USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 40
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* Report of Centennial Commissioners, pages 38, 39.
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gent in providing for a proper representation of the State at the Centennial in Philadelphia. No State will reap a more durable benefit from the Exhibition than this."
The Commissioners " thought it desirable to secure the coop- eration of the women of the United States in the great work of celebrating the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Inde- pendence." Mrs. E. P. Gillespie, of Philadelphia, and twelve other ladies and their associates were constituted the " Woman's Branch of the United States Centennial Commission," with authority to appoint associates and agents throughout the States and Territories. The central bureau of this organization was very properly located in Philadelphia.
Mrs. William L. Dayton and Mrs. John G. Stevens were ap- pointed on behalf of this State, with power to select county committees. The amount of money realized by this commission was $16,384.68, which was disbursed as follows: Invested in Centennial Stock, $4,670; donated to Mrs. Gillespie, for general purposes connected with the Woman's Department, $3, 156.29 ; . donated to State Building, $8,558.39.
Besides the above, the individual subscriptions from our State to the Stock of the Exhibition amounted to $6,574, making a total amount from all sources, of $146,958.68, or 5612 per cent. of the whole amount of State and individual stock subscriptions received from all the States and Territories of the Union, except- ing Pennsylvania and New York. The former subscribed to the stock $1,749,468, and the latter, $262,922. Of the latter, $10,000 was from the Legislature, for the use of the New York Board of Commissioners; the remaining sum was from individual sources.
The honor is claimed by the Commissioners from this State of having originated the erection of State buildings. These were found to be of vast importance to visitors from the State they represented; for as the season advanced, and the heat became oppressive, it was found that these resting-places were of great advantage, and become more and more a recognized necessity.
The Commissioners, in their report to the Legislature, speak as follows upon this point : "It was assumed that a larger ratio
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of our State population would frequent the Exhibition than pos- sibly any other State except Pennsylvania. This expectation was fully realized, and both our location and building admirably met the requirements of the occasion.
"The total number of registered names at the 'Headquarters' Mas one hundred and six thousand, and the largest registry on a single day was, of course, that of 'Jersey Day,' August 24th, when it numbered one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.
" Frequent daily estimates were made by those in charge to as- certain as nearly as possible what proportion of the visitors took the time and trouble to register, and it seemed to be fairly as- sumed that about one in ten, thus indicating a total of not less than one million of visitors, or a daily average of about 6,400. As a matter of course, every State and nation was represented in this mass, attracted thither, some by the propensity to follow the crowd, and others by the striking exterior of the building. Of the 106,000 registered names, it was found that about ten per cent. were not citizens of New Jersey."
This building was purchased and reerected, substantially in its original form, at Ha addonfield, Camden County, for the pur- poses of a town hall.
The New Jersey Commissioners also claim the credit of hav- ing been the originators of the State days, one of the attractive features of which was historical addresses relating to the partic- ular State represented. The Governors of each were to an- nounce by proclamation the days selected, and invite a general participation on the part of their citizens.
Governor Bedle selected August 24th for the reunion of the citizens of New Jersey. The authorities of the cities and towns were called upon to interest themselves, with a view to secure a very general representation at the Governor's reception at the State Building, which was to be one of the prominent ceremo- nies of the day.
" In the cities public meetings were held, and committees were appointed to make the necessary arrangements with rail- road companies for cheap transportation. It was the signal for an outpouring of the people from the remotest corners of our State, and it was estimated that not less than thirty thousand
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of our own State's people gathered to take part in the ceremo- nies of the day.
"The Centennial authorities and the citizens of Philadelphia were alive and anxious that the first State Day should be a suc- cess. A reception committee, composed of New Jersey residents in Philadelphia, had been appointed, consisting of E. C. Knight, chairman ; the Hon. Morton McMichael, Richard J. Dobbins, Hon. B. H. Brewster, Dr. Joseph Pancoast, Samuel Bishop, S. E. Stokes, J. B. Lippincott, Furman Sheppard, Edward Browning, James H. Stevenson, John W. Stokes, Louis A. Godey, Dr. E. C. Jayne, and Joseph H. Chapman.
