592 



NEW JERSEY. 



pleted. It contains accommodations for 500 

 patients. When the institution was opened, 

 292 were transferred to it from the Trenton 

 asylum, and 54 more had been received up to 

 October 31st. The amount expended in com- 

 pleting the Morristown asylum was $500,000. 



The number of convicts in the State-prison, 

 on the 31st of October, was 829, the average 

 for the year having been 766. The institution 

 was very much crowded, the number of cells 

 being 530. The payments from the Treasury 

 on account of the prison amounted to $98,829.- 

 51, the receipts from the supervisors to $34,- 

 206.65, but there were also paid from the earn- 

 ings on account of expenses $27,794.78. Thus 

 the total disbursements were $122,965.90, of 

 which $60,964.57 was net cost to the State. 



The amount paid out during the year for 

 care and instruction of the deaf and dumb was 

 $25,370.01 ; for the blind, $13,723.53 ; for the 

 feeble-minded, $8,044. They were still cared for 

 in institutions of other States, the Governor 

 having vetoed the act of last session providing 

 for the establishment of asylums for the pur- 

 pose. The amount paid on account of the 

 Home for Disabled Soldiers was $48,852.11. 

 The Soldiers' Children's Home was closed in 

 April, all the children having been permanently 

 provided for. 



The militia of New Jersey, known as the 

 National Guard, consists of 62 companies of 



infantry, two of cavalry, and one of artillery. 

 The expenditures for the year were $65,947.19. 

 The annual session of the Legislature, which 

 began on the llth of January, continued until 

 the 21st of April, being the longest for thirty 

 years. The amendments of the constitution 

 adopted in 1875 necessitated a considerable 

 amount of legislation, and it was found that 

 their provisions were in some respects so am- 

 biguous that it was very difficult to conform 

 legislation to them. On this account a bill was 

 introduced, providing for a convention to re- 

 vise the constitution, but this was finally de- 

 feated. Among the most important measures 

 considered were several relating to taxation. 

 This was a difficult matter to deal with on ac- 

 count of the antagonistic interests of what 

 were known as the "five counties" that is, 

 Essex, Hudson, Union, and Passaic Counties, 

 and the cities of New Brunswick, Trenton, 

 Camden, and Atlantic City and the rest of 

 the State. The "five counties " contain one- 

 half the taxable property of the State, and 

 pay fully one-half the taxes, but the repre- 

 sentation in the Senate is not based on popu- 

 lation or property, but consists of one mem- 

 ber from each county, which gives the rural 

 districts disproportionate power. A bill for 

 the equalization of taxes was defeated in the 

 Senate through the opposition of the lower 

 counties. It provided for a State Board of 



CABKIAGE FOR LIFE-BOAT ON NEW JEK8ET COAST. 



Assessors, who should visit each county every 

 year and see that all property was assessed at 

 its true value. Great inequalities are said to 

 exist at present, assessments being made in 

 some parts of the State on the full value of 

 property, and in other parts on not more than 

 fifty per cent, of its actual value. A bill for 

 the exemption of mortgages met with opposi- 

 tion from the same quarter, and a compro- 

 mise was finally effected by the passage of two 

 acts. One provided that a deduction might 

 be claimed from the value of mortgaged prop- 

 erty to the amount of the mortgage, and in 

 that case the latter should be taxed, payment 

 being made by the mortgagee in the town 

 where the property was located. The other 

 applied only to the counties of Essex, Hudson, 

 Union, and Passaic, and the cities of New 



Brunswick, Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic 

 City, and provided that the mortgaged- might 

 agree with the mortgagee not to ask for a de- 

 duction, and in that case the former should 

 pay the tax on the value of the property, and 

 the latter be exempt. 



Another act imposed a tax of one-half of one 

 per cent, on the cost of construction and equip- 

 ment of railroads. This did not apply to the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as it had al- 

 ready paid $298,000 in lieu of transit duties; 

 and, as this is a much larger sum than the tax 

 would amount to, its branches were also ex- 

 empted. 



Among the other acts passed were : a gen- 

 eral election law, which was little more than a 

 codification of existing regulations ; an act re- 

 ducing the salaries of State officials ; one mak- 



