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TOPICS IN NEW-JERSEY.
DEMOCRATS AND THE PRESIDENTIAL SITUATION.
THE JERSEY CITY ELECTION AND GOVERNOR
ABBETT'S SENATORIAL ASPIRATIONS-SUM-
MER RESORTS-NEWARK SAVINGS INSTI-
TUTION-THE READING LEASE BILL
Trenton, N. J., April 10 (Special). The Democrats of the State have been giving what time they had to spare from the Jersey City election to intense thought upon the Presidential nomination, and from indications of the last week they are not far from concluding that they will have to vote for Cleveland at the Chicago Convention in spite of themselves. Hill has been the favorite of the practical politicians at all times and it has been one of the most amusing sights in the world to view the sadness with which these gentlemen have gradually realized that outside of their own select circles Mr. Hill is regarded as so bad and dangerous a man that even New-Jersey would probably reject him at the polls. The intention has been to have a candidate from New Jersey. It is a safe refuge for a party which does not want to commit itself; but it would now be impossible to make a candidate of Governor Abbett, even for such a purpose, and Senator McPherson could only obtain the honor by making a solomn agreement to quit the United States Senate forthwith. Altogether, it looks now as if the Democrats of the State would resignedly agree to support Mr. Cleveland, and a good many of them would be just as willing to see Mr. Harrison re-elected as to have four years more of Cleveland.
Governor Abbett's fortunes are 1Anging upon the Jersey City result, in a certain sense; that is, if McDermott is defeated for Mayor, the Governor will not survive the blow politically. If McDermott should win, the Governor will have a deal of work to do in any case; but he will still have hopes. Democrats say that he may be elected United States Senator next year if the Democratic majority on joint ballot is large enought. There is no political observer who thinks his election is possible if the Democratic majority does not exceed half a dozen. Most persons doubt whether he will be permitted to win in any case. One of the singular phases of his career in the last twelve-month has been his willingness to personally offend men of very considerable power. Secretary Kelsey, for instance, is said to be bound to support Mr. Abbett by reason of having received reappointment at his hands. Yet on one occasion at least Mr. Kelsey was cruelly humiliated by the Governor in the presence of men whose respect he cares much for, and it is impossible to belleve that the Secretary could forget the occurrence or fall of revenge when opportunity offered. The Governor's Senatorial aspiration has been the factor which controlled occurrences in Democratic politics for five years, and as the time draws near for a decision the strange drama increases in Interest.
The Jersey City campaign is doing a lot of good, whatever the result is to be. The Republicans have presented an indictment of fraud, thievery and crime against the Democratic ring which has controlled the city for many years, and their case has been proved abundantly by a cloud of witnesses. Everybody in New-Jersey knows these charges against the ring are true. Eut it was not expected that they would have the Democratic confirmation they have received. It would have seemed impossible a month ago that the leading Democrats of Jersey City should assail the ring's rule with such bitterness as their words have implied. And lately it has been Mr. McDermott himself who has led the van. Why, he has sung the song of municipal reform for the last week as sweetly as if he had learned it in boyhood and chanted it day and night ever since. The cause of this amazing development in McDermott is not far to seek. The case against the Jersey City ring has been proved so conclusively that a defence has been impossible. The solitary avenue of escape for Mr. McDermott, if that indeed has been open, has been to join the hue and ery and shout "Stop thief!" just as loudly as any of the rest. It is an old dodge, of course, but it has some curious effects, and among them has been a silent determination on the part of some of the ring to get even with the man who has not had the courage to defend them.
The development of Lakewood from Bricksburg and of Brown's Mills-in-the-Pines from Brown's Mills, and of Atlantic City as a winter resort from a seaside summer excursion place, and the rest of the wonderful changes which the increased desire of the American public to loaf has accomplished in the last ten years, have put an idea into the heads of those who conduct much more modest resorts. It has been successfully argued that there are many persons who like to be fashionable and cannot afford it at $5 a day, and to meet the demands of this class there are a number of small resorts along the Jersey coast and back in the pine region which have made a bid this season for the patronage of the less wealthy classes, and there are large possibilities already developed in this line which will no doubt be realized in due course of time. The fact is that nearly all of the little resorts are much pleasanter places at any time of the year than during the months of July and August. For one reason the cooking is vastly better. In the summer rush the kitchen is in charge of a cook from the city. Just how bad it is thousands will testify with tears. But the average Jersey hotel-keeper's wife is naturally a good housekeeper. In the season she disappears; out of the season she is attending to her household just as any other housewife. A clean table and well-cooked, simple food take the place of the "summer boarder" meals, and it is possible to enjoy oneself hugely without the annoyances which the crowd brings. Scores of such places are available. and if there is any genuine desire to recruit health they offer all that more expensive places yield in practical advantages.
The failure of Governor Abbett to approve the Electric Railroad bill, which passed the Legislature unanimously, has been a matter of astonishment. The electric railroad system in New Jersey citles has been a great boon, and the demand for the act-which simply gave cities the right to control the matter for themselves-was practically universal. Before the railroads had fairly got running, suite had been begun by some property-owners, and the Supreme Court had decided that existing law was not sufficient. The Legislature passed the needed law unanimously and since then two of the litigants, at least, have become identified with electric railroad systems, and public opinion has been unqualifiedly in favor of extending the roads as rapidly as possible. In the face of all this, the Governor refuses to sign the act, for no earthly reason that can be discovered. The demand for electric roads is so great that in spite of the failure of the act, many of them will be bulit, the proprietors being thoroughly satisfied that the necessary legislation must come next year, and feeling that where sentiment is bo vigorous it doesn't make much difference just what the law happens to be for the time being.
The Newark S Savings Institution is about to disappear, and never was the end of an old institution more welcome. The bank failed owing depositora millions. An arrangement was made by which the bank reorganized, was allowed to pay off its indebtedness as slowly as it pleased, and was permitted to receive new deposits, all under the control and by permission of the Court of Chancery. The first failure had been caused by bad Investments, yet the managers went to the same Wall Street speculators and dabbled in the same stocks which had caused the first collapse, and a new fallure was the natural and legitimate result. The liabilities this time were $6,000,000. The whole matter was then put in a receiver's hands, and has there remained for years. The "old account" has been paid in full, and there was some surplus even. The sale of real estate and the realization of other assets sufficed after a time to pay depositors 89 1-2 per cent, and the negligent managers were compelled to pay $100,000 toward this. The remaining assets were $1,200,000 of Chesapeake and Ohio second preferred stock, and $176,000 of Old Dominion Land Company stock with some other odds and ends-the scrapings of Fish & Hatch's office after the failure of that firm, which also carried down the bank. The receiver has at last sold the Chesapeake and Ohio stock at a good price and has good offers for the Old Dominion stock, and will thus have enough to pay every depositor in full in sixty