NEW YORK (STATE). 



567 



on the 1st of May a motion was made in the As- 

 sembly to lay aside all orders of business hav- 

 ing precedence, for the purpose of taking up 

 this measure, it was defeated by a strict party 

 vote, the Democrats opposing it. Later, on 

 the same day, however, the same measure was 

 adopted by a vote of 75 to 17, and the bill was 

 ordered to a third reading by a viva-voce vote. 

 It was finally passed with little opposition in 

 either house, though the long delay was attrib- 

 uted to covert hostility. 



The first section authorized, the Governor to ap- 

 point, and the Senate to confirm, three Civil-Service 

 Commissioners, not more than two of whom shall be 

 adherents of the same party. These commissioners 

 were to constitute the New York Civil-Service Com- 

 mission, and were to hold no other official place un- 

 der the State of New York. The Governor may re- 

 move any commissioner if he sees fit and appoint his 

 successor with the consent of the Senate. Tne duties 

 of the commissioners are to aid the Governor, as he 

 may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying 

 the act into effect. As regards these rules, it is speci- 

 fied that they shall provide as follows : 



1. For open, competitive examinations for testing 

 the fitness of applicants for the public service now 

 classified or to be classified. 2. All the offices, places, 

 and employments so arranged or to be arranged in 

 classes shall be filled by selections from among those 

 graded highest as the results of such competitive ex- 

 aminations. 3. There shall be a period of probation 

 before any absolute appointment or employment afore- 

 said. 4. Promotions from the lower grades to the 

 higher shall be on the basis of merit ana competition. 

 5. No person in the public service is for that reason 

 under any obligation to contribute to any political 

 fund. 6. No person in said service has any right to 

 use his official authority or influence to coerce ttie po- 

 litical action of any person or body. 7. There shall 

 be non-competitive examinations when competition 

 may not be found practicable. 8. Notice snail be 

 given in writing by the appointing power to said com- 

 mission of the person selected for appointment or em- 

 ployment from among those who have been examined. 

 And any necessary exceptions from said eight funda- 

 mental provisions of the rules shall be set forth. 



The commissioners, who were to have a sal- 

 ry of $2,000 a year each, were authorized to 

 appoint a chief examiner with a salary of $3,- 

 600, a secretary, stenographer, messenger, etc., 

 making the entire annual expense of the com- 

 mission about $15,000. It was provided that 

 Within four months after the expiration of the pres- 

 ent session of the Legislature, it shall be the duty of 

 the Governor to cause to be arranged in classes the 

 several clerks and persong em ployed or being employed 

 in the public service, for the purposes of the examina- 

 tion herein provided for, and he shall include in one 

 or more of such classes, so far as practicable, all sub- 

 ordinate places, clerks, and officers in the public service 

 of the State. After the termination of eight months 

 from the expiration of the present session of the Le- 

 gislature, no officer or clerk shall be appointed, and 

 no person shall be admitted to or be promoted in 

 either of the said classes now existing, or that may 

 be arranged hereunder pursuant to said rules, until he 

 has passed an examination or is shown to be specially 

 exempted from such examination, in conformity here- 

 with. No elective officer, and no person merely em- 

 ployed as a laborer or workman, shall be required to 

 be classified hereunder ; nor, unless by the direction 

 of the Senate, shall any person who has been nomi- 

 nated for confirmation by the Senate be required to be 

 classified or to pass an examination. 



Other sections of the bill authorized the 



mayors of cities having a population of 50,000 

 or more to prescribe regulations for admission 

 to the civil service of such cities in accordance 

 with the principles of the law ; prohibited po- 

 litical assessments upon office-holders or public 

 employes, and the offering of any inducement 

 for appointment to or retention in office; and 

 provided for an investigation by the commis- 

 sion into the conditions of the public service 

 throughout the State, and the expediency of 

 further legislation, having for its purpose an 

 extension and fuller application of the system 

 of competitive examinations. The bill received 

 the prompt approval of the Governor. A bill 

 of a similar character, applicable to the city of 

 New York alone, was defeated in the Assembly. 

 (See REFORM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE.) 



The act regulating primary elections which 

 was passed in 1882, and applied only to the city 

 of Brooklyn, was so modified as to apply to all 

 the cities of the State, and in that form was re- 

 enacted. It provides that any person who at 

 any political primary election falsely personates 

 and votes under the name of another, or ob- 

 structs or prevents others from voting who are 

 entitled to vote, or fraudulently conceals or 

 destroys ballots in the ballot-box, or takes bal- 

 lots therefrom, or commits any other fraud 

 tending to defeat or affect the result of the 

 election, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 

 meanor. Before entering upon their duties the 

 presiding officer and inspectors of the primary 

 shall take the same oath now required of in- 

 spectors at general elections. The vote of any 

 challenged person shall be rejected unless he 

 be sworn as to his qualifications as a voter. It 

 is made a misdemeanor for any person elected 

 a delegate at such primary to accept money or 

 valuable thing for his vote as such delegate. 



A subject upon which much time was be- 

 stowed to no purpose was the amendment of 

 the charter of the city of New York. On the 

 30th of January a resolution was adopted in 

 the Assembly asking the mayor of that city to 

 inform that House " what legislation, if any, 

 he may consider necessary in order to econo- 

 mize, simplify, and improve the local govern- 

 ment of the city of New York." The mayor 

 replied on the 7th of February, submitting a 

 scheme of charter amendment, the fundament- 

 al idea of which was to establish single heads 

 for the administrative departments of the city, 

 and give to the mayor full power of appointing 

 and removing these. This plan was strongly 

 supported and persistently advocated, but it 

 was antagonized by powerful political influ- 

 ences ; opposition schemes and amendments 

 were presented, and finally the whole effort for 

 charter reform was defeated. 



Another subject which occupied a good deal, 

 of time and occasioned much controversy, was 

 a project for increasing the water-supply of the 

 city of New York, by means of a new aqueduct 

 and an enlarged reservoir in the Croton basin. 

 A carefully prepared bill for this purpose was 

 introduced. It placed the charge of laying out 