" At eleven o'clock the above committee met Governor Bedle and a large party of his friends at the Centennial railroad depot, when the chairman, E. C. Knight, addressed the Governor as follows: 'On behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia we greet you and your friends and all the visitors from New Jersey to the Centennial with a hearty welcome. New Jersey, for her liberal subscription and many other good acts, is entitled to our warm- est thanks and consideration.'
"Governor Bedle responded by an expression of his hearty thanks, in the name of the people and commonwealth he rep- resented, for the welcome thus extended. He said the day was a proud one for Jersey and Jerseymen, and would be ever mem- orable to them, and expressed his special gratification in being received on the part of the city of Philadelphia by a delegation of gentlemen, of whom, as he had been informed, all were native Jerseymen.
" At the conclusion of the outside reception, the committee led the Governor and party across the avenue into the grounds, where they were met by members of the Board of Finance, with President John Welsh at the head, President J. R. Hawley an !! Director-General Goshorn, and the New Jersey Board of Com- missioners."*
The Governor was then escorted to the Judges' Hall to hear the address of Hon. Abram Browning, who had been selected for that purpose.
Mr. Browning spoke of the growth of New Jersey in popula-
* Centennial Commissioners' Report, pages 55, 56.
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tion and wealth, during the one hundred years of her existence as a State, as comparing favorably with that of her twelve sister States, with which, on the memorable fourth day of July, 1776, she commenced her career.
"On that day, now consecrated to civil liberty-in this country, at least-with a heroism almost without a parallel, she joined her sister colonies in the solemn Declaration which absolved them from all allegiance to the British Crown, and proclaimed them 'free and independent States.'
"The names of New Jersey's representatives-Stockton, With- erspoon, Hopkinson, Hart, and Clark-are signed to that august declaration, which now challenges and receives the admiration of the civilized world. With them she vowed. With them she bled. Her sons and soil bared their bosoms to the strife. The fields of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth were the hinges of the Revolution; on them despondency turned to hope. There courage took, afresh, the energy and endurance which crowned with laurels that eventful contest. We point to those . names and to those fields with pride. They are ours."
He then gave a history of the first English title to the terri- tory of which New Jersey is a part, in 1497, five years after the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, and of the claim subsequently laid by the Dutch, to that portion of New Jersey lying on the Hudson north of New York; and, in con- nection with the Swedes, who had also taken possession of the lands on the Delaware from Cohansey to Gloucester.
After giving an account of the first settlement by the English, Mr. Browning proceeded to the growth of New Jersey in popu- lation during the first one hundred years of her existence. Having ascertained from " Smith's History," published in 1765, that the population at that time was one hundred thousand, he computed for the ensuing eleven years to 1776, an increase of twenty-five thousand, making on the fourth day of July, 1776, as the total population of New Jersey one hundred and twenty- five thousand.
This computation was made for the reason that no United States census was made until 1790, fourteen years after the Declaration of Independence, seven years after the close of the
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war, and three years after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. In 1826, at the close of the first fifty years, the population of New Jersey was three hundred thousand. This shows an increase during the first half-century of- one hundred and seventy-five thousand, or one hundred and forty per cent.
"In 1875, one year before the close of the second half-cen- tury, the population was 1,019.413. Add one and one-fifth per cent. for the ensuing year, and we have at the close of the second half-century a population of 1,200,000 ; showing an increase of nine hundred thousand during the last fifty years, or three hun- dred per cent. instead of one hundred and forty per cent. during the preceding period of fifty years.
"In the first century, then, of her existence, New Jersey grew from one hundred and twenty-five thousand to one million two hundred thousand. Her population to-day is nearly, if not quite, ten times what it was in 1776. At this rate of increase during the coming century, New Jersey will contain on the fourth day of July, 1976, twelve millions of people, nearly equal to one-third of the entire population of the United States in 1870, and more than the aggregate populations of England, Ireland and Scotland one hundred years ago.
