578 



NEW YORK. 



in 1840 ; 3,097,394 in 1850 : 3,880,735 in 1860 ; 

 4,382,759 in 1870; 5,082,871 in 1880; and 5,997,- 

 853 in 1890. Capital, Albany. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, David B. 

 Hill, Democrat ; Lieutenant-Governor, Edward 

 F. Jones ; Secretary of State, Frank Rice ; Comp- 

 troller, Edward Wemple ; Treasurer, Elliot Dan- 

 forth ; Attorney-General, Charles F. Tabor ; State 

 Engineer and Surveyor, John Bogart ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, Andrew S. Draper ; 

 Superintendent of Prisons, Austin Lathrop ; Su- 

 perintendent of Insurance Department, Robert 

 A. Maxwell; Superintendent of Bank Depart- 

 ment, Charles M. Preston ; Superintendent of 

 Public Works, Edward Hannan ; Commissioner 

 of Statistics of Labor, Charles F. Peck ; Rail- 

 road Commissioners, William E. Rogers, J. V. 

 Baker, Jr., and Michael Rickard ; Chief Judge 

 of the Court of Appeals, William C. Ruger ; As- 

 sociate Judges, Robert Earl, Francis M. Finch, 

 Charles Andrews, Rufus W. Peckham, John C. 

 Gray, and Denis O'Brien. 



Finances. The State Treasurer is Elliot 

 Danforth, salary $5,000; and the Comptroller 

 Edward Wemple, salary $6,000. 



The State debt has been reduced during the 

 year by the payment of $100,000 Niagara reser- 

 vation bonds and $1,936,650 canal .debt. On 

 Sept. 30, 1891, its amount was $2,927,654.87, 

 classified as follows: 



General fund (Indian annuities), $122,694.87 ; 

 canal debt, $2,404,960 ; Niagara reservation 

 bonds, $400,000 ; total, $2,927,654.87 ; aggregate 

 sinking fund, $1,913,030.99. Total debt unpro- 

 vided for, but not yet due. $1,014,623.88, which 

 is made up as follows : Canal, $491,929.01 ; 

 Niagara reservation, $400,000 ; general fund (In- 

 dian annuities), $122,694.87. 



Part of the canal debt matures on Oct. 1, 1892, 

 and the remainder on Oct 1, 1893. The balance 

 of $491,929.01, now unprovided for, will not have 

 to be paid by tax, as there is expected to be a 

 surplus in the canal fund revenue to meet it. If 

 that prediction be well founded, the State has 

 levied its last tax for the payment of the canal 

 debt. 



The Niagara Park debt matures at the rate of 

 $100,000 each year, but its bonds are held by 

 the State, and can be paid at any time from the 

 surplus now in the treasury if the Legislature so 

 direct. They draw interest at the rate of 2 per 

 cent, a year. 



The principal of the general fund debt for 

 Indian annuities, $122,694.87, is an imaginary 

 indebtedness and does not actually exist, the 

 interest on about that sum being annually ap- 

 propriated by the Legislature as annuities to the 

 Indians. 



From the foregoing, therefore, it appears that 

 the State debt is practically wiped out. 



The report of the State Comptroller shows for 

 the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1891, the receipts 

 were $21,243,639.35, and expenditures were $19,- 

 886,041.65. The common-school fund, in securi- 

 ties and money in the treasury, amounted to $4,- 

 193,140.77, the United States deposit fund was 

 $4,017,220.71, the literature fund was $284.201.- 

 30, and the college land scrip fund was $474,- 

 409.12, the total for these four trust funds being 

 8,968,971.90. The Comptroller says : 



In my report last year it was estimated that the 

 actual surplus on Sept. 30, 1891, would be $1,989,976.- 

 95 ; the actual surplus is $5,022,773.98, exceeding the 

 estimate by the sum of $3,032,797.03. This ditference 

 is made up by receipts from the United States for 

 direct tax refunded to the State amounting to $2,213,- 

 330.86, from corporation taxes, collateral inheritance 

 taxes, from the United States for the Soldiers and 

 Sailors' Home, and from lapsed appropriations. The 

 sum of $2,213,330.86 was received from the United 

 States Government and paid into the State treasury 

 on March 18, 1891, on account of the Federal direct 

 tax of Aug. 5, 1861, collected by the State from its 

 citizens and paid into the Federal Treasury, and re- 

 funded in pursuance of an act of Congress approved 

 March 2, 1891. 



The entire residue of Niagara Park debt bonds is 

 held in trust, amounting to $400,000, maturing at the 

 rate of $100,000 per year and interest from July 1, 

 1891, at 2i per cent, a year. 



The unpaid canal debt stock amounts to $2,404,960, 

 maturing in 1893 at 6 per cent, interest a year, which 

 can readily be called in and canceled upon lair terms. 

 It will be reduced to the extent of $495,360 by taxes 

 levied and appropriated for the purpose in 1890 and 

 1891, but which had not been collected and paid into 

 the treasury at the end of the last fiscal jear. 



The moneys and securities in the sinking fund, 

 amounting to $1,913,030.99, can be applied toward the 

 payment of the debt and interest due. 



For 1891 the State tax was $5,196,666.40, the rate 

 being If mill and the valuation of property $3,779,- 

 393,746, which is the lowest tax rate since 1855. The 

 direct school tax produced $3.830,999.19 ; $4,466,517.- 

 83 was spent from the treasury for educational pur- 

 poses ; and total expenditure, State and local, for the 

 schools was $17,968,929.99. 



The State debt at the end of the fiscal year was 

 $2,927,654.87, and the surplus, including as assets 

 claims not yet collected, was $5,022,773.98 



The total expended on the new Capitol is $19,096,- 

 934.35; collections from corporation taxes were $1,- 

 350,338.53- collections from taxation of foreign bank- 

 ing capital, $36,184.02. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature of 

 1891 began its session on Jan. 6 and continued 

 until April 30, making the shortest session since 

 1874. Owing to a political discussion in the 

 Senate over a resolution introduced by the Re- 

 publicans and opposed by the Democrats, to al- 

 low the Senate Committee on Canals to investi- 

 gate the canals, practically no business was done 

 in the last two weeks of the session. The num- 

 ber of chapters of new laws is 389, which is 

 smaller than the average for many years. The 

 deadlock caused much bitter feeling between 

 the Senate and the Assembly. A bill was passed 

 by the Assembly taking away the confirming 

 power of the Senate and placing all power of 

 appointments in the hands of the Governor. 

 The Senate refused to consider this bill. 



The Legislature of 1890 resolved that the 

 popular vote on the prohibition amendment 

 should take place in the spring of 1891. The 

 Senate passed a bill making an appropriation for 

 the expenses of the election. But this was de- 

 layed in the Assembly by amending so that the 

 election should not take place until November, 

 1891. Owing to the political deadlock this bill 

 was not passed, and the election can not take 

 place until 1892. 



. Bills failed providing for a State census which 

 should have been taken in 1885, and for reap- 

 portioning the State into congressional districts. 

 A law was enacted to take the place of a special 

 charter for the Young Women's Christian As- 



