554 



NEW YORK. 



the total number of organizations reported to the 

 bureau each quarter was: First quarter, 1898, 

 1,048; second quarter, 1898, 1,079; third quarter, 

 1898, 1.087. Of the 1,087 unions, 280 were in 

 the building trades: iron and steel, 137; railroad 

 (steam), 131; printing, binding, etc.. 08; clothing, 

 <>2; and cigar, cigarettes, and tobacco, 54. The 

 others vary from 3 to 3(> unions. As to distribu- 

 tion. Greater New York shows the largest re- 

 turns, with 40.4 per cent, of all the unions in the 

 State. Following New York are Buffalo, 7.4 per 

 cent.: Syracuse, (5 per cent.: Albany. 4.1 per cent.; 

 Rochester, 3.9 per cent.: I'tica. 2.7 per cent.; Troy, 

 2.3 per cent.; and Newburg. 2 per cent. The 

 other cities and towns vary from 1!) unions to 1. 

 Of the 87 cities and towns represented, the 8 

 mentioned h:ul 6S.6 per cent, of all the organiza- 

 tions in the State. The total membership of both 

 sexes of all unions at the end of the third quarter, 

 1S98. was 171. OUT. In regard to distribution of 

 membership by towns. Greater New York heads 

 the list of cit'ies and towns with 73.3 per cent., 

 followed by Buffalo with 5.3 per cent.; Syracuse, 

 3.7 per cent.: Rochester, 2.0 per cent.; Albany, 

 2 per cent.; Utica, 1.3 per cent.; Troy, 1.3 per 

 eent.: Newburg, 1 per cent. The other locali- 

 ties vary from 1,077 to 3 members. Of the 87 

 cities aiid towns represented, the 8 mentioned 

 had 90.4 per cent, of the total membership. Of 

 the organized wage workers in the State, the 

 proportion of women in each quarter varies from 

 2.7 per cent, to 4.4 per cent, (an average of 3.7 per 

 cent.), with a somewhat larger proportion in 1898 

 than in 1897. Women appear in any one quarter 

 in but 8 industries, and of the total number from 

 To to 86 per cent, in the different quarters (an 

 average of 80 per cent, for all) are in cigars, etc., 

 and clothing. After these two the only industries 

 with any considerable representation of women 

 are the 'printing, textile, and theatrical trades, 

 the three containing in the various quarters from 

 11 per cent, to 20 per cent, (an average of 16 

 per cent.) of all the women. The report also dis- 

 cusses fully the frauds and impositions that are 

 practiced upon immigrants. 



Canals. The canals are chiefly under the 

 charge of the Superintendent of Public Works. 

 On Dec. 2, 1898, George W. Aldridge, holding that 

 office, was suspended, and on Jan. 16 John N. 

 Partridge was confirmed as his successor. The 

 report of the commission appointed by Gov. Black 

 to investigate the canals apparently yielded tes- 

 timony that showed acts of such character as 

 to warrant the recommendation that they should 

 be investigated by a grand jury. Accordingly 

 Gov. Roosevelt, shortly after his inauguration, 

 appointed Austen G. Fox and Wallace MacFar- 

 lane, of opposite political faith to the Superin- 

 tendent of Public Works, to assist the Attorney- 

 General in the institution and prosecution of such 

 criminal proceedings as should be warranted by 

 the testimony taken by the investigating commis- 

 sion. The Legislature appropriated $20,000 to 

 pay the expenses of the investigation. After sev- 

 eral months they reported that criminal prosecu- 

 tions were inadvisable and impracticable. In the 

 absence of evidence of fraudulent collusion be- 

 tween the State officers and the contractors, the 

 counsel concluded that the numerous instances of 

 apparently unjustifiable favoritism to contractors 

 and of improvident agreements reported by the 

 commission could not be said to be criminal, 

 though they did subject the State to a large 

 pecuniary loss, and apparently showed grave de- 

 linquency on the part of those charged with the 

 execution of the work. The delinquency shown 

 justified public indignation, but it did not afford 



ground for criminal prosecution. The report giv- 

 ing their reasons for their conclusions was trans- 

 mitted, with the Governor's message, to the 

 Legislature. 



