NEW JERSEY. 



577 



cessary temporary loan and at a reasonable rate 

 of interest. The report was adopted. 



A new military bill was adopted at this ses- 

 sion fixing bounties for recruits enlisted in in- 

 surgent States, and compensation for agents 

 employed in that service. State bounties were 

 also provided, ranging from one hundred to 

 three hundred dollars, according to the number 

 of years for which the recruit was offered. 

 Town bounties were similarly limited, except 

 where enrolled citizens should enlist and be 

 credited to the localities in which they reside, 

 in which case no limit was to be affixed to the 

 town bounties. Under the impulse given by 

 this latter provision, volunteering from among 

 the enrolled citizens soon went on with such 

 rapidity, that in the last "week of August, just 

 before adjourning, the Legislature by resolu- 

 tion requested the Governor to notify the War 

 Department that, with the allowance of a few 

 days' grace, the whole quota could probably be 

 filled without a draft. 



The Governor and the Legislature were 

 brought into somewhat sharp collision in ref- 

 erence to the " Soldiers 1 Toting Bill." This 

 having passed both Houses, was on August 

 17th sent to the Governor for his approval, 

 and by him kept for more than five days after 

 the date of presentation. On the 26th he sent 

 a message to the House of Representatives, 

 vetoing the bill, on the ground that, in order 

 to enable soldiers in the national service out- 

 side the limits of the State, to vote for electors 

 of President and Vice-President and for mem- 

 bers of Congress, it -was first necessary to 

 amend the Constitution in that behalf. The 

 Legislature, on the other hand, claimed that as 

 the bill had not been returned within five days, 

 as required by the Constitution of the State, it 

 became a law in spite of the Governor's veto, 

 and resolutions to that effect passed both 

 Houses after a scene of considerable excite- 

 ment. Decisions of the Supreme Court in 

 favor both of the constitutionality of the act 

 and of its validity, in spite of the veto, having 

 been obtained, it became a law, and the Xew 

 Hampshire soldiers voted in accordance with 

 its provisions at the ensuing election. 



The p'olitical parties conducted the Presiden- 

 tial canvass during the autumn months with 

 great animation, and the vote was more evenly 

 balanced than in almost any other State. The 

 result of the vote for Presidential electors was 

 as follows : 



Lincoln. McClellan. 



State vote S4.3S2 3i200 



Soldiers' vote 2,018 671 



36,400 S-J.-71 



At tne spring session of the Legislature, 

 Aaron H. Cragni, Republican, was elected a 

 United States Senator for six years from March 

 4th, 1865, to succeed John P. Hale, receiving a 

 majority of ninety-three on joint ballot over 

 John H. George, Democrat. 



NEW JERSEY. This State appears to have 

 made equal progress in prosperity with the 

 VOL. iv. 37 A 



most successful States of the Union. At the 

 close of 1864, for the first time in many years 

 the public debt on State account had been paid. 

 It was unnecessary to levy a tax in the ensuing 

 year for State purposes. The receipts into the 

 treasury from the usual sources in 1864 were 

 $431,028, and the balance on hand at the com- 

 mencement of the last fiscal year $104,654; 

 total $535,683. The disbursements for ordinary 

 expenses and special appropriations were $396,- 

 410. Making a balance on hand November 30, 

 of $139,273. 



The receipts of the State on account of a 

 war fund were $1,765,608 during the year; and 

 the disbursements for the same fund in the 

 same time were $1,723,037; balance $42,570. 

 The liabilities of this fund on November 30th, 

 were $2,774.600. 



The amount claimed for advances to the 

 United States up to the same period is $2,494,- 

 196 ; on which the State has received $1,554,- 

 159. 



The State has a sinking fund to defray the 

 intc-rest and principal of the -war debt, the 

 balance in favor of which is $323,958. 



The State has contributed to the Federal 

 service over 70,000 men. Until May, 1864, 

 they were furnished by volunteering, principally 

 through the State authorities. Since that tune 

 they have been raised chiefly through United 

 States officials, by the operation of the con- 

 scription act. The Governor of the State thus 

 speaks, in his address to the Legislature, of 

 the operation of the draft : 



The officers who hare been intrusted with the ex- 

 ecution of the draft in this State have generally per- 

 formed their duty without undue severity, arfd yet 

 the system is extremely obnoxious to the'people, in 

 many cases produces difficulty and distress, is ex- 

 pensive, does not obtain the men with expedition, 

 and supplies an inferior class of troops. Some good 

 men have been obtained by it, but usually they are 

 unwilling soldiers, or strangers who go as substitutes 

 for the bounty, and in many instances fail to reach 

 the front. It is the opinion of officers most conver- 

 sant with the subject, that the men raised in this way 

 have not added materially in numbers or efficiency 

 to the strength of the army. If the Government 

 wants good troops, composed of residents of the 

 State, who feel a pride in the service and an interest 

 in the result, it should return to the system prac- 

 tised in the earlier stages of the war. The best way 

 to raise troops is to authorize recruiting officers to 

 work in conjunction with the local authorities in 

 their respective neighborhoods and among their 

 acquaintances, with the expectation of a commission. 

 During the ten months immediately preceding the 

 draft in this State, about fifteen thousand volunteers 

 were recruited and mustered into the United States 

 service. 



In addition to the amounts sent by private 

 hands, the soldiers of the State forwarded to 

 their families, through an arrangement orig- 

 inally made, $812,892. Like most of the other 

 States, New Jersey has a special agency to pro- 

 vide for the sick and wounded of her soldiers. 

 In conjunction with other States, measures 

 have been adopted to secure a cemetery for the 

 soldiers who fell at Gettysburg, and for the es- 

 tablishment of one at Antietam. 



