time they are notified to hold themselves ready for selective service and the time of their actual mobilization at military cantonments, be permitted to assist farmers during the coming planting season. In making this suggestion to the Secretary of War I had in mind the possibility of utilizing the Federal-State Employment Service as a registration and distributing clearing house for such labor. Manifestly, the present is the time to improve and enlarge the service in order that our farm-labor organizations may be fully organized and prepared for any eventuality.

REGULATION OF PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES.

It has been urged by many that employment agencies be operated only by the State, Federal or Municipal authorities, and the operation of private agencies be entirely prohibited. There can be no doubt but that much occasion for this feeling has arisen out of the abuses practiced by some private agencies, not all of them. It would, however, seem to me that if the Federal-StateMunicipal Employment Service is the success that it now promises to be, private agencies should be very largely eliminated through the natural operation of competition.

At the present time private employment agencies are licensed by the municipalities, but because they are doing business outside of their own cities and in the interest of a uniform regulation, I believe that they should be licensed by and regulated under the supervision of the Department of Labor.

SYSTEMATIZING OF PENSION METHODS.

The system of pensioning public employees of various descriptions is really not a system at all; it is the chaotic outgrowth of a mass of laws, many of them framed without regard to the common interests of the State. For months a legislative commission has been investigating this condition. They will have an enlightening report, but I am informed cannot complete their labor at this time. It is an important question, and the State is

greatly involved.

It must not be set aside until a solution is reached, and in the budget I am recommending a sufficient appropriation to make a thorough financial enquiry. Later it should be seized upon as the guide for legislation aimed to standardize and coördinate pensions throughout the State by providing regulations of a uniform kind and by insisting on absolute solvency.

SOLDIERS' NEEDS-POLL TAX EXEMPTION-COMPENSATION

MORATORIUM.

War has made it of paramount importance that as a State we pay close attention to the needs and comforts of our fellowJerseymen called to the colors. I would mention specifically the need of laws exempting soldiers from paying poll tax, clarifying the intention of the last Legislature to authorize State Departments or municipalities to compensate employees called to the military service, enabling soldiers to exercise their constitutional right of voting when away from home with intelligence and without so much red tape, and perhaps an act in the nature of a moratorium for New Jersey soldiers and more especially safeguarding all of the civil rights and privileges of the soldier in order that none may be forfeited by reason of his being in the military service.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF HOME GUARD UNITS.

While discussing military matters I should direct your attention to the Home Guard organizations in our State. They are performing a useful function in providing a means of efficient community defense in case of stress and in constituting a valued school for familiarizing the youth of the State with military tactics. I bespeak for these organizations legislation designed to extend State recognition and to provide for their further encouragement through municipalities. Our new State Militia, which was so quickly and satisfactorily created and organized last summer, when it became necessary to provide an adequate

substitute for the Federalized National Guard, requires no legislation in addition to that which the last Legislature gave us, and is now ready for duty.

WELFARE WORK FOR COLORED PEOPLE.

Not altogether on account of the war, but for various reasons bringing about a change in industrial conditions, thousands of negroes are migrating from the South. This has created a problem of health, due to the newcomers lack of sufficient clothing and acclimation, which it is the duty of the State to meet and solve. From motives of economy in treating the condition at the beginning, as well as common humanity, I believe that the continuance of the present experimental Welfare Bureau by establishing it in the Department of Labor would prove effective, and I recommend your careful consideration of legislation to that end.

RESENTENCING POWER OF JUDGES.

The power of county judges to resentence a prisoner at any time during his incarceration has frequently given rise to the criticism that the constitutional principles concerning pardons and paroles have been violated. The criticism appears to be in every way justified, and I urge a statute repealing this power.

LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU-A SUGGESTION.

You are familiar with the fact that last year the Legislature paved the way for an equalization of taxation as between districts within this State and also joined in the call for a conference of States which will tend to equalize taxation as between States and Federal Government; that the latter conference has been held and the Governor of New Jersey honored with the permanent chairmanship of the National Committee in Charge. All of this leads inevitably to the conclusion that greater care ought to be taken to see that laws enacted in individual States do not

clash wantonly with laws on similar subjects in other States or in the Federal statute books. It has been suggested before that one way of securing uniform legislation is to provide a legislative reference bureau. I am strongly in favor of establishing such an institution, which in addition to uniformity would make for intelligent law-making and exact draftsmanship. Whether this is the best time to provide such a department, or whether it should be temporarily deferred as a needless expense in war times, I leave to your good judgment; but I do regard it as a progressive proposition which ought to be kept in mind. Coöperation between the State and some of our universities, for instance, could easily result in a legislative reference bureau, which, with competent management and up-to-date files of laws of all States on all subjects, public reports, monographs and treatises on current industrial, social and legal problems, would prove an invaluable guide and help to our lawmakers and insure legislation of a character avoiding costly duplication, making effectively for desired ends and eliminating the possibility of ill-considered, loosely-drawn acts dealing with important subjects and apt to be upset by the courts.

FULL COOPERATION WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN WAR.

The personal acquaintance which it is my privilege to enjoy with you gentlemen of the Legislature counsels against the necessity of urging that the session be in perfect accord with the war aims and purposes of the National Government. The public confidence which you enjoy is a guarantee of your loyalty. Your patriotism is not on trial. But perhaps this may not be an inopportune time to let the Country know that every ounce of New Jersey's weight in man-power, official authority and material wealth will be at all times cheerfully thrown in the balance on the side of the Nation and her Allies in the war. Our Legislature, whether in regular session or in any extraordinary sessions that unforeseen developments may warrant, can be counted upon to shape all legislation with the war program of the Country clearly in mind. We must be ready to stimulate and help to advance every possible movement requiring public support in3 Sen Jour

tended to assist the Government in the prosecution of the war and to benefit the soldier at the front and the family at home, and yet we must be equally careful to recognize by our official action only those efforts which are coördinated and authorized. by the Federal Government, in order to avoid costly duplications and conserve our energies. It is my firm belief that all Statewide activities should be through the well-organized State Council of Defense, which provides an opportunity to present the problem in an official manner to the smallest municipal unit. Statutes found desirable in peace may have to be repealed temporarily in war, and I ask the Legislature to hold itself ready to meet any such contingency. There will be conflict in nothing, coöperation in everything. New Jersey is not merely readyNew Jersey is determined to transform her assets and resources into war energy by the shortest cuts and to do her full part as a dynamic instrumentality in helping the U. S. A. to reach the zenith of her fighting power. No State can do more. Every State is reasonably expected to do as much. I feel you have given me much power in this regard. If I need more I shall ask it with confidence.

New Jersey and the United States, hand-in-hand in war, will likewise travel the same path of progress in industrial and commercial development. The way must be blazed by constructive statesmanship of large vision, seeing far beyond war times and through glasses that detect all latent possibilities. New Jersey took the initiative by agreeing to give the land when Washington digs the cross-State canal from river to ocean, a project which would come in very handy in these war times. In the development of our ports and waterfront as in the successful maintenance of the new State Militia and the aim to properly administer food and fuel and equalize taxation, it is plainly seen that the Federal Government needs the help of New Jersey and New Jersey needs Federal aid. New Jersey's place on the map, her waterfront, her industries, her comprehensive railroad system, will contribute heavily to her advantage as a commonwealth in the modern doctrine that the country must go forward with State lines eliminated and nothing but united action. Preparedness for the industrial and commercial eventualities of