572 



NEW YORK. 



to occupy a still larger share of attention in the 

 Legislature of 1881 than in that of 1880. 



The subject of regulating railroad traffic was 

 brought before the Legislature by the report 

 of the Assembly investigating committee, of 

 which A. B. Hepburn was the chairman. This 

 committee had been appointed in 1879, and had 

 conducted its inquiries during a large part of 

 that year. The report, including all the evi- 

 dence taken, filled four bulky volumes. The 

 investigation had taken a wide range, and ex- 

 hausted all questions of abuses and irregulari- 

 ties in management. The conclusions of the 

 committee were that charges in regard to 

 discriminations, special rates, secret rebates, 

 " stock- watering," etc., were fully proved; 

 that the necessity existed for restrictive legis- 

 lation, and that the State had the requisite 

 authority for bringing the corporations under 

 the regulation of law. A series of six acts 

 was submitted to the Legislature for its ap- 

 proval, as affording the measure of relief 

 deemed of immediate importance. The first 

 of these was an amendment of the general law 

 of 1850 restricting the increase of their capital 

 by railroad companies. It provides that an in- 

 crease shall be made only when necessary to 

 effect the legitimate purpose of raising new 

 capital for construction or operation, and then 

 only with the concurrence of two thirds of the 

 stockholders and the approval of the State 

 Engineer. The second provided that when two 

 or more companies were consolidated, the stock 

 capital of the resulting corporation should not 

 be greater than the sum of the capitals of the 

 companies of which it was formed. The agree- 

 ment for a consolidation was also required to 

 be subject to the approval of two thirds in in- 

 terest of the stockholders. The third measure 

 regulated voting at meetings of stockholders, 

 and prohibited voting on proxies furnished by 

 persons to whom stock had been pledged. Tbe 

 fourth was known as the " Anti-discrimination 

 Bill," and required equal facilities under the 

 same circumstances to be furnished to all cus- 

 tomers on equal terms. It forbade discrimi- 

 nations between persons and all secret or spe- 

 cial rates, and prohibited a higher charge for a 

 shorter than for a longer distance. The fifth, 

 known as the " Commission Bill," provided for 

 three railroad commissioners, to have super- 

 vision over the operations of railroad com- 

 panies, and to see that all laws in regard to 

 them were enforced. The commissioners were 

 required to make investigation of accidents and 

 of complaints against the companies, and to 

 make annual reports to the Legislature. The 

 sixth of the bills submitted by the committee 

 provided for fuller reports to be made by the 

 railroad companies, specifying all the various 

 items to be included. A supplementary report 

 was afterward made in regard to the leasing 

 of the elevated railroads in New York City, and 

 a bill was submitted with it, intended to pre- 

 vent a virtual "watering" of stock by the 

 lease of the property of one or more companies 



to another having no property of its own, but 

 issuing and disposing of stock representing no 

 outlay of capital. 



Four of the six original bills were passed 

 without material change, and with no very 

 strenuous opposition, but the " Anti-discrimi- 

 nation " and " Commission" Bills were strongly 

 opposed by the railroad interest, especially the 

 former of the two. This opposition had much 

 effect, particularly in the Senate. The Com- 

 mission Bill, after being favorably dealt with in 

 the Assembly in the first stages of its progress, 

 was unaccountably defeated on the third read- 

 ing, and a motion to reconsider, of which 

 notice was given, never came to a vote. So 

 this measure did not reach the Senate. The 

 Anti-discrimination Bill passed the Assembly, 

 but in the Senate was so far modified as to 

 make it unacceptable to the former body. It 

 was finally sent to a conference committee 

 which failed to agree, and it was therefore lost 

 at the close of the session. The supplementary 

 bill in regard to leases passed the Assembly, 

 but in the Senate was sent to a committee 

 which never reported it. 



The question of railroad regulation continued 

 to be a prominent topic of public discussion 

 throughout the year, the Chamber of Com- 

 merce of New York City taking an energetic 

 part in support of the policy of regulation. 



The other legislation of the session was 

 unimportant. The resolution proposing an 

 amendment of the Constitution for biennial 

 sessions of the Legislature failed in the Senate. 

 There were some minor changes made in the 

 election laws. Among these were the require- 

 ment of separate ballots for " county " and 

 "judicial" officers, and a provision for uni- 

 formity in the ballots, requiring them to be 

 of plain white paper, without distinguishing 

 marks, and printed in plain type and black ink, 

 with a caption " in one straight line, in black 

 ink, with plain type of the size now generally 

 known and designated as 'great primer Roman 

 condensed capitals.' " 



The State Comptroller addressed to the Gov- 

 ernor the following charges regarding the man- 

 agement of the Binghamton Asylum : 



STATE OF NEW YORK, COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, 



ALBANY, April 23, 1880. 

 To his Excellency A. B. Cornell, Governor, etc. 



SIR : The very large appropriation asked for by the 

 Trustees of the Binghamton Asylum for the Chronic 

 Insane, greatly in excess of the sum originally thought 

 sufficient to make the necessary alterations in the In- 

 ebriate Asylum building to lit it for its new uses, 

 having attracted my attention, I requested Mr. Letch- 

 worth, President of the State Board of Charities, and 

 Mr. Gallien, the Deputy-Comptroller, to proceed to 

 Binghamton and make an examination of the expendi- 

 tures of the said board. I have the honor to submit 

 their report. 



I have carefully considered the facts therein men- 

 tioned, and have arrived at the following conclusions : 



1. The Trustees have violated the law, in that they 

 have departed materially from the plans approved by 

 the State Board of Charities, and have neglected to 

 submit for approval other plans, specifications, and 

 estimates involving large expenditures. 





