the Woman’s Reformatory which was urged in
Governor Wilson’s message to the legislature of 1911; standardization
of trained nursing; establishment under the State Board of Education
of special classes for children three years below the normal and also
special classes for blind children; provision for the punishment of
any person controlling a public place of amusement who permits the
admission of children under eighteen years without a parent or
guardian, and for any adult who encourages juvenile delinquency;
passage of an act requiring that no pawnbroker shall receive any
article from any person under the age of eighteen years; prohibition
of furnishing cigarettes or tobacco to minors; provision for parental
schools or house of detention for juvenile offenders; appointment of a
special county judge for juvenile and domestic relation cases;
enactment of an act placing New Jersey in the front rank in the
campaign against tuberculosis; prohibition of the use of common
drinking cups; establishment of free dental clinics; regulation of
moving picture shows; employment of prison labor on roads; enactment
of a comprehensive and scientific poor law; regulation of weights and
measures; passage of an indeterminate sentence act; abolition of
contract labor in all prisons and reformatories.
In addition to this legislation, it may be interesting to mention the
appointment of commissions on prison labor, employers’ liability, city
government, public expenditures, ameliorating the condition of the blind
and playgrounds in all cities and villages. Governor Wilson also made
several excellent appointments with entire disregard of politics,
particularly those of his commissioner of education and his commissioner
of charities and corrections. For the first position he brought Dr.
Calvin Kendall from Indiana, and for the second he named Joseph P.
Byers. Excellent appointments were also made to the boards of managers
of the various state institutions.
Governor Wilson with his wife and daughter made a tour of inspection of
all our state institutions, which in contrast to the usual perfunctory
governor’s visit, was most valuable in bringing him in touch with the
superintendents and with the various problems at the different
institutions.