The government of the state of New York

Preface

In the study of civics in our schools there is usually such strong emphasis laid on the National government that the student comes to think that the State government is of very little importance. This fact has led and is leading the public at large to regard the State as scarcely anything more than an administrative unit like the English county and the French department. Men of learning and prominence regard with equanimity the gradual encroachment of the National upon the State government. That men in general do not object to the increasing assumption of powers by the National government may be in part attributed to the training which they receive in the schools.

Whether such assumption of power is good or bad is of course debatable. No one will deny, however, that it is contrary to the spirit of our institutions. The reduction of our States to mere divisions for administrative purposes was something never contemplated by the most ardent Federalists. With the hope of counteracting in a measure the present tendency to aggrandize the importance of the National government I have aimed to bring before the student the exceedingly important part which our State government plays in our daily life.

Another object I have kept constantly in mind is to show the government in its actual working. For that reason at the end of each chapter are several paragraphs on actual conditions. These, following, as they do, the sketch of the machinery of government, are intended to show how prac-

VI PREFACE.

tice differs from theory, and wherein we are successful and wherein we fail in carrying on our government.

On the political history of New York State I have given very little, because almost all that I could give here has already been covered in connection with the history of the United States which the pupil has already studied. Changes in institutions, however, have been noted in their proper places. I have also omitted from the text salaries of officials and other statistical matter. Such material is to be found in reference tables at the end of the book.

I am indebted to Mr. A. H. Sanford for permission to use at the ends of some of my chapters certain of the " suggestive questions," in his work on the " Government of Wisconsin."

New York City, November, 1905.

Preface To The Second Edition

The conditions governing affairs in our State and its counties, cities, villages, and towns change so rapidly that every year some legislation is necessary. In theory a new text-book would be necessary every year, but as this is not possible in practice, it behooves every teacher of civics to take a wide-awake interest in current affairs so as to be able to keep himself and his pupils abreast of the times.

It is now seven years since this book was published and the object of this new edition is to make in it such changes as have been made necessary by the lapse of time.

The author at one time seriously considered the proposition of remaking the book along the lines laid down by the new State Syllabus, but he was deterred from doing it after a talk with one of the members of the committee that made the syllabus. It became clear that the intent of the committee was to have the subject studied inductively and that the teacher was to be the all-important factor in getting the pupil to gather the facts.

The general material called for in the syllabus is to be found in this book, though the arrangement is different. To assist the teacher the syllabus has been placed in this volume to precede the text and page references have been given so that the place where a topic is treated may be easily found.

Aside from the numerous necessary changes in figures vm PREFACE.

throughout the book the most important sections entirely rewritten are those relating to "The Primary," "The Income Tax," "The District Superintendent of Schools," and "The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall."

James Sullivan.

Plandome, Long Island, June, 191 2.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

There is a somewhat prevalent notion among teachers that the object of studying our local and State governments is to encourage local pride and patriotism. This, it is supposed, will make the student a better citizen. There is nothing, however, which is more erroneous. Such teaching leads the pupil to have wrong notions of the importance of his own locality, to have his perspective so distorted as to see only the good and none of the bad, and to make no effort to work for a change in the imperfect because he thinks it perfect. There is no worse citizenship than is expressed in the words : " We are all right." This blatant self-satisfaction with what we have is responsible for our " corrupt but contented " style of government.

Our most patriotic citizens are those who see the defects of our institutions, not those who sit with folded hands and think that democratic principles have brought the millennium. Because we teach our pupils to see wherein we have failed and are failing in carrying out these principles, it is not to be urged that we are teaching them to be unpatriotic. Patriotism is a matter of slow growth and takes care of itself without being taught. It is like love of one's mother — it needs no cultivation. The quality which we teach in our schools by the overemphasis which we lay on our perfections is " jingoism." With some this may pass for patriotism, but it is as different from that as day from night, and the less we have of it the better.

