598 



NEW JERSEY. 



couraging. I can not but think that these con- 

 tracts were made under disadvantageous cir- 

 cumstances. It is difficult to understand why, 

 under a system which throws the whole risk 

 on the State and none on the contractor, con- 

 tracts less advantageous to the State were se- 

 cured than under a system which reverses the 

 conditions and the liabilities of loss, and throws 

 the risk upon the contractor." 



At the State Reform School the whole num- 

 ber of persons confined during the year was 

 424. There remained, Oct. 31, 1888, 298. 

 There were received during the year, on ac- 

 count of maintenance, $42,317.24 from the 

 State; from the farm and other works, $7,- 

 028.60, which, with a balance on account Oct. 

 31, 1887, of $2,088.37, in all amounting to 

 $51,488.20 received, is chargeable to the 

 maintenance account during the fiscal year. 

 The amount of expenditures and expenses dur- 

 ing the same period was $50,664.49, leaving a 

 balance on hand, Oct. 31, 1888, of $823.72. 



The State Industrial School for Girls had, at 

 the close of the fiscal year, 76 girls under its 

 charge, an increase of 9 over the number one 

 year previous. Of these, 26 are out at service 

 and 50 at the home. As this institution was 

 intended to provide for only thirty-five girls, 

 an enlargement of its buildings is needed. 



The Governor, in his message, strongly urges 

 the need of a State reformatory to secure the 

 separation of young offenders from the class of 

 old and hardened criminals. The Legislature 

 of 1888 made a step forward in prison man- 

 agement by enacting a law requiring those in 

 charge of the jails to keep all persons under 

 the age of sixteen, who are sent to such jails 

 for any purpose whatever, separate and apart, 

 so that no communication can take place be- 

 tween them and other persons above such age; 

 but reports at the close of the year showed 

 that in only two counties had the law been 

 fully complied with, while four counties had 

 entirely disregarded it. 



Militia. From the report of the Inspector- 

 General of the last annual muster and inspec- 

 tion, the strength of the National Guard is 

 shown to be 316 commissioned officers and 

 3,719 enlisted men, a total of 4,035. Two new 

 companies have been added, the force now 

 consisting of 55 companies of infantry and 2 

 Gatling-gun companies. Negotiations to se- 

 cure a tract of land at Sea Girt, Monmouth 

 County, for the use of the militia have not yet 

 met with success. 



Riparian Commissioners. The grants, leases, 

 and leases converted into grants during the 

 year, amount to $104,479.89. The rentals paid 

 to the State during the past year on leases 

 heretofore made by legislative acts and by the 

 commissioners amount to $59,754.43. The 

 amount, which represents the principal for 

 land disposed of by grants or leases from April 

 4, 1884, to Oct. 31, 1888, is $3,182,347.56. 



Railroad Taxation. The Attorney-General re- 

 ports that the formidable combination, em- 



bracing over thirty-five corporations, which 

 has contested every point from the constitu- 

 tionality of the law to the minutest element 

 which constitutes valuation, has entirely dis- 

 appeared during the past year, and that the 

 representatives of the various railroad compa- 

 nies now manifest a desire to assist in the ard- 

 uous labor of settling up the arrears of taxa- 

 tion, as well as aiding the Board of Assessors 

 in arriving at proper results in its valuation. 

 Of the State tax payable in 1888, nearly 97 per 

 cent, has been collected, and of the State tax 

 payable in 1887, nearly 95 per cent, has been 

 received. 



Decision. The local-option and high-license 

 act of the Legislature this year was speedily 

 brought before the State Court of Errors and 

 Appeals in order to test the constitutionality 

 of its provisions. In the two test cases 

 brought before it, the court rendered a decis- 

 ion about August 1, by which the high-license 

 features of the act were unanimously sustained, 

 and the local-option portion upheld by a ma- 

 jority of the court, eight judges being in favor 

 of, and seven against its constitutionality. 



Political. On May 9 a Republican State Con- 

 vention was held at Trenton for the selection 

 of delegates to the National Convention of the 

 party. A platform was adopted, of which 

 only the following portion refers directly to 

 State questions : 



We favor protection to the homes of the people by 

 the due restriction of vice and intemperance, and we 

 congratulate the Legislature of this State on their hon- 

 est, earnest, and courageous efforts to restrain the 

 evils of the liquor-traffic, and indorse their action. 



On the following day a Democratic Conven- 

 tion for the same purpose was held at the same 

 place. The platform adopted contains the fol- 

 lowing: 



The party confidently directs the attention of the 

 people of the State to the administration of State af- 

 fairs by Governor Green. The system of railroad taxa- 

 tion devised and inaugurated by his Democratic prede- 

 cessor has been placed upon a firm foundation and 

 given the authority of Executive and judicial approval ; 

 the dignity of the Executive has been zealously de- 

 fended against the most bitter and dangerous en- 

 croachments ; the qualified power of the veto has been 

 exercised against legislation, which, in its extrava- 

 gance, attacked alike economical government and. the 

 inherent and constitutional rights of the people. 



It denounces as subversive of the principle of our 

 representative government the caucus legislation prac- 

 ticed by the Republican Legislature at its last session, 

 by which the votes of the Republican members of each 

 House were massed, directed, and controlled by the 

 decision of a secret caucus, for or against laws of gen- 

 eral import upon which the individual judgment and 

 responsibility of each member was due to the State. 



It demands such legislation as will check the grow- 

 ing evil of combined corporate power, and that shall 

 make it unlawful to maintain an armed band or drilled 

 and uniformed army in private hands for hire as a 

 menace to the people. 



On September 27 another Democratic Con- 

 vention was held to nominate presidential elect- 

 ors, and on October 4 the Republicans in con- 

 vention nominated their candidates for the 

 same office. Similar conventions of the Pro- 



