546 



NEW YORK. 



lature was materially changed, and the com- 

 pensation of members fixed at $1,000 a year, 

 bat the Legislature in considering the amend- 

 ments restored the old provisions regarding 

 organization, and fixed the salaries at $1,500. 

 Section 8 is amended by rendering those 

 ineligible to the Legislature who are at the 

 time of the election, or have been within one 

 hundred days prior thereto, members of Con- 

 gress, or civil or military officers under the 

 United States, or officers under a city govern- 

 ment. Section 15 provides that no private 

 or local law shall embrace more than one sub- 

 ject, which shall be named in the title ; and 

 that no law shall be revived or amended by 

 reference to its title only, but the act revived 

 or the section amended shall be inserted at 

 length. Also, that no general law shall em- 

 brace any provision of a private or local char- 

 acter. Section 17, changing the method of 

 considering bills, was stricken out by the 

 Legislature, as was also section 18, providing 

 that no private, special, or local bill shall be 

 introduced after the first sixty days of a session 

 without the consent of three-fourths of the 

 members. Section 19 prohibits special and local 

 bills, in certain specified cases, and requires the 

 enactment of general laws covering these cases. 

 Other changes in the article make a three-fifths 

 vote necessary for the passage of all laws im- 

 posing taxes or creating debt, and forbid the. 

 Legislature, and common councils of cities, 

 and supervisors of counties, to grant extra 

 compensation to any officer or agent for his 

 services. Article IV., as amended, changes 

 the official term of the Governor and Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor to three years, provides that the 

 Governor shall receive an annual salary of 

 $10,000, and the use of a furnished residence; 

 that the Lieutenant-Governor shall receive a 

 salary of $4,000; that it shall require a two- 

 thirds vote of all the members elected in each 

 branch of the Legislature to pass an act over 

 the Governor's veto ; that no Dill shall become 

 a law after the adjournment of the Legislature 

 unless approved by the Governor within thirty 

 days; that the Governor may veto particular 

 items in an appropriation bill without veto- 

 ing the entire bill. The only modification 

 afterward made by the Legislature to these 

 amendments was to put the salary of the 

 Lieutenant-Governor at $5,000 a year. Arti- 

 cle V. provides that the Controller shall be 

 elected at the same time, and for the same terra 

 as the Governor, and receive $6,000 a year. 

 The Secretary of State, Attorney-General, and 

 State Engineer, are to be appointed by the 

 Governor, and hold office until the expiration 

 nl" his term. A Superintendent ofStatc-prisons 

 is to be appointed by the Governor for a term 

 of five years, to have control of the prisons, 

 and perform the duties now imposed on the 

 State-prison Inspectors. The Treasurer is to be 

 chosen by the Legislature in joint convention for 

 a term of three years. The Controller, Secre- 

 tary of State, Attorney-General, Treasurer, and 



State Engineer, and Surveyor, constitute the 

 Commissioners of the Land-Office. Tin- i 



of commissioner of the canal-fund is kbolilbed, 

 and his duties transferred to the Controller. 

 A ."u|>crintendent of Public Works is to be 

 appointed by the Governor, and added also to 

 the Canal Hoard as now constituted. He is 

 authorized to appoint three assistants, and is 

 charged with the execution of all laws relating 

 to the repairs, navigation, construction, and 

 improvement of the canals, the canal commis- 

 sioners being abolished. All offices for weigh- 

 ing, ganging, measuring, and inspecting mer- 

 chandise, are abolished. The Legislature, in 

 considering the amendments to this article, 

 made the office of Secretary of State elective, 

 and added the Lieutenant-Governor to the 

 Commissioners of the Land Office. Article 

 VI. was amended in the eighteenth section 

 only wherein is inserted a provision that judi- 

 cial officers of courts, not of record, in cities 

 having a population of not less than three 

 hundred thousand, shall be appointed by the 

 Governor. 



Article VII. is amended as follows: To sec- 

 tion 3 is added a provision that no extra com- 

 pensation shall be made to nny contractor, but 

 the Canal Board may, upon the application of 

 a contractor, annul the contract where cause 

 is shown. Section G limits the canals that may 

 not be sold to the Erie, Oswego, Champluiii, 

 Cayuga, and Seneca^ and the expenses thereon 

 to the gross receipts of the previous year. 

 Sections 13 and 14 are transferred to Article 

 III., and in their place are provisions that the 

 sinking funds for the canal debt shall be sepa- 

 rately kept and safely invested, and not used 

 for other purposes; and that the statute of 

 limitations shall apply to demands against the 

 State. 



Three additional articles were propos.-d. 

 The first of these, to bo known as Article XV., 

 related to the government of cities, and was 

 stricken out by the Legislature. Article XVI. 

 has reference to official corruption. 



Article XVII. simply provides that these 

 nmendments shall be in force from the 15th of 

 January following the election at which they 

 are ratified. The amendments must receive 

 the sanction of the Legislature of 1874 before 

 being submitted to a popular vote. 



A case was decided in the Superior Court 

 of New York City in June, which gave Mrs. 

 A very D. Putnam a verdict of $5,000 against 

 a horse-railroad company, because her husband 

 wns killed by a drunken man on one of its cars. 

 An appeal was taken, and in February, 1874, 

 the- Court of Appeals reversed the decision, 

 holding that the company was not liable so 

 long as its servants wore not appealed to, to 

 remove the drunken man from the car. A 

 decision was rendered by Judge Ward Hunt. 

 affecting the right of women to vote. Miss 

 Susan B. Anthony, of Rochester, had scoured 

 the registration of her name and voted, claim- 

 ing the right under the fourteenth amendment 