" The location of New Jersey, between the two great cities of the Union, favors her continued growth. It was not, however, so considered at the first. Those cities drew largely on the talent and enterprise of the State. Her bright young men especially, sought wealth and position in them. This led the philosophic but facetious Dr. Franklin, at his neighbor's ex- pense to perpetuate the witticism, that New Jersey resembled a beer barrel tapped at both ends, with all the live beer running into Philadephia and New York.
" This may have been so then; but the reverse is true now. They are paying us back with usury. 'The taps are spiled.' The overflow is from the cities into the State. Their wealth and refinement are fast building rival cities on our shores, and ornamenting our hills and valleys with palatial residences and sloping lawns. And our whole seacoast, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, is becoming brilliant with hotels and cottages for summer resort.
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" The growth of New Jersey in population compares favorably with that of the other twelve original States.
" In making the comparison I assume that at the Declaration of Independence the population of the thirteen States was two and a half millions. In verification of this, fourteen years after- wards, according to the census of 1790, their population was a fraction less than four millions.
"In 1776, as already stated, New Jersey had a population of 125,000 ; leaving for the other twelve States 2,375,000. In 1870, ninety-four years after, the population of New Jersey had increased to 906,096 ; while that of the others had become 15,992,096. New Jersey had increased her population seven and a quarter times; while the other twelve States had increased * theirs but six and three-quarter times. And this, notwithstanding the area of the twelve States is some forty times greater than that of New Jersey.
" While New Jersey has thus grown in population-more than keeping pace with her twelve sister States-the United States as a whole, have grown much more. From thirteen States, skirted along the Atlantic, they have become thirty-eight States, stretch- ing across the Continent to the Pacific. From a population of two and a half millions, their population has become forty mil- lions-sixteen times their original. At this rate of increase, a century hence the United States will contain a population of six hundred and forty millions-more than half the present popu- lation of the entire globe !"
In speaking upon the wealth of the State, Mr. Browning, among other things, said : "New Jersey has an area of about eight thousand square miles-equal to five million acres. These lands, with the improvements upon them, must have been the main wealth of the colonists a century ago."
" In order to liquidate New Jersey's quota of the expenses of the then late French War, by annual payments of forty thousand dollars, currency, to be assessed mainly on the lands of the several counties, it was, in substance, enacted in 1769, 'that all profitable tracts of land, held by deed, patent, or survey, where- on an improvement is made, the whole tract shall be valued, at the discretion of the assessors in each respective county of this
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colony,' not exceeding one dollar per acre, and not less than twenty-five cents.
" At this estimate 5,000,000 acres at $1 per acre would be . $5,000,000
" Improvements, including towns and villages . 5,000,000
" Personalty, now less than half, then certainly not more 5,000,000
" Making a total value of real and personal estate $15,000,000
" The population of New Jersey then (1776) was one hundred and twenty-five thousand. This total wealth, distributed, would be $120 for each inhabitant; or $600 for each family of five persons.
" According to the census of 1870, the real and personal pro- perty of the people of New Jersey was then (omitting fractions) nine hundred and forty-one million dollars, more than sixty times their wealth a century before. Her population has now become 1,200,000 ; their individual wealth $Soo instead of $120; and for each family of five persons, $4,000, instead of $600.
" In wealth New Jersey has kept pace with her sister States. Taking the census of. 1870, the true value of all the property, real and personal, of the people of the United States was, in round numbers, thirty thousand million dollars. This amount distributed equally to forty millions of people would give to each seven hundred and fifty dollars. The per capita shares of the people of New Jersey, in a distribution of their own wealth, is eight hundred dollars."
In speaking of soils he says: "In size, New Jersey is the thirty-third State of the Union. Thirty-two are each, except Massachusetts, very much larger. Omitting fractions, by the census of 1870 the farm lands of the United States, amounting to 408,000,000 acres, are valued at $9,263,000,000, and their annual product at $2,448,000,000. The average value is twenty- three dollars, and their annual product is six dollars per acre.
"New Jersey farms head the list. Her three million acres in farms (nearly two-thirds of the whole ) are valued at $258,000,000; their . annual products at $43,000,000. In value, therefore, eighty-six dollars per acre, nearly four times the general average ; and in product fourteen dollars and thirty cents, more than double the general average.
