1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/New Jersey

NEW JERSEY (see ).—In 1920 the pop. was 3,155,900, as against 2,537,167 in 1910, an increase of 618,733, or 24.4%, as compared with 14.9% for the United States as a whole. The density of pop., exceeded only by that of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, averaged 420 to the sq. mile in 1920. The proportion of people living in places of 2,500 or more inhabitants increased from 75.2% in 1910 to 78.7% in 1920, the urban pop. in 1920 being 2,482,289, the rural, 673,611. The growth of pop. of the ten largest cities during the decade 1910-20 is shown in the following table:&mdash;

Political History.—Woodrow Wilson was elected governor in 1910 as candidate of the Democratic party, receiving a plurality of 49,056. His success in the state campaign, and the character of his administration, attracted the attention of the whole country and led to his nomination and election to the presidency in 1912. In each of the seven presidential elections after 1892 the electoral vote of New Jersey was cast for the candidate of the Republican party except that of 1912, when Wilson, owing to the split in the Republican ranks, secured a plurality of 24,873. He lost the state to Hughes in 1916 by 57,707 plurality. In 1920 Harding, Republican, received 611,670 votes; Cox, Democrat, 258,229. In the elections for the state executive the Democratic party was successful in 1910, 1913 and 1919, the Republicans winning in 1916. The Legislature also varied in party affiliation during this period, but from 1914 the Republicans obtained the control of both Houses. In 1921, of the 21 Senators, 15 were Republicans, 6 Democrats; in the Assembly there was but one Democrat, the other 59 were Republicans, of whom two were women. In the sixty-seventh Congress of the United States both New Jersey's Senators were Republican, and of the state's 12 Representatives but one was a Democrat.

New Jersey's governors were: Woodrow Wilson 1911-3; James F. Fielder (acting), 1913; Leon R. Taylor (acting), 1914; James F. Fielder, 1914-7; Walter E. Edge, 1917-9; William H. Runyon (acting), 1919; Edward I. Edwards, 1920-.


 * (A. Sc.)