NEW YORK (STATE). 



637 



the Senate, and the Speaker of the Assembly. 

 ! Provision was also made for the removal of 

 ; furnaces and boilers from the basement of the 

 Capitol, and the construction of a boiler-house 

 on land to be acquired for the purpose. For 

 this $175,000 was appropriated in a separate 

 bill. This arrangement was carried out during 

 the year. The regular session ended on the 

 15th of May. On the last day two investigat- 

 ing committees were appointed in the Senate 

 to prosecute inquiries during the recess. One 

 ! of these was to examine into the circumstances 

 of the consolidation of the gas companies of 

 New York city, and the other to investigate 

 the administration of the various departments 

 of the municipal government. A majority of 

 the acts of the session remained unsigned in 

 the Governor's hands, having reached their 

 final passage in the last ten days. Among the 

 important measures subsequently approved was 

 one imposing a tax of five per cent, on collateral 

 inheritances, and among those vetoed and not 

 already mentioned was one to improve the 

 operation of the Sinking Fund of New York 

 city. Among the items of appropriation bills 

 vetoed were those for continuing the Adiron- 

 dack and State surveys, and for the general 

 work of the State Board of Health. 



Political. At a meeting held at Saratoga on 

 i Aug. 18, the Democratic State Committee de- 

 cided to have the State Convention of the 

 party held at that place on Sept. 24. The Re- 

 publican State Committee met at Saratoga one 

 week later, and decided to have the convention 

 of that party held at the same place Sept. 22. 

 'The representation in the convention, which 

 had formerly been one delegate for each Assem- 

 bly district, and one additional for every 1,500 

 votes, or fraction thereof exceeding 750, cast 

 if or the last Republican candidate for President, 

 *was increased to one for each district, and one 

 additional for each 1,000 votes, or fraction 

 thereof exceeding 500, cast for the last Presi- 

 dential candidate. The Republican Convention 

 consisted of 694 delegates, an increase of 197 

 over that of 1884. On the first ballot for can- 

 didate for Governor, Gen. Joseph B. Carr re- 

 ceived 205 votes, James D. Warren 137, Ira 

 Davenport 105, L. P. Morton 42, and the re- 

 mainder were divided between several candi- 

 dates. On the second day of the convention 

 Mr. Davenport was nominated, receiving 347 

 votes out of a total of 693, Carr receiving 214, 

 iWarren 194, Cornelius N. Bliss 113, and the 

 remainder being divided between six candi- 

 dates. The nomination was made unanimous 

 by acclamation before the result of the ballot 

 ,was declared, several delegations having pre- 

 ^iously changed their vote to Davenport. Gen. 

 Oarr was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor 

 without opposition, and the ticket was com- 

 pleted with Anson S. Wood, of Wayne County, 

 >for Secretary of State; James W. Wadsworth, 

 pf Livingston, for Comptroller ; Charles F. Ul- 

 /ich, of New York, for Treasurer ; Edward B. 

 Thomas, of Chenango, for Attorney-General ; 



and William V. Van Rensselaer, of Seneca, for 

 State Engineer and Surveyor. 



The most prominent of the candidates for the 

 nomination for Governor in the Democratic 

 Convention was Gov. David B. Hill, who had 

 been credited with active efforts to secure dele- 

 gates pledged to his support, and who was 

 most zealously urged by that portion of the 

 party which was least in sympathy with civ- 

 il-service reform. His opponents were re- 

 garded as in a special sense friends and sup- 

 porters of the President's policy, and they 

 agreed upon Abram S. Hewitt, of New York, 

 as their candidate for the nomination. Hill 

 was nominated on the first ballot, receiving 

 338 votes out of 380, only 33 being cast for 

 Hewitt, 8 for Gen. Henry W. Slocum, and 1 

 for Roswell P. Flower. The ticket was com- 

 pleted on the second day of the convention, 

 Roswell P. Flower being nominated for Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor ; Frederick Cook, of Monroe 

 County, for Secretary of State ; Alfred C. 

 Chapin, of Kings, for Comptroller ; Lawrence 

 J. Fitzgerald, of Cortland, for Treasurer ; Denis 

 O'Brien, of Jefferson, for Attorney-General; 

 and Elnathan Sweet, of Albany, for State En- 

 gineer and Surveyor. 



On the day after the convention, Mr. Flower 

 sent a letter to its presiding officer declining to 

 be the candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, as- 

 signing no reason except that the position was 

 one for which he had "no inclination," and 

 his nomination was not " necessary to the suc- 

 cess of the ticket." The vacancy was filled by 

 the State Committee with the name of Gen. 

 Edward F. Jones, of Binghamton. 



A Prohibition Convention was held at Syra- 

 cuse on the 9th of September, which nomi- 

 nated the following ticket: For Governor, H. 

 Clay Bascom, of Troy; Lieutenant-Governor, 

 W. Jennings Demorest, of New York ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Edward Evans, of Tonawanda; 

 Comptroller, Frederick Sheldon, of Hornells- 

 ville ; Treasurer, Hiram Vandenburg, of Ful- 

 ton County; Attorney - General, W. Martin 

 Jones, of Rochester ; State Engineer and Sur- 

 veyor, George A. Dudley, of Ellenville. A 

 Greenback ticket was also put in the field, the 

 candidate for Governor being George O. Jones, 

 of New York. 



The National Committee of the "Independ- 

 ents " issued an address " to the Independent 

 voters of New York State," urging the defeat 

 of Gov. Hill and the election of Davenport, as 

 the best means of sustaining the national Ad- 

 ministration and the cause of civil-service re- 

 form. 



At the election, on Nov. 3, the Democratic 

 candidates were chosen. The total vote for 

 Governor was 1,026,239, of which Hill re- 

 ceived 501,465, Davenport 490,331, Bascom 

 30,867, and Jones 2,150. There were 1,446 

 defective and scattering ballots. Hill's plu- 

 rality over Davenport was 11,134. The plu- 

 rality of Jones over Carr for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor was 3,156, and that of Cook over Wood 