" It is thus proved that, either by superior culture or local
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advantages, or both, the farms of New Jersey are largely more valuable and productive than those of the other States."
In mining, taking the census of 1870, as heretofore, as the basis, he says: " While the capital invested in mining in New Jersey is, in actual amount, the twelfth of all the States of the Union, yet, in the ratio of its territory, it is the first of all the States of the Union, except Pennsylvania and Maryland. The net profits of mining throughout the country, simply as an in- dustry, were eighteen per cent. ; the profits in New Jersey at the same time were twenty-eight per cent., ten per cent. over the general average, and confining the estimate of profits to the twenty-three States in which mining constitutes a leading indus- try, New Jersey is the seventh on the list."
Upon the subject of manufacturing, Mr. Browning said : " While New Jersey is but the seventeenth in population, she is yet the eighth in the amount of capital invested in manufactures. Of the seven States having each a larger capital than New Jersey, six of them have severally populations ranging from one and a- half to five times that of hers. Connecticut only is less popu- lous.
" There is one branch of manufacture in New Jersey compar- atively new and growing in this country, which will justify, I think, particular mention. I refer to the manufacture of silk. In this our State occupies an advanced position.
"It appears by the census of 1870 that but seven States had then any capital invested in this manufacture; combined, it amounted to only about six million dollars, viz. :
New Jersey capital invested
$2,166,500
Pennsylvania
1,429,000
Connecticut
1,414,130
New York 800,500
Massachusetts 412,000
New Hampshire
5,000
Vermont
4,000
Total $6,231,130
"Of this capital, New Jersey had then invested a fraction over one-third.
" Since 1870 this industry has seemingly been concentrating
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itself at Paterson, in this State. Omitting fractions, the capital then invested at Paterson in silk manufacture was two millions ; in 1875 it was six millions. The number of operatives was then twenty-eight hundred ; now, eight thousand.
"Smith, in his History published in 1765, particularly enu- merates the church edifices of each county and of each sect. He made the number one hundred and sixty-nine. According to the census of 1870, there were then 1, 384 church edifices in New Jersey, valued at $18,347,150. The average of each church was $13,379 ; for each inhabitant, $20; and for each family of five persons, $100. And between 1765 and 1870 the number of church edifices had increased eight-fold, their aver- age value four-fold, their gross value six-fold, and their per cap- ita value five-fold."
Mr. Browning dwelt extensively on the admirable school- system of New Jersey. In consequence of the great length of the address, we have only indulged in random extracts. From that part of his address on common schools we can only make a few extracts.
He says, "the true value of all the property of the people of the United States, according to the estimate of the census of 1870, was a small fraction over $30,000,000,000. This was our national capital. Safely invested at four per cent., clear of all taxes and expenses, the national income would be $1, 200,000;000. In that year the several States, through their common-school organizations, raised for common-school purposes $81,277,686, a fraction less than seven per cent. of the entire national in- come. That is, the people of the United States contribute seven per cent. of their entire income to common-school educa- tion alone.
" What a magnificent charity is here! This great nation, considered as a whole, annually raises by voluntary taxation of her citizens and contributes an amount equal to seven per cent. of the entire net income of their property for the education of the children of the poor.
"Upon a carefully-prepared per capita list of the annual con- tributions of the several States to common-school education, and of the values of common-school property in the several
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States, I find that New Jersey stands number thirteen on the contribution list, and number eleven on the property list. Twelve States are above her, and twenty-five below. She has not been rash, nor yet slow, in well-doing. She was not the first, by any means, to abstract by taxation the property of one for the use of another. She stood long and firm in the ancient way that private property was sacred, except for actual public use, and then only upon just compensation to the owner, and not to the public. At length yielding to the necessity demanded by our peculiar institutions, she consented, on conviction, to make this great public charity the exception which proves the rule."
At the conclusion of the address, Mr. S. C. Brown, President of the State Board, invited the vast assemblage to visit the New Jersey State Building and take part in the Governor's reception ceremonies.
