NEW YORK. 



599 



had taken an independent course in regard to 

 local officers. Holding the balance of power 

 in the Legislature, it seemed disposed to use 

 its advantage in order to make terms with the 

 leaders of the regular Democracy. The Tam- 

 many Representatives declined to take part in 

 the caucuses by which candidates for offices in 

 the two Houses were nominated at the begin- 

 ning of the session. The Democrats named 

 John C. Jacobs, of Kings County, as their can- 

 didate for President of the Senate, and Charles 

 E. Patterson, of Rensselaer, for Speaker of the 

 Assembly, but the Tammany men refused to sup- 

 port them. The Republicans nominated Thom- 

 as G. Alvord, of Onondaga, for Speaker, the 

 Lieutenant-Governor being the presiding officer 

 of the Senate. In advance of the nominations, 

 representatives of the Tammany organization 

 had made certain demands as the price of its 

 co-operation with the Democrats. Among these 

 were the chairmanship of the Committees on 

 Cities in both Houses, a satisfactory composi- 

 tion of the Committees on Railroads and on 

 Commerce and Navigation, a share in the 

 subordinate offices, and a pledge excluding 

 Jacobs from the chair of the Senate. These 

 demands not being complied with, the Tam- 

 many members persisted for several weeks in 

 opposition to the Democratic efforts to organ- 

 ize the two Houses. 



The Senate had a presiding officer in the 

 person of the Lieutenant-Governor, and was 

 able to proceed with business, although the 

 election of a Clerk was impossible, and there 

 were no standing committees ; but the Assem- 

 bly could do nothing until organized, the Clerk 

 of the former Assembly presiding from day to 

 day. In the ballots for Speaker the Tammany 

 members cast their votes for J. J. Costello, of 

 New York. The struggle over the organiza- 

 tion was interrupted on the 16th of January by 

 proceedings in honor of Senator Webster Wag- 

 ner, who had been killed in an accident on the 

 New York Central and Hudson River Railroad 

 near Spuy ten Duyvil. The Governor made this 

 accident the occasion for a special message 

 recommending more rigid requirements for 

 the protection of passengers on railroad trains, 

 and an act for that purpose was subsequently 

 passed. Pending the organization an effort 

 was made by the Republicans of the Senate to 

 secure a modification of the rules, which should 

 give the presiding officer the power to appoint 

 standing committees. This power had been 

 taken from the Lieutenant-Governor and given 

 to a president pro tern, at a time when the 

 former was a Democrat and the majority in 

 the Senate was Republican. In the Assembly 

 an effort was made to secure the adoption of a 

 resolution appointing Charles E. Patterson tem- 

 porary Speaker. Both of these expedients were 

 unsuccessful. On the 25th of January there 

 was a conference of the Democratic members 

 of the Assembly, but as one of the demands of 

 the Tammany men was that Patterson should 

 be withdrawn as a candidate for Speaker and 



the selection made from five names to be pre- 

 sented by them, it resulted in nothing. Other 

 fitiitless conferences and caucuses followed, 

 but finally, on the 2d of February, Patterson 

 was elected Speaker, the Tammany members 

 having been induced to vote for him by conces- 

 sions, said to include the control of the Com- 

 mittees on Cities and on Railroads. The final 

 vote was 59 for Patterson and 51 for Alvord. 

 The next day 58 bills were introduced in the 

 Assembly, including one by C. S. Baker, of 

 Monroe County, for the establishment of a 

 Railroad Commission, and one by Mr. Sheehy, 

 of New York, compelling the elevated rail- 

 roads of that city to reduce their fare to five 

 cents. A new difficulty arose before the list 

 of committees was presented by the Speaker. 

 The Tammany men grew distrustful and with- 

 drew from a caucus called for the purpose of 

 revising the nominations for subordinate offices 

 and refused to support the candidates. This 

 produced another dead-lock on the election of 

 a Clerk. Meantime in the Senate it had been 

 proposed to get along without committees, re- 

 ferring all bills to the Committee of the Whole ; 

 also to select one Democrat and one Republican 

 member, who should, in conjunction with the 

 Lieutenant-Governor, arrange the committees ; 

 but neither of these plans obtained sufficient 

 support. The Speaker of the Assembly pre- 

 sented the list of standing committees on the 

 14th of February, and it served to intensify 

 the dissatisfaction of the Tammany members. 

 They not only complained of the composition 

 of the important committees, but declared that 

 distinct pledges had been violated. They 

 showed their resentment next day by voting 

 for the Republican candidate for Clerk and as- 

 sisting to elect him. On the same day the 

 Tammany Senators voted with the Republicans 

 to modify the rules and permit the Lieutenant- 

 Governor to appoint the committees. This 

 action was speedily followed by a completion 

 of the organization of the two Houses by the 

 co-operation of the Republicans and Tammany 

 Democrats. Charges of a political bargain be- 

 tween them were freely made, and Governor 

 Cornell and Mr. John Kelly were credited with 

 an understanding through which it was effected. 

 These accusations were denied by both Repub- 

 licans and Tammany men. It was the 25th of 

 February before the work of legislation was 

 begun in earnest, and it was still somewhat em- 

 barrassed by the peculiar division of the two 

 Houses and the independent attitude of the 

 Tammany Democrats, who held the balance of 

 power. 



The session continued until the 2d of June. 

 There were 1,222 bills introduced in the As- 

 sembly and 735 in the Senate, and the number 

 which passed both Houses was about 800. One 

 of the most important subjects dealt with was 

 that providing for the regulation and super- 

 vision of railroads. The bill introduced in the 

 Assembly by Mr. Baker, of Monroe, for this 

 purpose, was substantially the commission bill 



