516 



NEW JERSEY. 



charged convicts, $1,153.50; total, $169,826.34 

 This amount shows a decrease from 1892 of 

 $1,970.11. The amount received from the pro- 

 ceeds of convict labor was $63,311.73, which was 

 earned in the manufacture of mats and matting, 

 of hosiery, shirts, shoes, trousers, brushes, and 

 blocks. The woman convicts are chiefly em- 

 ployed in making clothing for the prisoners. 

 The parole law is highly commended. 



Reform School. On account of the special 

 appropriation for the erection and furnishing of 

 a new family building, $4,224.35 was this year 

 paid to this institution in addition to the dis- 

 bursement for the maintenance of pupils and 

 expenses of trustees, which was $54,996.79. 

 The sum of $40 per quarter is now allowed for 

 each boy maintained, instead of $37.50 as last 

 year. The number of boys cared for during the 

 year was 509, number remaining Oct. 31, 1893, 

 373, of whom 319 were white and 54 colored. 



Industrial School for Girls. The pay- 

 ments to this institution were $15,977.55, an in- 

 crease over the ordinary expenses of the pre- 

 ceding year of $2,412.66. The number of girls 

 under instruction during the year was 113 ; num- 

 ber remaining Oct. 31, 99. 



Agriculture. During the year most farm 

 crops in the State were below the average yield. 

 The late spring, protracted drought, and dev- 

 astating storms contributed to this result. 

 The average yield per acre for 1893 was : Corn, 

 26 - 4 bushels, the lowest by 10 bushels for years ; 

 wheat, 14 - 5 bushels ; oats, 23'9 bushels ; buck- 

 wheat, 13 - 4 bushels; white potatoes, 73 bushels; 

 sweet potatoes, 97 bushels. There has been a re- 

 duction in the acreage of cereals during the last 

 decade amounting to 172,018 acres, or 22 - 24 per 

 cent. The products of the dairy are increasing 

 rapidly. In Cainden alone 1,530,000 gallons of 

 milk were delivered during the past year. Farms 

 devoted to the nursery business number 145, 

 with a total acreage of 5,465 acres. The seed 

 farms are 34, comprising 6,272 acres. Florists' 

 establishments number 366, of which 8 are 

 owned and managed by women. The total 

 square feet of glass is 3,703,554 ; total value of 

 establishments, $3,666,518.46; total value of 

 tools and implements, $155,107.14. 



World's Fair. By several acts, $130,000 

 was appropriated to further the work of the 

 New Jersey Board of Commissioners to the 

 World's Columbian Exposition, and to enable 

 the State Board of Agriculture, the State Board 

 of . Education, and the Geological Survey to 

 make a suitable exhibit in their respective de- 

 partments, and to maintain a proper building 

 for the use of the citizens of the State. The 

 New Jersey Building, a reproduction of the 

 Washington Headquarters at Morristown, was 

 the first State building completed; it was for- 

 mally dedicated May 1, 1893, the day of the open- 

 ing of the exposition. 



Marriage and Divorce. The vital statistics 

 of the State for 1893 give the number of mar- 

 riages as 17,178. Of these, 4,570 were celebrated 

 in Camden, and most of them were between per- 

 sons who crossed the Delaware from Pennsyl- 

 vania to escape the provisions of the laws of that 

 State. Persons who do not wish to come in 

 conflict with the marriage laws of the State of 

 New York also come to New Jersey to be mar- 



ried ; 1,401 marriages were celebrated in Jersey 

 City, 613 in Hoboken, and 1,956 in Newark. 

 The number of divorces granted in the State has 

 increased greatly. The number of cases dock- 

 eted in the Court of Chancery is about T,500. 



Trenton Battle Monument. A monument, 

 rising 150 f eet.above the street level and marking 

 the site of the battle of Trenton, was dedicated 

 Oct. 19. On the base of the column are 4 tablets : 

 One, crossing the Delaware, is the gift of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; opening of the battle is presented by New 

 York ; a third, surrender of the Hessians, is given 

 by Connecticut ; and the inscription tablet is 

 given by the Society of the Cincinnati in the 

 State of New Jersey, who, in 1843, first agitated 

 the subject of the erection of a memorial. A 

 statue of Washington, 13 feet high, crowns the 

 monument, and on each side of the door of en- 

 trance is placed a bronze statue of types of the 

 Continental soldiery. On the right is a life-size 

 statue of a Philadelphia city trooper who took 

 part in the fight. His name was Blair McClen- 

 achan, and he was a member of the Sons of St. 

 Patrick. The figure on the left is the gift of 

 Massachusetts. It is modeled from a painting 

 on ivory of John Russell, a private soldier of the 

 splendid Marblehead Regiment, made up of 

 fishermen. He was one of the soldiers who 

 ferried Washington across the Delaware, and 

 after the war he became captain of a sloop. 



Judicial Decisions. The Republican Com- 

 mittee of Essex County applied to the Supreme 

 Court for writs of mandamus to compel the city 

 and county clerks to issue general tickets for the 

 election of members of Assembly from the 

 county at large instead of by Assembly districts. 

 It was stated that this was directed by the gen- 

 eral election law of 1876, and that the system of 

 election by districts, which had been employed 

 for forty years, was unconstitutional. The court 

 held that members of the House of Assembly 

 must be chosen by elections at which all the 

 people of the county may vote for or against all 

 the members to which the county is entitled. 



The Lumberville Delaware Bridge Company 

 case was brought up as a test case to set aside 

 the taxes levied by the State board under the 

 act of April 18, 1884, against the 13 bridges that 

 span Delaware river, as well as to determine the 

 constitutionality of the act, under the Federal 

 as well as the State Constitution. The Supreme 

 Court held that the Federal Constitution will 

 not invalidate a State tax imposed upon domes- 

 tic corporations generally, because it inciden- 

 tally affects one that, under State authority, is 

 engaging in interstate commerce. 



The Court of Errors and Appeals decided 

 against the Merchants' Insurance Company of 

 Newark in 4 suits brought by the city of Newark 

 to recover tax due on several millions of horse- 

 railroad bonds. This compels the payment of 

 tax amounting to many thousands of dollars. 



Suit was brought in the Supreme Court to 

 have the race-track law providing for the 

 granting of licenses declared unconstitutional, 

 and the other two race-track bills with it, as 

 they were part of the whole scheme. Argu- 

 ments were heard in June, but the decision of 

 the court was not announced until after the 

 November elections. The court held that the 

 laws were unconstitutional. 