In his annual report on the State canals, cover- 

 ing the period between Jan. 18 and Sept. 30, Col. 

 Partridge says : " On Feb. 1 the balance of the 

 ordinary repair fund available for the last eight 

 months of the fiscal year was $126,913 less than 

 for the year before, and there were outstanding 

 bills aggregating upward of $37,651. To meet 

 this condition I at once cut the' force of employees 

 down to the minimum, and later increased the 

 force during navigation season by the employ- 

 ment of only so many as were clearly shown to 

 be needed. The results obtained were: The earli- 

 est opening of navigation (April 17), a small 

 number of interruptions to navigation, a balance 

 of $2,061.76 at the end of the year, and no unpaid 

 bills in the office, w f ith the exception of several 

 in dispute, aggregating $776.64. The canals were 

 closed officially on Dec. 1." 



On March 8 Gov. Roosevelt appointed a com- 

 mission, consisting of Major Thomas W. Symonds, 

 John N. Scatcherd, George E. Greene, Frank S. 

 Witherbee, and Gen. Francis V. Greene, with 

 State Engineer and Surveyor Bond and State 

 Superintendent of Public Works Partridge, for 

 the purpose of formulating a definite canal policy 

 for the State, and to submit a report to form 

 the basis of recommendations to the next Legisla- 

 ture, with a view of finally disposing of the canal 

 question. The field of inquiry was unlimited by 

 the Governor. It included: Whether the present 

 improvement plan, which has been suspended, 

 providing for the deepening of the Erie and Os- 

 Avego Canals to 9 feet and the Champlain Canal 

 to 7 feet, should be carried to completion, and 

 the cost of the same ; whether a large canal should 

 be constructed from Albany to Oswego, and the 

 western section of the Erie closed; whether it is 

 wisest to turn the canals over to the National 

 Government for a ship water way, and to what 

 extent the railroads have taken the place of the 

 canals. In answer, the commission recommended 

 that the deepening of the Oswego and Champlain 

 Canals be completed at a cost of $2,642,120; that 

 the present canals be maintained and enlarged; 

 and said the project of a ship canal is a subject 

 for consideration by the Federal Government. 



Fisheries. The commissioners in charge of 

 this department are Barnet H. Davis, Edward 

 Thompson, William R. Weed, H, S. Holden, and 

 Charles H. Babcock. They reported that during 

 the year the new hatchery at Constantia, on 

 Oneida lake, was completed. It has a capacity 

 of 125,000,000 eggs of the spring sp'awning fish 

 and 35,000,000 eggs of the fall or winter spawning 

 fish, such as whitefish or ciscoes. The following 

 is the distribution from each hatchery: Adiron- 

 dack, 508,060 brook trout, 147.140 brown trout, 

 23,000 rainbow trout, 130,000 lake trout, 3,250,000 

 frostfish; Beaverkill, 774,875 brook trout, 86,700 

 brown trout; Caledonia, 365,112 brook trout, 3(17.- 

 268 brown trout, 45,125 rainbow trout*, 368,786 

 lake trout, 1,000 red-throat trout, 18,300,000 

 whitefish, 65,000 fresh-water shrimp; Clayton, 

 15,000,000 ciscoes, 5,800,000 whitefish, 115.100 

 large-mouth black bass ; Chautauqua lake, 2,650,- 

 000 muscalonge; Oneida, 50 pickerel, 17,550,472 

 pike perch, 1,350 small- and large-mouth black 

 bass, 2,562,800 yellow perch; Cold Spring, 466,000 

 brook trout, 93,835 brown trout, 44,485 rainbow 

 trout, 48,000,000 tomcods, 48,000,000 smelt, 6,550,- 

 000 lobsters, 1,214,800 shad; Catskill, 1,500,000 

 herring, 3,882,600 shad; donated to State waters 

 by the United States Fish Commission, 5,800,000 