Another danger which the teacher of local government

ix

X SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

must avoid is the spirit of narrow provincialism which unfortunately is altogether too common in this country. The silly but sometimes bitter rivalry which exists between some cities and States of our Union is at times directly traceable to school instruction. If we cannot get good citizenship except by vilifying or depreciating our neighbors, it is something we had better do without. Good citizenship is not narrow and provincial, but broad. It has the world for its teacher and from her it learns to borrow the good wherever that is to be found. If Germany has better municipal government than we have, it is our duty as good citizens to profit by her example, or at least to teach our children that the Germans manage their municipalities better than we.

It is not necessary, however, to " harp " on the bad qualities of our government all the time. There is a danger, in these days of newspaper exposures of political corruption, of the pupil getting to believe that all men connected with public life are guilty of wrongdoing simply because a few cases are brought to light. This must be guarded against and the pupil made to realize that by far the larger number of men in political life are honest and incorruptible. The points wherein we excel others may be brought out as well as those wherein we fail. Our present tendency, with our pupils at least, is to gloss over the latter and that is why we have to be on our guard.

From these few remarks it will be seen that the teacher of civics must know other governments — local and National — besides his own, must be a close reader of the newspapers and their editorials, and must be ready at all times to discuss present-day problems and politics as illustrating the actual working of the machinery of government as it is studied in the text. Teachers should by every means in their power encourage the pupils to read the best of our newspapers and to make scrap albums of clippings which relate to the sub-

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. xi

ject under discussion. In conjunction with this should go the visits to legislative assemblies, interviews with local officers, leaders and active citizens, and reports from observation on the methods of conducting the business of some local department. The pupil should be made to see the government in its actual working as much as possible and to realize for himself how much or how little it differs from the theory.

A great deal of space has been given to cities. It is hoped that teachers will find it possible to give much more time to this division of our government than has hitherto been the case.

The suggestive questions at the close of chapters are not meant to be such as can be answered from a reading of the text. They are intended to make the pupil think, consult books outside the text and ask questions of men who are acquainted with the machinery of government. The teacher will be able to frame others of the same sort as the study of the various chapters progresses.

No " outlines " of chapters or of departments of government have been given. It was felt that the making of these was an exercise which should be left to the pupil.

The following short list of books will prove helpful :

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Andrews, Gambrill, and Tall, A Bibliography of History for the Teacher.

ON METHOD.

Martin, G. H., Hints on the Teaching of Civics. Bourne, H. E., The Teaching of History and Civic v. New England Hist. Teachers' Association, Report of the Civics Committee.

REFERENCE LISTS FOR OUTSIDE READING.

Hart, A. B., Actual Goveni7ne?it. (List at heads of chapters.) MOREY, W. C., The Government of New York. (List at heads of chapters.)

xii SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

STATISTICAL MATERIAL.

Murlin, E. L., The New York Red Book. (Annually.) Secretary of State, The Legislative Manual. (Annually.) Almanacs of the New York City Daily Newspapers : American, Eagle, Tribune, World.

GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK STATE.

Morey, W. C, The Government of New York.

Revised Statutes of New York State.

GOVERNMENTS OF OTHER STATES.

A?nerican State Series, edited by W. W. Willoughby.

FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

Wilson, Woodrow, The State.

CITY GOVERNMENT.

Shaw, A., Municipal Government in Continental Europe. Shaw, A. , Municipal Government in Great Britain. GOODNOW, F. J., City Government i?i the United States.

NEWSPAPERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

Our Own Times, Brooklyn.

Current Events, Springfield, Mass.

Contents

PAGE

Suggestions to Teachers ix

The State Syllabus . xiv

Chapter I. The Constitution

Importance of the State. — We have already spent a great deal of time and space on the study of the National government, but we must always remember that so far as our daily life is concerned the State government is far more important than the National. It is the State which decides on the form of government of our counties, towns, and villages, and grants charters to our cities. It is the State which through these local governments, or directly, makes provision for the public health and the public education of the citizens; establishes asylums, prisons, and houses of correction; manages the public lands, takes care of the forests, fish and game, promotes agriculture, regulates labor and domestic commerce; builds and cares for canals, and grant charters to and controls corporations. Among the most important of the latter, which affect us directly, are gas companies, street and steam railway corporations, and food-product concerns. When we see that the State has so many activities, we realize why it is so very important to understand thoroughly the government of the State.

