NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



NEW JERSEY. 



601 



licans and 21 Democrats being chosen. The 

 right of these members to seats in the House was 

 held to be doubtful. 



Article IX of the Constitution, above quoted, 

 bases the representation upon the population, 

 " by the last general census of the State, taken 

 by the authority of the United States or of this 

 State." Prior to the November election the na- 

 tional Census Bureau had published unofficial 

 figures giving approximately the population for 

 1890 according to the census count, and upon 

 the basis of these figures all the places that had 

 increased in population since 1880 sufficiently to 

 entitle them under Article IX to one or more ad- 

 ditional Representatives, elected such Representa- 

 tives (who were designated as " if entitled " mem- 

 bers) in addition to the regularly entitled mem- 

 bers. The " if entitled " members so elected 

 numbered 40, of whom 27 were Republicans and 

 13 Democrats. The question arose whether, at 

 the date of the election, the census of 1890 could 

 be considered as " taken " within the meaning 

 of that word as used in Article IX and could be 

 adopted as a basis for representation, there hav- 

 ing been no announcement of the final official 

 figures from the census office until after that 

 date. The Republican claim was that the census 

 was taken as of June 1, and any delay in an- 

 nouncing the result should not affect the rights 

 of the towns. The Democrats claimed that the 

 census could not be made available until the re- 

 sult was officially promulgated, and that in any 

 event the precedent of 1881 should be followed, 

 wherein the Clerk of the House omitted from the 

 roll the " if entitled " members under the census 

 of 1880, and left it to the House to admit them 

 later by resolution. 



While, therefore, the eligibility of members 

 from towns formerly classed and of " if entitled " 

 members was doubtful, there was a large class 

 of members, namely, those elected from the towns 

 on the basis of the census of 1880, and from the 

 prorated towns authorized to elect in 1890 

 whose right to seats was clearly established. Of 

 these regularly elected members, the Republi- 

 cans claimed 153 and conceded to the Democrats 

 151, while the Democrats figured a small major- 

 ity for themselves, the vote in several towns be- 

 ing close. If the members from the towns 

 formerly classed could be legally excluded from 

 the House, while the " if entitled " members were 

 placed upon the roll with those regularly enti- 

 tled, the Republicans would have an undisputed 

 majority, enabling them to organize the House 

 and elect the Republican candidate for Governor 

 as well as a United States Senator. If. on the 

 other hand, the members from the towns formerly 

 classed should be added to the roll and the " if 

 entitled" members excluded, the Democrats 

 would have a clear majority, would organize the 

 House, elect the Democratic candidate for Gov- 

 ernor, and possibly name the United States Sena- 

 tor. Should both sets of members be added to 

 the roll, the Republicans would have a slight 

 majority. The New Hampshire law provides 

 that the clerk of the preceding House of Repre- 

 sentatives shall make up, according to the Con- 

 stitution and the law, the roll of members- elect 

 of the new House. It therefore devolved upon the 

 clerk, in this case, virtually to decide what should 

 be the political complexion of the House and indi- 



rectly who should be Governor and who United 

 States Senator. Another complication now arose 

 from the fact that the clerk of the House at the 

 session of 1889 had removed from the State and 

 probably vacated his office thereby. There was, 

 also, some doubt whether the assistant clerk had 

 authority to make up the roll. For this and 

 other reasons Gov. Goodell was induced to issue 

 a proclamation on Nov. 22, calling together the 

 Legislature of 1889 in special session on Dec. 2. 

 At this session the resignation of the former 

 clerk was received, and Stephen S. Jewett, the 

 assistant clerk, was elected to fill the vacancy. 

 He was authorized to make up the roll of the 

 next House, but no directions were given him 

 regarding this duty. Several minor acts were 

 passed, and the session adjourned on Dec. 5. 



As Mr. Jewett was a Republican, elected by 

 the Republican members of the House, it was 

 expected that, in making up the roll, he would 

 decide doubtful points of law in favor of his own 

 party and give the Republicans a majority of 

 the members. Late in November the leading 

 Democrats of the State had obtained a written 

 opinion from two prominent Boston lawyers, 

 which denied the right of the clerk under the 

 law to place upon the roll either the members 

 from towns formerly classed or the " if entitled " 

 members, and contended that these members 

 cojild be admitted only by vote of the House aft- 

 er its organization. Fortified by this opinion, 

 the Democratic leaders late in December peti- 

 tioned the State Supreme Court for a writ of 

 mandamus to enjoin the clerk from placing upon 

 the roll the " if entitled " members and from 

 omitting therefrom certain members from pro- 

 rated towns. A hearing on these petitions was 

 held by the court, on Monday, Jan. 5, 1891, at 

 the close of which the court decided that it had 

 no jurisdiction. The clerk was left free to place 

 his own interpretation upon the law and to make 

 up the roll in accordance therewith. In per- 

 forming this duty he omitted the members from 

 towns formerly classed, and added to the roll all 

 " if entitled " members who presented their cre- 

 dentials. As thus made up, the roll contained 

 179 Republicans and 158 Democrats, 4 " if en- 

 titled " Democratic members having failed to 

 present their credentials. This action insured 

 the election of a Republican Governor and a Re- 

 publican United States Senator to succeed Sena- 

 tor Blair. 



NEW JERSEY, a Middle Atlantic State, one 

 of the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution 

 Dec. 18, 1787 ; area. 7,815 square miles. The pop- 

 ulation, according to each decennial census, was 

 184,139 in 1790 ; 211.149 in 1800 ; 245,562 in 1810 ; 

 277,426 in 1820 ; 320,823 in 1830 ; 373,306 in 1840 ; 

 489,555 in 1850 ; 672,035 in 1860 ; 906,096 in 1870 ; 

 1,131,116 in 1880 ; and 1,4-14,933 in 1890. Capital, 

 Trenton. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor. Leon Abbett, 

 Democrat; Secretary of State and Insurance 

 Commissioner, Henry C. Kelsey ; Treasurer. John 

 J. Toffey ; Comptroller, Edward J. Anderson ; 

 Attorney-General, John P. Stockton; Superin- 

 tendent 'of Public Instruction, Edwin 0. Chap- 

 man : Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mer- 

 cer Beasley ; Associate Justices, Manning M. 

 Knapp, Alfred Reed, Edward W. Scudder, Ben- 



