646 



NEW YORK (STATE). 



A second Anti-Saloon Convention met at 

 Cortlandt on November 30, and formed a 

 permanent organization, called the "New 

 York State Temperance Republican League," 

 to secure the suppression of the manufacture 

 and sale of intoxicating liquors as a bever- 

 age. There is a State Committee, consisting of 

 one member from each congressional district, 

 whose duty it is to vigorously push the work 

 of the League. It is not the purpose of the 

 League to form a separate political party, nor 

 to nominate candidates for office, except in 

 extreme cases when Republican nominations 

 are made in the interest of the liquor-traffic. 

 It is the duty of the State Committee to call 

 a State Convention of the League annually, 

 and to prescribe the basis of representation, 

 at which convention officers of the League 

 shall be elected and the State Committee 

 chosen for the ensuing year. The conven- 

 tion asked that an amendment prohibitory of 

 the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors 

 as beverages be submitted to the Constitutional 

 Convention and to a popular vote, and that 

 such proposition be submitted separately ; and 

 resolved to petition the Legislature to enact a 

 law permitting people annually to vote by 

 separate ballot on the question of prohibiting 

 the liquor-traffic in towns, cities, villages, or 

 by counties. Judge Noah Davis was made 

 president of the League. 



The State Prohibitory Amendment Associa- 

 tion held its fourth annual convention in New 

 York city on November 30. The president, in 

 his annual address, made the following state- 

 ment of the purposes and work of the organi- 

 zation : " Four years ago the New York State 

 Constitutional Amendment Association was or- 

 ganized in the city of Syracuse, and we meet 

 to-day in annual session, according to our con- 

 stitution, to revise the past and take action for 

 the future. The purpose of the Association, as 

 declared in its constitution, is to secure the 

 united action of all organizations who are in 

 sympathy with the principle of prohibition by 

 constitutional enactment of the manufacture 

 and sale of intoxicating beverages, and to se- 

 cure the united action of all organizations and 

 persons in sympathy with this purpose, with- 

 out respect to party affiliation. The work of 

 the Association in the last year has been con- 

 fined largely to the effort to secure the sub- 

 mission of a constitutional amendment to a 

 direct vote of the people by the Legislature. 

 As president of the Association, I made sev- 

 eral visits to Albany to try to effect this ob- 

 ject. Early in the session, N. M. Curtis, of St. 

 Lawrence County, introduced the concurrent 

 resolution in the Assembly, and Senator K el- 

 log in the Senate. Nothing was done with it 

 in the Senate. In the Assembly the commit- 

 tee having it in charge reported in favor of its 

 passage. It was ordered to a third reading by 

 a vote of sixty-one to fifty-six, sixty of the 

 sixty-one votes being Republican, and forty- 

 four of the fifty-six negatives being Democrats. 



Upon the final vote it received only fifty-three 

 votes in its favor to sixty-five against it ; sixty- 

 five being necessary for its passage. Of the fif- 

 ty-three votes in favor, all were Republicans, 

 and in the negative there were eighteen Re- 

 publicans and forty-six Democrats. Thus were 

 we again defeated in our efforts to secure its 

 submission. I would recommend that we con- 

 tinue to demand of the Legislature at its com- 

 ing session the passage of such a concurrent 

 resolution, as heretofore requested, for submis- 

 sion to the people. The people at the recent 

 election having voted in favor of holding a 

 convention for the revision of the Constitution, 

 the next Legislature must provide for the elec- 

 tion of members of such convention. It gives 

 an occasion for the election of such men as 

 will favor the submission of a prohibitory 

 amendment, and it becomes the friends of 

 temperance to see to it that good and true 

 men are elected. We should not relax our ef- 

 forts for the legislative method, however, for 

 the convention is more than a year in the fu- 

 ture, and may not be profitable in this direc- 

 tion." 



The following resolutions were adopted : 



1. That we petition the next Legislature to submit 

 a prohibitory amendment to the Constitution to the 

 voters for their decision. A refusal to do so is a re- 

 fusal to grant the right guaranteed us by the Con- 

 stitution itself, and we protest against partisan con- 

 siderations or business interests dictating or influ- 

 encing members of the Legislature refusing the same. 



2. That the directors take such, action as may be 

 necessary to influence the choice of such delegates 

 or members of the State Constitutional Convention 

 ordered by popular vote at the last election as will 

 favor the submission of their amendment by said con- 

 vention. 



3. That the directors circulate petitions favoring 

 this amendment and its submission for adoption by 

 such churches and societies as indorse it, the same 

 when adopted to be forwarded to the secretary of 

 the Association to be presented to the Legislature. 



4. That we urge all friends of this movement, what- 

 ever their political party predilections by conventions, 

 conferences, or public meeting, in their respective lo- 

 calities, to vigorously prosecute the work of educating 

 public sentiment on this subject. 



5. Where a State by statute or prohibitory amend- 

 ment to its Constitution has prohibited the manu- 

 facture and sale of liquors as a beverage, and also 

 where a town or countv in the State has prohibited 

 the sale of liquors as a business, it is the duty of the 

 Government to enact such statutes as will make such 

 laws and amendments effective by prohibiting the 

 manufacture and sale of the same, in any quantities 

 whatever, as a beverage, and we hereby petition leg- 

 islative bodies to adopt such measures as will give 

 effect to public sentiment. 



6. That we petition Congress to prohibit t"he manu- 

 facture and sale of liquors as a beverage in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, in the Territories of the United 

 States, and on any or all property owned, held, or 

 controlled by the Government of the United States, 

 and to submit for the ratification of the several States 

 an amendment to the national Constitution prohibit- 

 ing the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors 

 as a beverage. 



John N. Stearns, of New York city, was 

 chosen president. 



Political. The only officer to be voted for by 

 the State at large on November 2 being an As- 