Constitutions of New York. — The details of the form of government of our State — sometimes called the Empire State because of its great wealth and population — is determined, like the governments of the United States and the other States, by a document known as the Constitution. We have had in our history four different State constitutions. The first was made in 1777, the second in 182 1, the third in 1846, and the last in 1894. Why we have had so many when the National government has had only one during the same period of time will become clear if we carefully consider the matter. It is well known how difficult it is to change the Federal Constitution and how it has been " stretched " in order to include powers or functions which were not expressly stated in the document itself. It has not been necessary to do this with our State Constitution, because it has usually been an easy matter to get a wholly new Constitution or to change the one which we had. This is true for the following reasons : ( 1 ) Having the people of one State instead of many States to deal with it was an easy matter to find out whether they wanted a constitutional convention called in order to draft a new Constitution. (2) The method of amendment has been simpler. Though the Constitution of 1777 made no provision for amendments, it was possible for the Legislature by a mere majority vote to call a convention for the purpose of changing the Constitution. By the Constitution of 1 82 1 it was made possible to add an amendment to the Constitution if a mere majority of each house of the Legislature voted for it and two-thirds of each house of the subsequent Legislature approved of it. (3) Being in a small area, the people were more likely to be nearly of one mind as to any change which was thought desirable.

Constitution of 1777. — This Constitution, like the constitutions of the other States adopted at about the same time, was drawn up at the suggestion of the Continental Congress, then in session at Philadelphia (May 10, 1776). It did not attempt to create new institutions, but provided for those to which the people had been used during the previous history of the colony. Provision was thus made for a governor, a lieutenant governor, executive councils, a legislature of two houses, all chosen by the people, and a system of courts the judges of which were to be appointed. Under the colonial government no one had been allowed to vote unless he owned a certain amount of property, and this restriction remained in force in this Constitution. To protect the citizen in the enjoyment of what he considered his fundamental rights certain clauses defining these were put into the Constitution. These came to be called the " Bill of Rights."

This Constitution, like the later Federal Constitution, was short, and barely outlined the form of government. The form of government has remained the same throughout the history of the State, but the document itself has been increased so much in length that it is more like a book of laws than a definition of the various departments of government and their powers.

Under this Constitution the power which had belonged to the King passed to the people. They had a strong feeling at this time against tyranny and " one-man power," and hence they made the authority of the office of governor as weak as possible, and put the control of the government largely into the hands of the Legislature. The governor did not have the powers of veto and appointment. These were given to two special councils of which the governor, though a member, was only one among several other members. Even a veto made by a council could be overborne by the Legislature. The judges were appointed to office by one of these councils.

Constitution of 1821. — In the period between 1777 and 1 82 1 the people experienced a change of feeling. They no longer had such a dread of tyranny as they had had when George III. ruled them, and they were more democratic in their attitude toward the privilege of voting. Several disputes having arisen under the Constitution of 1777 which could not be settled, a convention was called and drew up the Constitution of 1821. In accord with the changed feelings mentioned above, the restrictions on the privilege of voting were made less severe, the power of veto was taken from the council and put into the hands of the governor, subject of course to the power of the Legislature to pass a bill over his veto, and the power of appointment to such offices as those of the secretary of state, the treasurer, the attorney-general was taken away from the council and put into the hands of the Legislature. The appointment of judges, however, was invested with the governor, subject to the approval of the upper house of the Legislature. Thus by this Constitution the power of the governor was increased and the Legislature gained additional prerogatives in the matter of appointments.

