672 



NEW YORK. 



And this with the following in contrast to the above 

 in single districts : 



Representatives Population 



the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario, and others are 

 scarcely less incongruous. To specify the localities 

 which are wronged either in the location or in the pop- 

 ulation of the Senate districts, would be to call the roll 

 of half the counties in the State. That these wrongs 



Delaware 41,626 we re in nearly every case unnecessary is the common 



Madison 41.114 testimony of all who are familiar with the subject 



BtSwwnoB 78 082 In the distribution of members of Assembly the bill 



Ontario 45,'403 * s sti11 . further from meeting the requirements of the 



Cattaraiigus. ! ! I!"!.'!!!.'.'!!.'.'!!.' 2 45*771 Constitution. I find that Cattaraugus County, with 



Columbia '. . 2 46,ai8 45,737 inhabitants, has two members ; while Suffolk, 



Washington 46,874 with 50,330, is given but one. Orange, with 82,225 



Wayne 47,623 inhabitants, has but two members, while St. Lawrence, 



Niagara 4J.691 with only 78,014. gets three. Nor can I understand 



UIBe g * a '" a * the philosophy which gives to the latter county, with 



78,000 inhabitants, the same representation as Monroe, 



SENATORIAL DISTRICTS. w hi c h exceeds it in population V nearly 50,000. 



1 These discrepancies are not to be explained. They 



DISTRICTS. CounUw. Reprwentativ* admit of no apology or excuse. They are of the same 



pop " class as the so-called necessity which entirely de- 



Twentieth.... Herkimer and Otsego 89,888 P, ri Y e8 150 > 000 ^habitants in New York and Kings of 



Eighteenth. . . . Jefferson and Lewis . . . 90^596 tn ?i r n R r P er representation. 



Twenty-sixth. Ontario, Yates, and Seneca... 91,064 While lor the reasons stated I am not willing to 



Sixteenth Clinton, Essex, and Warren ... 101,827 sign the bill, it is permitted to pass into a law by 



Twenty-sixth . Cayuga and Wayne 106,120 lapse of time, as a lesser evil than a continued neglect 



of the entire constitutional direction on the subject. 



With the following districts showing a most unjust r ,, 



contrast: ^ e following act to regulate the rate of m- 



terest was also passed, receiving in the Assem- 



DISTRICTS. counties. ^'"^ton ^7 on ^ seventeen negative votes : 



'__ SECTION!. The rate of interest upon the loan or for- 



Third Kings 292,258 bearance of any money, goods, or things in action shall 



Eighth ............ New York 235,482 be six dollars upon one hundred dollars for one year, 



Seventh New York 173,225 and after that rate for a greater or less sum, or for a 



Second 5' ng8 v "C 172,725 longer or shorter time. But nothing herein contained 



Ife7<j80 shall be so construed as to in any way affect any con- 

 tract or obligation made before the passage of this act. 



These large dictncts have but one Senator each, and g EC . 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the 



the record given is not upon the gross, but upon the provisions of this act are hereby repealed, 



representative population. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect the first day of Jan- 



Subsequently an apportionment bill was uarv > 188 - 



passed by the Legislature, which gave to New The vexatious question of the taxation of 



York City twenty-four members of Assembly, mortgages was brought forward, but no final 



a gain of three, and to Kings County twelve action was taken upon it. The form in which 



members, a gain of three. The following it was presented is expressed in two sections 



counties lost each a member : Columbia, Dela- of the bill for the equalization of taxation, as 



ware, Madison, Oneida, Ontario, and Oswego ; follows : 



and the other counties remained as under the SECTION 1. When any debt due or owing by any 



previous apportionment. The bill was sent to owner of land is secured by mortgage thereof, the 



the Governor, who allowed it to become a law amount of the debt shall be assessed upon the owner of 



without lii QiffTintiirp Tn o mpaano-A of AT the land as trustee for the creditor ; and such amount 



without his signature. In a message ot ex- ghall be deducted from the va i ue ' of such rea i estate. 



planation to the Legislature he said : and the residue of such value only shall be assessed 



As I peruse its provisions, I find that a proper re- u P, n t Q e owner of the real estate. The sum paid by 



gard for my own official duty forbids me to approve Bucn owner as trustee for taxes on such debt shall be 



it. For not less explicit than the command to appor- a legal set-off against such debt. 



tion is that other provision that the apportionment SEC - 2 - When, for any reason, real estate bo not as- 



shall be made as nearly as may be according to the sessed at its full valuation, such part of the value of 



number of the respective inhabitants of the different rea l estate as is assessable to the owner of the land as 



localities. trustee, according to the preceding section, shall bo 



The Senate districts are to be so apportioned that assessed at the same percentage upon said lull valua- 



they shall consist of contiguous territory, and contain, tion as is assessed upon the part of the value of the 



as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants ; 8aici land assessable to the owner of the lands. 



re^Sg ffi . BeBolutdoDB for biennial sessions of the Le- 



number of their respective inhabitants. This bill does gislature were adopted. I hey will be pre- 



not comply with these provisions of the Constitution, sented to the next Legislature, and if adopted 



The first Senate district contains 128,267 inhabitants ; will then be submitted to a vote of the peo- 



the second, 160,000. The nineteenth district con- ^IQ 



tains 101,693 ; the fourteenth, 150,204,. The thirty- * ^ important ques t iong tonching the vagt 



subject of the State charities, and facts respect- 

 necessary in trie arrangement ing the institutions, were brought oat in reports 

 of the districts from contiguous territory, but a glance to the Legislature. There- is a State Board of 

 at the map will show that the rank injustice done in n.haritips onp of whoso duties is to visit rhflri- 

 almost every district west of the Hudson Eiver had ^""les, 



some other cause than a desire for geographic fitness. ties Wltb a State foundation, those of counties 



For instance, the twenty-sixth district stretches from and cities, and those of benevolent organiza- 



