NEW JERSEY 861 



Transportation. Railway mileage, January i, 1912, 2,350.5. In 1912 a commission 

 composed of the governor, the attorney general and Mr. Bennet Van Syckel (former supreme 

 court judge) reported to the legislature in favour of the abandonment of all claims on the 

 Morris Canal to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, the holder of almost all of the capital 

 stock of the Morris Canal and Banking Company, the original owner of the canal which by 

 its charter was to become the property of the state in 1973. The legislature arranged for 

 the appointment of a committee of twelve, to report on the property owned, its use and its 

 value, what the state would receive under the arrangement suggested by the previous com- 

 mission, and what obligations it would incur in the taking over of the water rights as recom- 

 mended by the previous commission; what the net proceeds to the state would probably be, 

 whether a part of the canal could be operated and whether the Morris Canal and Banking 

 Company and its lessee had forfeited the charter. 



In 1911 the New Jersey ship canal commission was created to examine the plan and 

 the route of a proposed canal from New York Bay to Bordentown on the Delaware river. Its 

 preliminary report in 1912 recommended a 25-ft. depth and a bottom width of 125 ft. 



A new code was adopted in 1912 for the improvement and maintenance of public roads. 

 The county board of chosen freeholders may require any township through which a road 

 passes to pay 10% of the cost of the road in the township, and two or more counties may co- 

 operate in road improvement. Plans must be aporoved by the Commissioner of Roads. 

 Certain roads are to be taken over by the state as state highways. 



In 1912 the legislature passed a law requiring every railway in'the state, within three 

 months after the act went into effect (Sept. I, 1912) and within the same period yearly there- 

 after, to remove one grade crossing for every 30 miles or fraction thereof of road operated by 

 it in the state. The bill passed the assembly (where it originated) on the 29th of March, and 

 the senate on the 28th; on the nth of April it was returned by the governor with his veto, 

 because of the injustice, in his opinion, of the requirement that every railway remove cross- 

 ings for every 30 miles, and because the act did not forbid the creation of new grade cross- 

 ings, nor attempt to classify the present crossings. The legislature had been in recess from 

 March 29th to April loth, and the attorney-general filed an opinion that the bill was not 

 a law, and that the governor's veto was valid, but the assembly passed a resolution that "in 

 the judgment of the House of Assembly said bill is now a law," since more than five days, 

 excepting Sundays, had elapsed between the presentation of the bill to the governor and its 

 return to the assembly, which had not been prevented by adjournment. On September 27, 

 1912 the supreme court held that the act had never become operative. 



In December 1911 the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad opened for passenger 

 service a "cut-off" of 28.45 m. between Hopatcong and Slateford Junction, which saved II 

 m. (411 m. reduced to 400 m. from New York to Buffalo) over the old route, reduced the 

 maximum grade per mile from 60.2 ft. to 29.04 ft.; one fill, no ft. high and more than 3 m. 

 long, E. of Andover, is supposed to be the largest in the world. 



The Staten Island and New Jersey channel was dug to a depth of 14 ft. in 1911 and the 

 16 ft. channel from Staten Island Sound 10.8 m. up the Passaic river was completed and 

 work further up the river was begun by the Federal Government. 



Legislation. The legislature meets annually, and its regular sessions were held in 

 1911 from January loth to April 2ist; in 1912 from January gth to April 2ist, with a 

 recess from March 2gth to April loth. The new legal procedure act of 1912 is intended 

 to insure speedy trials; it simplifies pleadings, abolishes bills of exception and writs of 

 error, although allowing an appeal to be taken on error, and provides that no judgment 

 be reversed on a technical error unless it injuriously affects the substantial rights of the 

 party to the case; new evidence is admissible on appeal. A law of 1912 permits a mar- 

 ried woman to sue or be sued without joining her husband, if he would be an unnecessary 

 party were he not her husband. A commission was appointed (1912) to report on the 

 reorganisation and consolidation of state departments with unrelated functions, and 

 one in 1911 to consolidate the law on primaries and general elections. 



The Geran Election law of 1911 substituted for separate party ballots a blanket ballot 

 with an alphabetical arrangement of candidates by office groups. No election district is to 

 contain more than 400 voters; candidates for boards of registry must take civil service 

 examinations; candidates for governor and congressmen are to be nominated directly at 

 primaries, at which there is to be a preferential vote for candidates for the presidency. The 

 law includes the Oregon plan, putting candidates for the legislature on record whether they 

 will follow implicitly or not the recommendation of the primary for United States senator. 

 The law required a primary register, as well as registration for the general election, the register 

 to be by house-to-house canvass in municipalities of less than 5,000, but elsewhere to be 

 personal. In 1911 all laws providing for the use of voting machines were repealed. A cor- 

 rupt practices act of 1911 (amended in 1912) limits election expenditures to $200 for an 

 assemblyman and $2,500 for a candidate for governor; requires a sworn statement of ex- 

 penses to be filed within five days; and allows the party organisation to employ agents (but 



