77 Gubernatorial Messages 



MESSAGE OF THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

 TO THE LEGISLATURE, JANUARY 3, 1900 



STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, 

 ALBANY, January 3, ipoo 



To the Legislature: 



It is a very genuine pleasure to congratulate the 

 Legislature upon the substantial sum of achieve- 

 ment in legislation and administration of the past 

 year. Laws of the utmost usefulness to the com- 

 munity have been enacted, and there has been a 

 steady betterment throughout the year in the meth- 

 ods and results of the administration of the gov- 

 ernment. 



The whole problem of taxation is now, as it has 

 been at almost all times and in almost all places, one 

 of extreme difficulty. It has become more and more 

 evident in recent years that existing methods of 

 taxation, which worked well enough in a simpler 

 state of society, are not adequate to secure justice 

 when applied to the conditions of our complex and 

 highly specialized modern industrial development. 

 At present the real estate owner is certainly bearing 

 an excessive proportion of the tax burden. Men 

 who have made a special study of the theory of 

 taxation and men who have had long experience 

 in its practical application are alike in conflict among 

 themselves as to the best general system. Absolute 

 equality, absolute justice in matters of taxation will 



