NEW YORK. 



619 



to be used, and the extent to which such right shall 

 be exercised or delegated, are questions to be deter- 

 mined by the Legislature and not by the courts. 

 Whether the use is in its nature public or private is 

 the question upon which the right of the Legislature 

 to interfere with private property depends. That 

 question can only be determined by judicial inquiry / 

 and all the cases in which the action of the Legisla- 

 ture condemning or authorizing the condemnation 

 of private property has been sustained, are founded 

 upon the concession or adjudication that the use for 

 wmch the property is taken is, in its nature, pub- 

 lic." (66 N. Y., 572.) And in that case the Court 

 decided that the delegation of the right of eminent 

 domain to rural cemetery associations incorporated 

 under the general laws of this State is for a private 

 and not a public purpose, and therefore unconstitu- 

 tional and void. 



Under the provisions of an act that was 

 adopted, a married woman, of the age of twen- 

 ty-one years or more, may execute a power 

 of attorney in like manner as if she were 



By another act every person in the State 

 who shall either verbally or by written or 

 printed communication threaten to accuse an- 

 other of any offense, or shall threaten to com- 

 municate or to publish or in any manner to 

 use information or documents or statements 

 that are alleged to be injurious to the personal 

 reputation or to the business standing of any 

 other person, with intent by any such threat- 

 ening to extort any property or to derive any 

 pecuniary or valuable benefit whatever to the 

 person making such threat, shall be guilty of a 

 crime and made subject to severe penalties. 



A concurrent resolution providing for bien- 

 nial sessions of the Legislature failed to be 

 adopted. 



The report of the acting Superintendent of 

 the Banking Department for the year 1877, 

 which was presented late in the session, shows 

 that the total deposits during the year de- 

 clined, and the aggregate number of depositors 

 was also less. The aggregate falling off in 

 amount of deposits is nearly four millions of 

 dollars. The transactions during the year were 

 smaller in their volume. More accounts were 

 opened than were closed. The total amount 

 on deposit is greater than it was on January 

 1, 1874, by some thirty -three millions. These 

 facts show that the number of persons availing 

 themselves of the opportunities of savings banks 

 has increased, while their average savings have 

 diminished. 



At the close of- the year 1877 the fire, fire- 

 marine, and marine insurance companies, do- 

 ing business in the State, were possessed of 

 $165,396,071.36 of admitted assets, not in- 

 cluding assets held abroad by foreign compa- 

 nies, or premium notes of mutual companies; 

 a decrease of $8,303,658.16 as compared with 

 the sum reported the preceding year. The 

 liabilities of these companies, excepting scrip 

 and capital, amounted to $49,650,145.93, which 

 is $2,464,799.25 less than was then returned. 

 The income of the year was $73,733,432.80, 

 and the expenditures $69,775,075.27; a de- 

 crease of $3,413,055.39 in income, and an in- 



crease of $1,144,167.17 in expenditures, as 

 compared with the previous year. 



The Railroad Committee of the Assembly 

 made a report upon the anthracite coal and 

 railroad combination. From this it appears 

 that the u Anthracite Board of Control " con- 

 sists of seven railroad and coal com panics, some 

 organized under charters from New York and 

 the rest from Pennsylvania. These companies 

 have united in order to regulate coal produc- 

 tion and coal transportation, and above all to 

 raise as high as possible the cost of coal to the 

 consumer. The objects constantly kept in view 

 by the combination are high rates of freight 

 and high prices of coal. In describing the 

 history of the combination the report shows 

 that it had its genesis in the period of infla- 

 tion. During the war and for some time after 

 its close, in the flush times of inflation, the 

 combination succeeded in raising the price of 

 coal to $13 a ton. As consumption steadily 

 increased notwithstanding the enormous price, 

 money streamed into the coffers of the compa- 

 nies at such a rate that they hardly knew what 

 to do with it. In the expectation that this 

 golden shower would last for ever, they built 

 railroads to all points of the compass to supply 

 every corner of the land with coal. At the 

 same time they bought or leased more land, 

 and produced as if this generation were de- 

 termined to consume all the wealth of coal 

 hidden in the bowels of the earth. The mania 

 to extend the trade to all quarters at any cost 

 did not cease even with the financial crisis of 

 1873, which caused a rapid decline in consump- 

 tion. The network of railroads was extended 

 with the determination of compelling the world 

 to consume as much coal as could be produced. 

 But even this gigantic effort could not prevail 

 against the laws of trade, and some of the 

 heaviest companies ceased to pay dividends. 

 Stocks next were watered, which afforded tem- 

 porary relief, but in the end the condition was 

 worse. There were enormous supplies of coal 

 for which there were no customers, mines which 

 were not worked, railroads which could not 

 be employed, and rolling-stock for which there 

 was no use. It is not strange that the com- 

 panies grew poor, and that they were driven to 

 a combination as a means of improving the sit- 

 uation. The report proceeds to show that pri- 

 vate operators who did not follow the fashion 

 of inflation would be in a condition to deliver 

 their coal much cheaper and make a decent 

 profit if they were not dependent upon the com- 

 panies for transportation. The chief ground 

 for complaint against the companies consists in 

 the fact that they arbitrarily fix the charges 

 for transportation, with the undesirable ob- 

 ject of driving small producers from the field 

 of competition. The Committee finds that 

 an amicable agreement of the companies for 

 the regulation of coal production, which is 

 the express object of the combination, is not 

 in contravention of their charters; that the 

 favoring of some customers to the injury of 