A long line was formed, headed by Governors Bedle and Hartranft, General J. R. Hawley, President John Welsh, Di- .rector-General Goshorn, the orator of the day, Hon. Abram Browning, ex-Governors Parker and Newell, ex-Senator Stock- ton, the State officers, members of the State Senate and House of Assembly, with hundreds of other prominent citizens.
Having arrived at the New Jersey State Building, Commis- sioner Brown delivered an address of welcome to his Excellency the Governor and all Jerseymen. Governor Bedle made an appropriate response in which he referred to the fact of their reception in Philadelphia on that occasion by native Jerseymen.
Addresses were then made by General Hawley and Mr. Welsh, President of the Board of Finance.
After which the party dined at the American Restaurant, where addresses were made by Governors Bedle and Hartranft, Samuel C. Brown, of Trenton, Furman Sheppard, District At- torney of the City of Philadelphia, ex-Senator Bettle, of Camden, Hon. Orestes Cleveland, of Jersey City, and Thomas H. Dudley, of Camden, member of the Centennial Finance Board.
As near as could be ascertained the total number of exhibitors from New Jersey was five hundred and two. Of the above number two hundred and sixty were located in the Main Build-
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ing, Machinery Hall, and their annexes. The number of articles embraced in these exhibits is stated at thirty-two thousand eight hundred and sixteen, their estimated value $198,852, and the cost of placing them on exhibition $88,013.
In the Agricultural Exhibit from this State, there were seven- ty-one different kinds of native woods growing wild in the State.
This first effort to collect the native woods of New Jersey was heartily seconded by all those who had opportunity to contribute. The specimens were all given by the owners of the lands where they grew.
E. H. Wright, of Stockholm, Passaic County, collected forty species and varieties-all these coming from Sussex and Passaic Counties. Nearly all of them were got in Vernon Township, Sussex County, and West Milford Township in Passaic County.
N. N. Crane & Co., of Caldwell, Essex County, collected ten species. These were from the valley of the Passaic River, near Caldwell.
George W. Mettler, of New Brunswick, gave three species.
E. F. Roberts, of South Amboy, gave two specimens.
Samuel W. Jones, Atlantic Township, Monmouth County, collected thirty-one species, most of them from his own farm.
I. G. Smock, Atlantic Township, Monmouth County, gave locust and sassafras, and collected five species.
Garret S. Luyster, of Middletown, Monmouth County, gave the box tree.
Hon. William I. James, of Toms River, Ocean . County, furnished the holly and magnolia.
H. A. Green, of Atco, Camden County, contributed ten species.
J. H. & M. M. Cook, of Hanover, gave a pin oak and a river birch.
In this department was also exhibited the various marls and fertilizers of the State ; soils and subsoils, consisting of Gneiss, Magnesian Limestone, Slate Soil, Triassic, Greensand Marl, Tertiary Formation, Drift, and Post-Tertiary Formations.
Of the State Geological Survey, there were on exhibition one thousand and thirty-eight specimens, and there were one hun- dred and ninety-three others intended for exhibition, but which
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HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
were not placed there, for want of room. These comprised Azoic, Silurian, Devonian, Triassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Recent Formations ; Minerals, Building Materials, Magnetic Iron Ores, Hematite, Zinc Ores, Ores of Copper, Lead and Arsenic, Clays (unclassified), Glass Sand, Sand for Casting, Moulding, etc., and miscellaneous products. Besides these, there were Metal lurgical Products, consisting of Zinc, both in the ore and manufactured into Statuettes, etc .; Iron, in all its different forms and varieties ; Fire Bricks, Bricks, Pottery, Tile and Glass Ware; Fossils; Geodetic, Geological, Topographical, Mine and Drainage Maps; Mine Model, and the various publications of the Geological Survey of the State from 1868 to 1875 inclusive.
The Educational Department made a display of which our State may well feel proud.
The exhibits were from the State Normal, Model, and Farnam Preparatory Schools, from the Public Schools in every county in the State, to the number of one thousand four hundred and twenty-two; from the College of New Jersey and Rutgers Col- lege, and from thirty-three of the principal private schools of the State.
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