Constitution of 1846. — Between 182 1 and 1846 a great wave of democracy swept over our country, New York included. The people showed themselves desirous of getting more and more power into their own hands, and of restricting the powers of both the governor and the Legislature. They no longer trusted the men whom they chose to represent them. By an amendment to the Constitution of 1821, passed in 1826, all property qualifications for the privilege of voting were swept away, and in 1845 another amendment was passed making it unnecessary for a man to have property in order to hold office. The result of these amendments was that the convention of 1846 called for revising the Constitution was overwhelmingly Democratic. The people had turned out in force to choose delegates to a convention which would give them the power. Thus by the Constitution of 1846 the power of appointing such officers as the secretary of state, the treasurer, and the attorney-general was taken away from the Legislature, and the power of appointing judges was taken away from the governor. Henceforth executive officers like those mentioned above and the judges were to be elected directly by the people. Heretofore the Legislature had been permitted to pass laws on almost all subjects, but in the Constitution of 1846 a list of subjects was put down on which the Legislature could not legislate. These restrictions, which relate to a variety of subjects, such as lotteries, divorces, charters, and State debts, have tended to increase as new constitutions are made or amended. With its powers in legislation more and more diminished the Legislature has declined in importance, and the people have used their right of revising and amending the Constitution as a sort of means of legislating directly for themselves.

Constitution of 1894. — By 1866 the need of a revision of the Constitution was again felt, and a convention was called in that year. Its work was unsatisfactory and its proposals were rejected by the people. Between that date and 1894 the people had grown to distrust the Legislature more and more and to place more confidence in the governor. They came to regard him and his veto as the bulwark against hasty and bad law-making by the Legislature. When, therefore, a convention met in 1894 to revise the Constitution there was an observable tendency to increase the governor's authority and to put more restrictions on the Legislature. The most important of these was that aimed against special laws for individual cities. In order to prevent it the Constitution divided the cities of the State into three classes according to their population. Then any law that may be passed affects all the cities of any one class and not simply a single city. Other clauses were added to the Constitution, making it the longest we have as yet had. As this Constitution of 1894 is that under which we are now living, we shall turn to its consideration.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Make a list of the things which you or your parents do day by

day which are affected by (1) National laws, (2) State laws.

2. What is the difference between a legislature and a convention ?

3. Sum up the advantages and disadvantages of having the people

legislate directly by revising or amending the Constitution.

4. Find out the number of pages in the Federal Constitution and

compare it with the number of pages in the State constitutions of 1777, 1821, 1846, 1894. (See Poore, Charters and Constitutions.)

Chapter II. Constitutional Rights

Natural Rights. — In the eighteenth century, at the time when our first Constitution was made, the people generally believed that all early government began in what they called a " social compact." According to that all men were in a state of nature something similar to the state in which we found the savages when we first came to this country. They thought that men all came together and decided to have a government. In order to do this men had to give up certain rights which they had all enjoyed as individuals before they decided to have a government. There were some rights, however, which were regarded as " inalienable " — that is, they could not be surrendered or given up by anybody. These rights were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was thus that the people of the eighteenth century believed that government was a " necessary evil." They thought that man had more rights in a " state of nature," as they called it, than he had when governments were formed. Nowadays we know that people were all wrong in believing this. We know that government was a matter of very slow growth and did not come from any " social compact." We know further that what rights we enjoy were made possible to us by an organized government. Before government grew up there were no rights which anybody could call his own. He was in danger of being killed, of having his property taken away from him, or of being made a slave by somebody who was stronger than he. As there was no government, there was no one to whom he could look for protection. What good were his rights if he could not enjoy them? We know now that what rights we have are made possible to us by the government. We also know that if all the people, forming what is technically known as the " social body," wish to deprive individuals of the right of holding private property, they may do so. Government is only the machine which the people use to do their will. They may give to the government the power to do anything that they wish it to do, or they may deprive it of any power which they do not wish it to exercise. The powers which the government of this State is or is not to have are carefully laid down in the Constitution.

Divisions of the Constitution. — Our State Constitution, like the Federal Constitution, opens with a Preamble. This is : " We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution." The Constitution is divided into fourteen articles, and these in turn are divided into sections, but' for purposes of convenience we may group them all under four chief divisions. The first of these we will call the " Bill of Rights," because in it are placed certain rights which the people have declared that the government cannot take away from the individual (Articles I, II). The second division has to do with the " departments of government " — the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary (Articles III, IV, V, VI). The third em-

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. g

braces powers other than those over individual rights which the people have denied to the government, or subjects on which they have chosen to legislate directly by placing them in the Constitution (Articles VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII) . The fourth and last division deals with amendments to the Constitution (Articles XIV, XV).

