NEW YORK. 



529 



The report for 1894 shows that the number of 

 men liable to military duty under the laws is 

 estimated to be 750,000. Of the militia there 

 are organized, armed, and equipped for service 

 the National Guard and the Naval Militia. 

 There are also a few independent companies in 

 the State which, under certain contingencies, 

 become subject to the orders of the commander- 

 in-chief. The National Guard consisted on Oct. 

 1 of 740 officers and 12,106 enlisted men aggre- 

 gate 12,846 divided into four brigades. The re- 

 port says : " Troop A, the batteries, and the sig- 

 nal corps are all suitably armed. The infantry 

 is. however, still using the old Remington rifle, 

 caliber 50, a now obsolete weapon, and it is 

 earnestly urged that the Legislature take such 

 steps as are advisable to impress on Congress the 

 necessity for providing the troops with the army 

 rifle, caliber 30, at the cost of the United States. 

 Cartridge boxes and belts are needed, but it is 

 unwise to expend money for more of a kind which 

 will be unserviceable as soon as new rifles are 

 received." The Twenty-third Separate Company 

 of Hudson, the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh 

 Separate Companies of Schenectady, the Fortieth 

 Separate Company of Ogdensburg, the Twenty- 

 ninth Separate Company, and the Seventy-fourth 

 Regiment of Buffalo, need better accommoda- 

 tions. With these exceptions, all the military 

 organizations are provided, or will be shortly, 

 with suitable armories, and the few mentioned 

 deserve to be placed in like position. 



At the State camp the report says that the 

 course of instruction observed last year was fol- 

 lowed again this year with the infantry and ar- 

 tillery, with the same good results. Everything 

 considered, this season at the camp has been the 

 most satisfactory in attendance, attention, con- 

 duct, and results. The report includes that of 

 the Inspector General, Gen. Thomas H. Mc- 

 Grath, who personally inspected every separate 

 company and organization in the State. By far 

 the greater part of the document is given over 

 to the reports in detail of the inspections of the 

 several organizations in the Guard. Gen. Mc- 

 Grath was connected with the Inspector Gen- 

 eral's department for twelve years, and in his 

 official capacity came in close contact with the 

 members of the National Guard, and is conceded 

 by military men to know the needs and wants of 

 the service. He said : " During my service in the 

 department I have seen the National Guard grow 

 from a disorganized body to a grand institution. 

 I have seen it gradually develop from a ' go-as- 

 you-please" concern to a disciplined body of 

 soldiers in whom the State can safely rely' for 

 prompt, willing, and intelligent duty whenever 

 called upon. It is now quite time that the poli- 

 ticians stand aside and let the administration of 

 the National Guard severely alone." 



Arbitration. The State Board of Media- 

 tion and Arbitration consists of 3 commis- 

 sioners, each of whom is appointed for three 

 years and receives a salary of $3,000. The pres- 

 ent incumbents are William Purcell, Gilbert 

 Robertson, Jr., and Edward Feeney. They re- 

 port that during the year ending Oct. 31, 1894, 

 they received information of about 425 strikes 

 and lockouts. This is an increase of 25 per 

 cent, over the number that took place in 1893. 

 The majority of these strikes lasted only a few 

 VOL. xxxiv. 34 A 



days, having been adjusted by mutual conces- 

 sions. The principal seat of labor disturbance 

 has been in the clothing trade in New York and 

 Brooklyn. The great strike of tailors in Sep- 

 tember has been settled, but a similar disturb- 

 ance in the cloak trade was still pending at the 

 close of this report. A large proportion of the 

 strikes, the report says, may be attributed to the 

 effort of the workmen to have their wages re- 

 stored to the rates existing prior to 1893, when 

 many reductions were voluntarily submitted to 

 by employees owing to the general depression in 

 business. The percentage of unemployed has 

 been materially reduced, but two important fac- 

 tors still contribute to swell the forces of idle 

 men immigration and labor-saving machinery. 

 In this regard it is interesting to note that prob- 

 ably 2,000 compositors have been permanently 

 thrown out of work in this State through the 

 introduction of the typesetting machine during 

 the past five years. 



Railroads'. This department is cared for by 

 3 commissioners, each of whom serves for five 

 years and receives a salary of $8,000. The pres- 

 ent incumbents are Samuel A. Beardsley, Alfred 

 C. Chapin, and Michael Rickard. Their report 

 for the year ending June 30, 1894, shows a loss 

 in gross earnings of the railroads in the State of 

 $10,399.711. The operating expenses have been 

 decreased $6,035,340, leaving a loss in net earn- 

 ings from operation of $4,364,171, showing that 

 reduced earnings have been more than half pro- 

 vided for by economy in operation. Capital 

 stock shows an increase of $21,746,854, and the 

 percentage of dividends declared remains 2*69. 

 The increase in the funded and floating debt has 

 been $36,095,439 ; increase in cost of road and 

 equipment, $32,012,323 ; and increase in length of 

 road in this State, main line, 99-39 miles. The 

 decrease in tons of freight carried one mile was 

 2,442,338,047, and the increase in number of pas- 

 sengers carried one mile was 712,623,522. The 

 average earnings per passenger per mile have 

 decreased 0'27, and Ihe average earnings per ton 

 of freight per mile have increased 0*015. The 

 accident table shows that 29 passengers were 

 killed during the year from causes beyond their 

 control, making the remarkable average of 1 in 

 each 31,680,000 passengers carried. 



Fisheries. The commissioners in charge of 

 this department are 5 in number, as follows : 

 Robert Hamilton, William H. Bowman, D. G. 

 Hackney, A. S. Joline, and Lawrence D. Hunt- 

 ington. At the close of the hatching season, in 

 June, they announced that the following fry 

 had been distributed during the season : Trout, 

 4.000,000; lake trout, 7,000,000; whitefish, 22,- 

 000,000; torn cods, 32,000,000; smelts, 22,000,- 

 000 ; ciscoes, 12,000,000 ; pike perch, 20,000,000 ; 

 muscallonge, 3,000,000; shad, 7,000,000; frost 

 fish, 5,000,000 ; a total distribution of 134,000,- 

 000 fry. The distribution last year aggregated 

 82,000,000, and the largest amount ever dis- 

 tributed under any previous commission was 52,- 

 000,000; 3,000,000 muscallonge fry were dis- 

 tributed in Onondaga and Oneida lakes and other 

 inland waters; 7,000.000 shad were hatched in 

 the State fish car "Adirondack" during the sea- 

 son. The work of hatching pike and perch in 

 Oneida lake was a partial failure. The work of 

 hatching lobsters at Cold Spring harbor was 



