NEW YOKE (STATE). 



549 



their report to the Legislature at the beginning 

 of 1888. Many pages are occupied with a re- 

 view of all the different methods of inflicting 

 judicially imposed death sentences from the 

 very earliest down to the present times. These 

 are historically considered, and it is ascertained 

 that there exist in civilized countries at the 

 present time only five different forms of exe- 

 cution. These are the guillotine, used in ten 

 countries; the sword, used in nineteen; the 

 gallows, in three; the masket, in two; and the 

 axe, in one. From their studies the commis- 

 sioners draw these conclusions : 



That the effort to diminish the increase of crime by 

 the indiscriminate application of capital punishment 

 to various offenses, involving different grades of moral 

 turpitude ; or, in other worcts, by the enlarging of the 

 number of offenses to which capital punishment is 

 made applicable, has proved a failure. 



That any undue or peculiar severity in the mode of 

 inflicting the death penalty neither operates to lessen 

 the occurrence of the offense, nor to produce a deter- 

 rent effect. 



That from the long catalogue of various methods 

 of punishment adopted by various nations at different 

 times, only five are now practically resorted to by the 

 civilized world. 



To all of the five prevailing methods the 

 commission finds insuperable objections. The 

 American method of hanging is described 

 as fearfully cruel, uncertain, liable to all kinds 

 of mechanical complications, offering more 

 than any method opportunities for suicide and 

 other distressing efforts to cheat justice, or for 

 clumsy and unskillful work on the part of the 

 executioner, as leaving the criminal in a con- 

 dition that encourages attempts at resuscita- 

 tion, and as being in the case of women par- 

 ticularly disgusting and horrible. The use of 

 electricity is then urged in these words: " Per- 

 haps the most potent agent known for the 

 destruction of human life is electricity. Death, 

 as a result, is instantaneous upon its applica- 

 tion. It is the duty of society to utilize for its 

 benefit the advantages and facilities which 

 science has uncovered to its view. An elec- 

 tric shock of sufficient force to produce death 

 can not produce a sensation which can be rec- 

 ognized. The velocity of the electric current 

 is so great that the brain is paralyzed." 



Factory Inspection. The following are the 

 chief points of the second annual report of the 

 factory inspectors : 



The clause prohibiting male minors under eighteen 

 and women under twenty -one years of age fronTwork- 

 ing more than sixty hours a week has been rigidly 

 enforced during the past year, and a number of convic- 

 tions have been obtained under it. When manufact- 

 urers now desire to run overtime they employ an extra 

 set of hands, not necessarily as many as the usual 

 force of the establishment, but a sufficient number to 

 relieve the regular force, and thus keep down the 

 limit to sixty hours. This plan has furnished employ- 

 ment to a large number of people in the aggregate, 

 and is satisfactory to the regular employe's of "the va- 

 rious factories, very few of whom are willing to work 

 more than the regulation number of hours. Inter- 

 views with workingmen and workingwomen all over 

 the State regarding the prohibition of women under 

 twenty - one and minors under eighteen from being 

 employed at labor more than sixty hours a week, 



convinces us that the law is popular, and the : 

 especially desire its provisions extended to all 



the females 

 women 

 over twenty-one years of age. 



Although the law prohibiting the employment of 

 children under thirteen years of age has been in force 

 in this State not quite a year and a half, the resulting 

 benefits are apparent in every manufacturing city ana 

 village in the commonwealth. When our report closed 

 last year, we had visited only a small fraction of the 

 manufacturing establishments where children were 

 employed, and a good deal of our time had been pre- 

 viously taken up in preventing the re-employment of 

 the same children in the worst of the places which we 

 had already visited. Gradually the unscrupulous and 

 negligent were made to understand that the law would 

 be impartially enforced, and when the amended act 

 passed, giving us eight deputies, there was no longer 

 any doubt but that, so far as our efforts could be made 

 effective, children under the age of thirteen should not 

 be found in the factories of this State. It is with a 

 feeling of satisfaction that we look back over the work 

 of the year in this direction. Thousands of children 

 who have been driven or drawn into the hard daily 

 grind of mill-life, were set free to enjoy a little sun- 

 shine and obtain the rudiments, at least, of an educa- 

 tion ; manufacturers were required to employ an older 

 class of help, and pay them a higher rate of wages ; 

 and worthless fathers were forced to work and support 

 their children, instead of obtaining support from their 

 offspring. 



The necessity for truant-schools is obvious. Wo 

 recommend that a law be passed providing for schools 

 for incorrigible children in all counties of over 125,000 

 population, with joint schools for counties of smaller 

 population. These schools, in connection with the 

 compulsory-education officers and constables, whom 

 we also recommend to be appointed and empowered, 

 will soon clear the State of the stigma which now rests 

 upon -it of having so many ignorant, unlettered chil- 

 dren and youths. In this connection, we renew our 

 recommendation, made last year, that the prohibitory 

 age at which children may be employed in manufact- 

 uring establishments be increased to fourteen years, 

 and that mercantile houses be included within the 

 provisions of the act. We also recommend that the 

 Compulsory Education Law be amended so as to pro- 

 vide that all children between the ages of eight and 

 fourteen years shall attend school the full scholastic 

 year, instead of for fourteen weeks a year, as at 

 present. 



National Guard, On September 30, the Na- 

 tional Guard consisted of 726 officers and 11,- 

 909 enlisted men, aggregating 12,635 officers 

 and enlisted men. There was some increase by 

 recruiting subsequently, and the aggregate at 

 the close of the year approximated 13,000 offi- 

 cers and enlisted men. The Inspector-General 

 reports that there were present at the annual 

 inspection and muster 10,444 officers and en- 

 listed men, but that he does not consider the 

 number present at the annual muster a fair in- 

 dication of the effective or reliable strength of 

 the organizations, for the reason that special 

 efforts are made to bring men out on that oc- 

 casion. An organization shonld not be rated, 

 either in strength or efficiency, according to its 

 showing at the annual inspection and muster, 

 but the work done at other times, especially 

 in camp and at its weekly drills, should also be 

 taken into consideration. 



The Adjutant-General refers to the need of 

 armories in the city of New York. 



Canals. The annual report of the State Engi- 

 neer and Surveyor shows that the total amount 

 of freight moved on the canals of the State 