Bill of Rights. — This is a portion of the Constitution about which the people of the time of the Revolution felt very strongly. From the time of the Magna Charta to the American rebellion from the tyranny of George III. Englishmen had struggled to prevent the government from denying certain rights to the individual. These rights had been set down in the most celebrated documents in English history — Magna Charta, 12 15, Petition of Right, 1628, and the Bill of Rights, 1689. They are the same as appear in the first eight amendments to the Federal Constitution: Trial by jury, religious liberty, habeas corpus, no excessive bail, fines or punishments, indictment by a grand jury for serious offenses, no person to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense, no one to be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself, no person to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, no private property to be taken for public use without just compensation, freedom of speech and the press, and right of petition. All of these are either clear in themselves or have been explained in the first portion of this book.

In addition to these there are certain other provisions restricting divorces, prohibiting lotteries, pool-selling, book-making, and other forms of gambling, and several io THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK.

sections relating to an old system of landholding, which was in existence during colonial times.

Voting. — Of greatest importance are the clauses which relate to voting. This did not appear among the " rights " for which Englishmen had struggled in their early history. It is a " privilege " which has been granted to citizens without distinction in New York State only during the course of the nineteenth century. Now the Constitution provides : " No member of this State shall be disfranchised , or deprived of any rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers." That is to say, that the Legislature cannot by merely passing a law deprive a member of the State of such rights or privileges. To be deprived of them a member of the State must be tried and convicted of having done something which under the Constitution of the State makes him incapable of enjoying the rights and privileges of the ordinary citizen.

Qualifications of Voters. — Not everybody who lives in the State, however, enjoys the privilege of voting. The Constitution makes this clear. A voter must be a male citizen twenty-one years of age; he must have been a citizen for ninety days ; and he must have been an inhabitant of the State for at least one year next preceding the election at which he offers his vote. But this is not all. He must be a resident in the place where he wishes to cast his ballot. He must have resided in the county for at least four months and in the election district for at least thirty days before election day.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. n

Persons Excluded from Voting. — Nevertheless, a man having all the above qualifications is deprived of the privilege of voting if at any time he is convicted of having taken or given bribes at an election, or of having committed any other infamous crime. In earlier times, as we have seen, there were many more persons excluded from the privilege of voting than at present. Under the Constitution of 1777, all negroes, free or slave, were excluded; under that of 1821 free negroes owning a certain amount of property were allowed to vote, but it was not until the amendment of 1874 was made to the Constitution of 1846 that negroes were put on an equality with white men in the matter of voting. This was done in accordance with the Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution declared in force in 1870. White men also who did not own a certain amount of property were excluded from voting by the constitutions of 1777 and 1 82 1, and it was not until 1826 that an amendment removed this restriction.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. What was the Magna Charta ? the Petition of Right ? the

English Bill of Rights ? Find out their history and give their most important provisions.

2. Compare Article I of the Constitution of New York State

with the first eight amendments to the Federal Constitution.

3. Are there countries where freedom of speech and freedom of

the press are restricted?

4. Can you suggest any reasons why the prohibition concerning

lotteries and other forms of gambling should be put into the Constitution?

Chapter III. The Legislature

Necessity for a Legislature. — Upon the voters depends the government. If they are uneducated and corrupt, and pay little attention to politics, the government will be bad and poorly run. If they are honest and intelligent and take an active interest in it, the government will be well run. In very early times almost everything used to be attended to by the voters directly, but with the increase of population and the growth of large States this became impossible. The voters became so numerous that they could no longer meet together in a single place, and, if they could have met, they could not have made themselves heard. Then, again, those living far away from the place of meeting could not afford the time to come. So it became customary to turn over to others the duty of carrying on the government. For this purpose three departments came to be organized : one, the Legislature, to make the laws; another, the Executive, to see that they were carried out or executed ; and still another, the Judiciary, to decide on the meaning of laws, settle disputes, and declare whether the law was to be applied to a particular case. This threefold division lies at the basis of our government, and though each division is closely connected with the others we treat them under separate heads for the sake of clearness. This chapter is to deal with the first division — the Legislature.