Salem. This formation consists of three distinct beds of greensand, each from 12 to 25 feet thick, separated by beds of sand. The marl is clearly of marine origin, containing sea shells, bits of coral, sharks teeth, saurian bones, &c., and makes a good manure. Glassmakers' sand is worked in the southern part of the State.[1] Along the shore is an elevation of only 5 to 10 feet above the sea-level, having good alluvial soil, which must within a comparatively recent period have been beneath the sea. Since the first settlement of the country, however, the shore has washed away, and there is good reason to believe that a very gradual subsidence is now taking place.[2] The entire sea-coast is rapidly becoming a continuous line of summer resorts, among which may be enumerated Long Branch, Sea Bright, Spring Lake, and Asbury Park in the northern portion, Atlantic City in the centre, and Cape May in the south. Some of these places, as Atlantic City, are frequented even during the winter months.
Commerce and Industry.—Although only the thirty-fifth among the thirty-eight States in area, it is the nineteenth in population, the eighth in the value of property, and twenty-fifth in value of agricultural products, the sixth in manufacturing and mechanical industries, while in some industries, as silk, pottery, and glass, it far exceeds any other State. The output of the non-precious minerals places it seventh in the list of States, it being the fourth among the iron-producing States, and first as to zinc ore. It has 1869 miles of railways, or 1 mile to every 4.25 square miles of area, exceeded in this by only one State. The average value of farming lands is considerably above that of any other State. In 1880 the total number of farms was 34,307, averaging 85 acres, or a total of 2,929,773 acres of farm lands, of which 24.4 per cent, were unimproved. The value of farm lands was $190,895,833; farming implements and machinery, $6,921,085; live stock, $14,861,412; all farm products, $29,650,756. Among the principal products were Indian corn, 11,150,705 bushels; oats, 3,710,573; rye, 949,064; wheat, 1,901,739; hay, 518,990 tons; Irish potatoes, 3,563,793 bushels; sweet potatoes, 2,086,731 bushels; 86,940 horses; 9267 mules and asses; 152,078 milch cows; 71,808 other cattle; 117,020 sheep; 219,069 swine; 9,513,835 ℔ butter; 15,472,783 gallons milk.
Omitting fishery products, gas, petroleum, refining, mining, and quarrying, the following table gives the general condition of the manufacturing interests of the State in the years mentioned:—
| No. of Establishments. |
Capital. | Hands Employed. |
Wages Paid. |
Cost of Material. |
Products. | |
| 1850 | 4,207 | $22,293,258 | 37,830 | $9,364,740 | $22,011,871 | $39,851,256 |
| 1860 | 4,173 | 40,521,048 | 56,027 | 16,277,337 | 41,429,100 | 76,306,104 |
| 1870 | 6,636 | 79,606,719 | 75,552 | 32,648,409 | 103,415,245 | 169,237,732 |
| 1880 | 7,128 | 106,226,038 | 126,038 | 46,083,045 | 165,280,179 | 254,375,236 |
Among the most important interests for 1880 are those given in
the following table:—
| Kind of Industry. | No. of Establishments. |
Capital. | Average No. of Hands. |
Wages Paid. |
Material. | Products. |
| Anthracite furnaces | 16 | $6,825,000 | 938 | $340,035 | $2,341,560 | $3,580,664 |
| Boots and shoes | 398 | 1,153,390 | 3,757 | 1,422,681 | 3,069,894 | 5,262,671 |
| Breweries | 48 | 4,250,000 | 1,095 | 662,886 | 3,179,883 | 5,798,330 |
| Cotton goods | 24 | 3,961,145 | 4,836 | 1,309,997 | 1,284,819 | 5,039,519 |
| Drugs and chemicals | 41 | 8,830,750 | 1,272 | 598,742 | 3,528,204 | 4,993,965 |
| Foundry & machine shop products | 188 | 7,431,421 | 8,205 | 3,432,453 | 6,138,852 | 11,282,748 |
| Hats and caps | 79 | 1,343,900 | 5,567 | 2,113,581 | 2,103,082 | 6,152,447 |
| Iron and steel | 66 | 9,741,216 | 5,544 | 2,109,740 | 7,564,205 | 11,837,846 |
| Jewellery | 68 | 2,555,899 | 2,234 | 1,114,946 | 1,967,054 | 4,079,677 |
| Leather | 111 | 3,793 796 | 2,688 | 1,479,296 | 12,353,017 | 15,475,222 |
| Paper mills | 32 | 1,830,500 | 886 | 272,936 | 1,286,182 | 2,015,569 |
| Rubber goods | 20 | 1,790,200 | 2,548 | 766,523 | 2,029,415 | 5,212,695 |
| Sewing machines | 8 | 1,152,755 | 3,311 | 1,519,947 | 1,484,902 | 4,640,852 |
| Silk and silk goods | 106 | 6,952,325 | 12,549 | 4,177,745 | 9,678,536 | 17,122,236 |
| Stone & earthenware | 49 | 2,057,200 | 3,180 | 1,101,511 | 1,030,598 | 2,598,757 |
| Sugar and molasses | 4 | 2,110,000 | 697 | 476,216 | 20,794,961 | 22,841,258 |
| Woollen goods | 27 | 2,530,125 | 3,363 | 996,384 | 3,162,955 | 4,984,007 |
Population.—The population of the State was 211,149 in 1800, 277,426 in 1820, 373,306 in 1840, 672,035 in 1860, 906,096 in 1870, and 1,131,116 in 1880. The census of 1880 showed 559,922 males and 571,194 females, 1,092,017 white, 38,853 coloured, 172 Chinese, and 74 Indians. The inhabitants of foreign birth numbered 221,700. To every square mile of area there were 151.73 inhabitants, the State being the third in the Union in respect of density of population.
