526 



NEW YORK. 



183,011. The balance in the treasury on Oct. 1, 

 1894, was $1,928,383. The State tax" rate, as an- 

 nounced by the Legislature, is 2*18 mills. Last 

 year it was 2*58 mills. There has been a reduc- 

 tion, therefore, in the rate of taxation. The 

 total amount of the appropriations made by the 

 Legislature is $15,102,636.47. In 1893 the total 

 appropriations were $17,426,335.98. The Legis- 

 lature of 1894 therefore appropriated $2,323,- 

 699.51 less than the previous Legislature. 



Wealth of the State. The State assessors 

 are William A. Wood, Henry D. Brewster, and 

 John A. Mason, each of whom receives a salary 

 " of $2,500. Their report transmitted to the State 

 Legislature on April 25 showed that the local 

 assessors of the respective counties returned the 

 sum of $4,302,388,319 as the total amount of 

 property in the State of New York in 1893. This 

 sum consisted of $3,761,679,384 real estate and 

 $540,708,935 personal property. Of the personal 

 estate. $102,506,261 was corporate property, not 

 subject to taxation. The total amount of per- 

 sonal property subject to taxation for State pur- 

 poses was $438,202,674, making $4,199,882,058 

 the total amount of property in the State sub- 

 ject to taxation. A comparison of the assess- 

 ment of 1892 with the assessment of 1893 shows 

 an increase in taxable property of $161,823,109, 

 distributed as real estate $135,034,291 and per- 

 sonal property $26,788,818. 



Legislative Session. The one hundred and 

 seventeenth regular session of the Legislature 

 began on Jan. 2 and continued until April 27. 

 At the opening of the session the Senate was 

 composed of 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats, and 

 1 Independent Democrat, and the Assembly of 

 74 Republicans and 54 Democrats. The organ- 

 ization was therefore in the hands of the Repub- 

 licans, who promptly chose Charles T. Saxton 

 President pro tern, of the Senate, and George R. 

 Malby Speaker of the Assembly, both being can- 

 didates named by the caucus. Contestants for 

 3 seats in the Senate and 14 in the Assembly 

 promptly filed petitions for the removal of the 

 persons declared elected. In the Senate, Henry 

 Wolfert, of the Sixth Senatorial District in Kings 

 County, was given the seat of the Democrat oc- 

 cupant. This resulted in some trouble, owing to 

 the arbitrary course of the Democrats, under the 

 lead of Lieiit.-Gov. Sheehan, who attempted to 

 prevent the unseating of John McCarty in favor 

 of Henry Wolfert. The adoption of a closure 

 rule prevented the minority from frustrating the 

 purpose of the majority. It was upon this oc- 

 casion that two historical incidents occurred. 

 The minority, baffled and beaten through the in- 

 strumentality of Judge Maynard, procured from 

 Jacob H. Clute, county judge of Albany Coun- 

 ty, an order restraining Clerk John S. Kenyon 

 from calling the roll of the Senate. Thereupon 

 Charles T. Saxton, president pro tern., called the 

 roll himself and declared McCarty's seat vacant. 

 Subsequently the Senate investigated Judge 

 Clute for his interference with the prerogatives 

 of the Senate, and in its report recommended 

 that the law be amended, rendering such offenses 

 punishable by fine and imprisonment. In the 

 Assembly, Michael McGuire, William Hughes, 

 and James Graham, Democrats, were unseated 

 in favor of the Republican candidates. 



During the session there were introduced in 



the Assembly 1,497 bills, as against 1,400 the year 

 previous ; it printed 1,753, as against 1,576 in 

 1893. Its records of bills passed reached close 

 upon 700, as against 654 passed in 1893. In the 

 Senate there were introduced 1,037 bills, as com- 

 pared with 830 last year. Of this number, there 

 were passed up to the hour of adjournment over 

 700, leaving untouched over 1,000 bills. Of the 

 bills sent to the Governor, there were signed over 

 350 laws; and there remained in his hands at ad- 

 journment over 400. 



Among the more important measures adopt- 

 ed are the following : A bill taxing foreign cor- 

 porations doing business in this State of 1 

 per cent. ; also one imposing a tax upon all 

 the receipts of the incorporated racing associa- 

 tions of this State. Among the measures per- 

 taining to educational and charitable institutions 

 were the following: One appropriating $100.000 

 to rebuild the Oneonta Normal School, which 

 was burned early in the year; one appropriating 

 $150,000 for the Rochester State Hospital, which 

 was damaged by fire. An appropriation of $125,- 

 000 was made to create the Eastern Reformatory, 

 to relieve the overcrowded Elmira Reformatory 

 from some of its inmates. Appropriations were 

 made for the Western Reformatory for Women, 

 in Albion, and for the Eastern Reformatory for 

 Women, in Westchester County. An appropria- 

 tion of $100,000 for a normal 'school in Jamaica 

 was approved. An appropriation of $12,000 

 was made to establish an epileptic colony, and 

 the sum of $101,000 was appropriated for the 

 Oneida Custodial Asylum. Other measures were : 

 Forbidding hazing ; providing for the appoint- 

 ment of a commission to examine law students ; 

 providing for conditional pardons ; allowing an- 

 nexation of Flatbush to Brooklyn ; forbidding 

 the sale of condensed milk unless of a certain 

 degree of fatty strength ; extending the term of 

 office of the New York City Board of Electrical 

 Control ; allowing convicts from each prison to 

 be employed on State roads ; submitting the 

 question of a Greater New York to a vote of the 

 people ; allowing foreign corporations to hold 

 property within this State and to dispose of the 

 same : forbidding any bank to erect a building 

 that shall cost more tha.n 25 per cent, of the net 

 surplus of the corporation ; compelling banks to 

 publish in January of each year, in the news- 

 papers, a list of deposits from which no sums 

 have been drawn within the five preceding years : 

 providing that the State Board of Canvassers 

 may be reconvened by an order of the Supreme 

 Court; providing for nonpartisan boards of in- 

 spectors of elections throughout the State; pro- 

 viding nonpartisan boards of election inspectors 

 for Albany; restoring the charter of Lansing- 

 burgh to its original shape; making the terms 

 of supervisors extend for one year ; making it a 

 felony to vote illegally, or to assist an illegal 

 voter; allowing the Attorney-General to enter 

 grand jurors' rooms; abolishing the shore in- 

 spector's office ; creating nonpartisan boards of 

 park commissioners and police commissioners for 

 the city of New York ; allowing one inspector of 

 election to order the arrest of a person obstruct- 

 ing the polls ; compelling all work on New York 

 docks to be done by contract; forbidding mort- 

 gage brokers to take more than 6 per cent, in- 

 terest on lands ; incorporating the Provident 



