526 



NEW YORK. 



Fifth, the war of the rebellion. 



The work of transcribing the muster rolls of the 

 New York colonial organizations from 1715 to 1755 

 was accomplished. These transcribed rolls were 

 completed in one volume to 1755, and contain the 

 names of over 4,000 Americans. It is ready for 

 publication, and will form the first volume of the 

 history of the State under the enabling act of 1895. 



The State Capitol. Bids for completing the 

 Capitol building by contract were received and ac- 

 cepted. The work of completing the eastern ap- 

 proach and side terraces and the western staircases 

 was carried on by day labor. The building will be 

 completed by contract and the contractors are at 

 work. The Legislature in 1896 appropriated $500,- 

 000 for the contract work and $310,000 for day 

 labor. An additional appropriation of $856,388 

 will be needed to complete the contract work, and 

 more than $200,000 additional will be necessary to 

 finish the work that is being performed by day 

 labor. 



Greater New York. In 1890 a commission was 

 created by an act of the Legislature to inquire into 

 the expediency of consolidating the city of New 

 York and the various municipalities and towns in 

 the State of New York composing its suburbs. This 

 commission presented a bill to the Legislature in 

 1893 submitting the question of municipal consoli- 

 dation to a vote of the people of the various cities 

 and towns proposed to be consolidated, but the bill 

 failed to reach a vote. A year later the bill was 

 again introduced and became a law. In 1895 the 

 question was submitted to the people, with a favor- 

 able result from New York, Kings County, Queens 

 County, Richmond County, East Chester, and Pel- 

 ham, while Mount Vernon and West Chester voted 

 against the bill. The territory to be included with- 

 in Greater New York includes "all municipal cor- 

 porations and parts of such corporations other than 

 counties wil hin the territory covered by the coun- 

 ties of Kings and Richmond, Long Island City, the 

 towns of Newtown, Flushing, and Jamaica, and that 



art of Hempstead in Queens County west of a line 

 rawn from Flushing between Rockaway Beach 

 and Shelter Island to the ocean." The new me- 

 tropolis will have an area of 359 square miles and 

 a population of over 3,100,000. The bill that pro- 

 vided for the consolidation was passed by the Legis- 

 lature of 1896, and required that a commission be 

 appointed to report a charter by Feb. 1, 1897. On 

 June 9 Gov. Morton named the following commis- 

 sion : For New York city, Seth Low, Benjamin F. 

 Tracy, John F. Dillon, and Ashbel P. Fitch ; for 

 Brooklyn, Stewart L. Woodford, Silas B. Butcher, 

 and William C. De Witt; for Richmond County, 

 George M. Pinney, Jr. ; for Queens County, Garret 

 J. Garretson. 



The members of the commission named by the 

 Consolidation act are: Andrew H. Green, Cainpbell 

 W. Adams, Theodore E. Hancock, William L. Strong, 

 Frederick W. Wurster, Patrick J. Gleason. 



Mr. Fitch being unwilling to serve, Thomas F. 

 Gilroy, ex-Mayor of New York city, was appointed 

 to his place. Toward the close of the year Garret 

 J. Garretson, having been elected a justice of the 

 Supreme Court, resigned from the commission, and 

 on Dec. 30 Harrison S. Moore was appointed to the 

 vacancy. At the close of the year 13 chapters of 

 the Greater New York charter had been made pub- 

 lic. The consolidation will take place on Jan. 1, 

 1898, and a mayor for the new city will be elected 

 in the autumn of 1897. 



Political. A Republican State convention was 

 held in New York city on March 24. The gather- 

 ing was called to order by Chairman Charles W. 

 Hackett. of the State committee. Congressman 

 George N. Southwick was made permanent chair- 



man, and a platform was adopted with planks de- 

 claring a " firm and unyielding adherence to the 

 doctrine of protection to American industries, pro- 

 tection to the products of the American farm, and 

 protection to American labor"; also that "while 

 gold remains the standard of the United States and 

 of the civilized world, the Republican party of New 

 York declares itself in favor of the firm ami honor- 

 able maintenance of that standard." On this plat- 

 form the name of Gov. Levi Parsons Morton was 

 presented as "New York's Republican candidate 

 for President." The four delegates at large and 

 the candidates for presidential electors were then 

 chosen. 



A Democratic State convention was held in Sara- 

 toga Springs on June 24. The meeting was called 

 to order by James W. Hinkley, chairman of the 

 Democratic State Committee/ and John Boyd 

 Thacher made temporary chairman. Later the 

 temporary officers were confirmed as permanent 

 officers of the meeting. The platform declared : 

 " 1, In favor of gold and silver as the standard 

 money of the country ; 2, that " the Democratic- 

 party has ever been and still is the hard-money 

 party, and it will still preserve that record " ; 3, i't 

 testified to an " adherence to the principle of a tariff 

 for revenue only." The delegates and alternates to 

 represent New York at the national convention 

 were chosen and instructed to vote as a unit. 



A State convention of the members of the Prohi- 

 bition party was held in Syracuse on Aug. 19-20. 

 Francis E. Baldwin presided, and after the adoption 

 of a platform the following State ticket was nomi- 

 nated : Governor, William W. Smith; Lieutenant 

 Governor, Dr. Charles H. Latimer ; and Judge of 

 the Court of Appeals. Darius Root. 



A Republican State convention was held in Sara- 

 toga Springs on Aug. 25-26. It was called to order 

 by Benjamin B. Odell, of the State Executive Com- 

 mittee, and Frank S. Black was named as tempo- 

 rary chairman. Subsequent to the appointment of 

 the committees Stewart L. Woodford was made 

 permanent chairman. A platform was adopted 

 favoring " the present gold standai'd " and approv- 

 ing the nominations of the national convention. 

 On State issues it included the following : 



" The Republican party has redeemed its pledge 

 to enact a just measure of excise reform. The 

 Raines liquor-tax law, passed by Republican votes 

 as a Republican measure, against the bitter oppo- 

 sition of the Democratic party, has won, as it has 

 deserved, the warm and general approval of public 

 opinion. Nearly three fourths of the liquor-tax 

 certificates have been granted for only ten months, 

 and yet the revenues to the State are more than 

 $3.500,000. The rate of taxation for State purposes 

 is 2 - 69 mills, and at this rate the receipts from the 

 Raines act are equivalent to the placing on the tax 

 rolls for State taxation the vast sum of $1,300,000.- 

 000 of taxable property. More than $7,000,000, 

 moreover, has been placed by this law in the local 

 treasuries of the cities and towns, and that is 

 equivalent at the same rate to the placing on 

 the rolls for local taxation of the further sum of 

 $2.600,000,000." 



The names of the following candidates for Gov- 

 ernor were presented : George W. Aldridge, Hamil- 

 ton Fish, James A. Roberts, Charles T. Saxton, 

 Archie E. Baxter, James W. Wadsworth, Frank S. 

 Black. Edgar T. Brackett, John Palmer, J. Sloat 

 Fassett, Timothy E. Ellsworth. Benjamin B. Odell, 

 Jr., Clarence Lexow, Frank Hiscock. After four 

 ballots for the highest office, the following ticket 

 was chosen : Governor, Frank S. Black ; Lieutenant 

 Governor, Timothy L. Woodruff; and Associate 

 Judge of the Court of Appeals, Irving G. Vann. A 

 new State committee was also chosen. 



