Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/320

308 NEW JERSEY annually. The legislature meets annually on the second Tuesday in January. A majority of each house is sufficient to pass a bill over the governor's veto. The chief executive offi- cers are the governor (salary $5,000), elected by the people for three years; secretary of state (salary $200 and fees), appointed l?y the governor with the advice of the senate, and ex officio auditor of accounts; treasurer (salary $4,000), elected by the legislature on joint bal- lot for one year ; comptroller (salary $4,000) ; and the superintendent of schools (salary $2,000), appointed by the state board of edu- cation. Senators and representatives receive during the session of the legislature $3 a day for the first 40 days, and $1 50 a day afterward. The judiciary consists of a court of errors and appeals, court of chancery, supreme court, courts of common pleas, orphans' courts, courts of general quarter sessions of the peace, circuit courts, and courts of oyer and terminer. The court of errors and appeals is composed of the chancellor, the judges of the supreme court, and six other judges appointed by the governor. It has appellate jurisdiction only, and is the last court of resort. Three terms are held an- nually in Trenton. The governor, chancellor, and six judges of this court constitute the par- doning power. The chancellor is appointed by the governor and senate for seven years, and holds a court of chancery three times annually in Trenton ; salary $5,500 and fees. There is also a vice chancellor, whose annual salary is $5,000. The court of chancery has jurisdic- tion over all cases in equity, and exclusive original jurisdiction in divorce cases. The supreme court consists of seven justices, ap- pointed for seven years from each of the seven judicial districts. They hold circuit courts and courts of oyer and terminer three times a year in each county, and are ex officiis judges of the court of common pleas, orphans' court, and court of general quarter sessions of the peace of the several counties. They receive salaries of $5,000 each, except t"he chief jus- tice, who receives $5,200. Three terms of the supreme court are held annually in Trenton. Judges of common pleas, not exceeding three in each county, are also appointed by the legis- lature for five years, and hold court three times a year in each county. Sheriffs, coroners, and justices of the peace are elected by the peo- ple. Justices of the peace have jurisdiction in certain civil suits where the amount in contro- versy does not exceed $100. The property of a woman married after March 25, 1852, which she owns at the time of marriage, continues her separate property, free from the control of her husband or liability for his debts. If over 21 years of age, she may make a will, which must not however dispose of any interest to which her husband would be entitled by law at her death. If living with her husband, she cannot convey her property without his con- currence. The grounds for divorce are adul- tery and desertion for three years. Aliens may bold real estate. New Jersey is repre- sented in congress by seven representatives and two senators, and has therefore nine votes in the electoral college. The state debt was contracted during the war, chiefly for the sup- port of families of volunteers, and amounted in 1874 to about $2,500,000. It is represented by bonds of which about $100,000 fall due an- nually. The payment of principal and interest is met by tax and the income of the sinking fund. The amount of money received and dis- bursed by the state treasury during the year ending Nov. 1, 1874, was as follows : FUNDS. Receipts. Disbursements. State fund $1,707,141 68 $1,618,416 54 War fund 288884 55 286247 25 School fund (including state school tax) 1,363 547 20 1,352.431 00 Agricultural college fund State library fund 6,960 00 8,550 00 6,960 00 1,211 87 Total $3 865 083 43 $3 265 266 16 The chief expenditures from the state fund included, besides smaller items, the following : Northern New Jersey lunatic asylum $603,000 00 Loans 200.000 00 Printing 113,898 34 State militia 77,066 35 Legislature 65,257 93 Salaries of judiciary 60,880 96 Salaries of state prison 51,954 25 Salaries and fees 46,488 30 Public schools 85,000 00 Appropriation to state reform school 84,500 00 Lunatic asylum 34,112 26 Transportation and costs 83,691 73 State industrial school 23,000 00 Pensions 21,865 73 State house extension 20,000 00 State house expenses 17,000 19 Support of deaf and dumb 16,283 21 Normal school 15,000 00 Support of blind 14,260 11 According to the federal census, the total as- sessed value of property in 1860 was $296,- 682,492, and in 1870 it was $624,868,971, in- cluding $448,832,127 real and $176,036,844 personal estate. The total taxable valuation was returned by the state authorities at $603,- 665,497 in 1872, and $612,796,106 in 1873. In 1874 the personal property was valued at $117,- 431,284; real estate, $359,357,510 ; total, $619,- 057,903. Upon the total valuation of the state there is levied a general tax of one and a half mill and a school tax of two mills per dollar. Railroad corporations are taxed one quarter of one per cent, on the value of their roads, equipments, &c. New Jersey has heretofore made no provision for the education of its deaf and dumb, blind, or feeble-minded; but about $40,000 is annually expended by the state for their support in the institutions of other states. In 1873 a committee appointed pursuant to an act of the legislature, to inquire into the condition and needs of these defec- tive classes, reported that there were in the state not fewer than 500 deaf and dumb, about 600 blind, and more than 1,000 feeble-minded, and recommended the establishment of a state institution for the education of each class.