The largest cities, with population in 1880, are—Newark, 136,508; Jersey City, 120,722; Paterson, 51,031; Camden, 41,659; Hoboken, 30,999; Trenton (the State capital), 29,910; Elizabeth, 28,229; New Brunswick, 17,166; Orange, 13,207.
Government.—The executive power is vested in a governor elected by the people for a term of three years; no one can serve in this capacity two successive terms. The legislative power is in the legislature, composed of a senate and general assembly meeting on the second Tuesday of January each year at Trenton, the capital of the State. A senator is elected for three years by each of the twenty-one counties, one-third of the whole number being elected each year. The assembly consists of not more than sixty members, elected for one year, and apportioned among the counties as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants, with the condition, however, that each county shall at all times be entitled to one member. The principal officers of the State are a secretary of state, attorney-general, adjutant-general, and quartermaster-general, all appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate, and a treasurer and comptroller appointed by the legislature in joint meeting. All judges and prosecutors of the pleas are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate; the election system for the judiciary has not yet reached New Jersey.
The judicial power is vested in (1) a court of errors and appeals in the last resort, consisting of the chancellor, the justices of the supreme court, and six judges of the court of errors; (2) a court for the trial of impeachments, consisting of the senate; (3) a court of chancery, consisting of the chancellor and two vice-chancellors; (4) a supreme court, consisting of the chief justice and eight associate justices; (5) circuit courts, held in every county by the justices of the supreme court; (6) an inferior court of the common pleas organized in each county, and consisting of three judges. In some of the sparsely settled counties the inferior courts are presided over by justices of the supreme court; in the other counties one of the three judges is a law judge and presides. The court of pardon consists of the governor, the chancellor, and the six lay judges of the court of errors; a majority of this court, of whom the governor must be one, can remit fines and forfeitures, and grant pardons, after conviction in all cases except impeachments.
State Institutions.—There are two lunatic asylums, one near Trenton containing more than 600 patients, the other near Morristown capable of accommodating 800; the latter is probably unsurpassed by any similar institution; there are also seven county asylums containing 746 patients. An institution for the deaf and dumb, to contain 125 pupils, has been recently established at Trenton; the blind and feeble-minded are placed in suitable establishments in neighbouring States. The home for disabled soldiers, at Newark, accommodates nearly 400 men. The State prison at Trenton contains some 800 convicts, a large part of whom are employed in contract labour to an extent which pays about 54 per cent. of the cost of the institution. A reformatory school for boys, near Jamesburg, contains about 325 juvenile delinquents. An industrial school for girls, near Trenton, has 30 inmates. The board of health is steadily gaining in importance, and has accomplished much good in spreading useful information, collecting important vital and health statistics, and investigating matters affecting the public health. The labour bureau has done good service in collecting statistics affecting the questions of labour and capital, in bringing about a better understanding between the two, and in indicating new and profitable avenues for industry. The geological survey, of which the geodetic and topographical surveys have necessarily formed part, now approaching its close, is one of the most useful of the State institutions.
Education.—The Agricultural College, attached to Rutgers College at New Brunswick, is supported by the proceeds of certain public lands given by the United States to the State for that purpose. In connexion with this are the college farm and the agricultural experiment stations, which are doing admirable work in systematic and carefully conducted experiments (under the chief of the geological survey) with various fertilizers, and in testing various soils, crops, and methods of agriculture. The public schools are mainly supported by a State tax of 4 for each child between five and eighteen years of age, amounting in 1882 to $1,322,740, supplemented by an annual appropriation of $100,000 from the school fund, which latter now amounts to more than $3,375,000, and is rapidly increasing. Small additional special taxes are also levied in some of the school districts. A normal school has been in successful operation at Trenton for several years, and has nearly 250 pupils. The college of New Jersey at Princeton, and its sister theological seminary, although not State institutions, occupy places in the very front rank of American schools of learning.
- ↑ In the year ending June 1880 27,495 tons were mined, and in that year there were in operation in the State 55 furnaces, containing 364 pots, with 3501 work-people, and a product of $2,810,000; window glass, green glass, and glassware are made. One-third of the product of green glass in the United States is made by the Jersey works.
- ↑ The United States Coast Survey and the New Jersey Geological Survey are engaged on observations to settle this question.
