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Library 1994.<• READ AND CIRCULATE!
LUCIUS ROBINSON.LETTER FROM PROMINENT CITIZENS.
The State of New York contains a population of intense commercial
and industrial activity, numbering, little less than the white inhabitants of
the entire eleven Southern States, and exceeding, by moffe than 800,000, the
population of the six States of New England.
Its wealth, according to the ninth census, reached the enormous aggre-
gate of sixty-five hundred millions of dollars, an amount the magnitude oi
which will be the more apparent when it is stated that by the same census
the wealth of the eleven Southern States was twenty-seven hundred and
thirty-eight millions ; that of the five Border States twenty-eight hundred
and twenty-one millions and that of the New England States, forty
hundred and forty millions.
These vast interests of population and material resources impose
grave responsibilities upon the electors who choose the executive and
administrative officers of this great commonwealth. In view of these
responsibilities and to concentrate public attention .upon the important
and practical questions connected with our State affairs, the under
signed join in earnestly requesting of their fellow-citizens a careful
perusal of the within papers. Governor Robinson has lately been
described, and justly, as*^ man “ruggedly and aggressively honest.5’
We are confident, also, that he will be found by those who will take the
pains to read his public utterances, and to examine his official acts, to
be a man who has the wisdom of knowing how to apply common sense
to the’consideration of important matters.
His ability is unquestionable ; his character is unassailable; he has
known neither friend nor f6e in keeping along the same path of simple
duty and absolute devotion to the public good, and in what he has done
in the past we have an assured guarantee of what he maybe able to
accomplish in the future. It is not his personality but the principles and
policy with which he is identified, that are on trial. His fidelity to consti-
tutional obligations has made his name conspicuous among the highest
order of American statesmen.	.	-
The questions before us and which most concern us are still those of
economic government, and careful and business-like management of our
important public trusts. Prom all who have these interests at heart we
ask support for Lucius Robinson.	,
ROYAL PHELPS.	OSWALD OTTENDORFER.
SAMUEL D. BABCOCK.	RICHARD O’GORMAN.
F. R. COUDERT.	DAYID M. STONE.
FRANKLIN EDSON,	LAWSON N. FULLER.
A. E. ORR.	JAS. M. BROWN.
W. E. DODGE, Jr. New York, October 1, 1879.	ABRAM S. HEWITT.
A Brief Sketch of his Life and Record.
Governor Robinson was born at Windham,
Greene county, November 4, 1810. His father
was a farmer and gave his son an academic
education. After leaving the Delaware Acade-
my, Delhi, Lucius Robinson began the study
of law in the office of the famous General Root,
and completed his preparation in the office of
Amasa J. Parker at Delhi. He was admitted to
the bar in 1882, and began the practice of his
profession in Catskill. In 1837 he was appointed
District-attorney of Greene county and held the
position for three years, when he removed to
New York. He was appointed Master in Chan-
cery by Governor Bouck in 1848, and soon after
entered into partnership with the late David
Codwise. During his residence in New York
city Mr. Robinson was for a long time a member
of Tammany Hall General Committee, which
was then composed wholly of reputable men.
He was reappointed a Master in Chancery
by Governor Silas Wright in 1846, and held
the office continuously until the court of
Chancery was abolished by the adoption of the
new Constitution. He was once nominated for
Judge of the Superior Court, but lost his election
along with his party candidates. About 1855,
Mr. Robinson removed to Chemung county,
owing to ill health, and settled on a farm near
Elmira. He was nominated' for Member of As-
sembly in 1859, without any consultation with
him, and was elected, and re-elected in 1860 as
the joint candidate of many war Democrats and
Republicans. In the Legislature of 1861 he was
a candidate for Speaker against Mr. Littlejohn,
but was unsuccessful. In the autumn of 1861
he was elected State Comptroller on. the Union-
Combination ticket by a majority of 108,201, the
largest ever received by any candidate for a State
office in this or any other State. He was re-elected
Comptroller by another large majority. During
his second term his management of the finances
excited the animosity of Republican bankers
who were not hard-money Jacksonians like
Lucius Robinson and the Republicans refused to
join in nominating him for a third term. This
renomination, however, the Democrats insisted
upon, but he was defeated along with the rest of
the ticket, though he stood at the very head of
the poll. His immense personal popularity in-
duced the Democrats in T870 to nominate him
for Congress in a strong Republican district.
Although defeated he reduced the old Republican
majority by,2,500 votes.	In 1875 he was again
elected State Comptroller by the Democracy.
In 1876 he resigned that post when elected
Governor.
During the session of 1877 he rebuked all at-
tempts at special legislation, and frequently and
firmly used the veto power. He especially vetoed
bills which struck at the independence of the
local government of New York. For this he was
tendered a reception by the Democrats of New
York, in which Augustus Schell, John Kelly and
all the magnates of Tammany participated, and
at which Messrs. Henry L. Clinton and Lieuten
ant-Governor Dorsheimer made most eulogistic
speeches. In the winter of 1878 he endeavored
to remove Insurance Superintendent Smyth, but
the attempt was defeated by the votes of the
Tammany Senators, who had turned against him
because he was unwilling to approve of certain
schemes which Mr. Kelly and his friends had set
on foot in the city. During his administration
Governor Robinson has unweariedly promoted
all kinds of reform, especially in regard to the
canals, the prisons, taxation and the finances
He pursued the same line of conduct through the
last Legislature, incurring the malice and hatred
of Tammany Hall and especially of Mr. Kelly
three of whose particular friends he had felt
obliged to remove from office for official mis
demeanors, with the cordial approval of the
Bar Association and of good citizens ©I all
parties.Governor Robinson’s
LETTER OF AOOEPTANOE.
Hoe. John 0. Jacobs,
President of the Democratic Republican State Convention:
Dear Sir.—I have received your letter of the'
15th instant, formally advising me of my nomi-
nation by the Democratic Republican State Con-
vention for re-election to tlie office of Governor.
The convention was composed of men of high
character and unusual ability, fully represent-
ing every county in the State. From its proceed-
ings, I learn that with entire unanimity it in-
dorsed the course of the State administration,
and, by the vote of a very large majority, sub-
sequently made unanimous, renominated me for
the high office which I now hold. It also named
by acclamation for the post of Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor a gentleman known and honored through-
out the State and nation, and renominated all
the officers who have for two years been
associated with me in the conduct of State
affairs.
It is well known that I neither sought nor de-
sired a renomination, and that I did not consent
to the use of my name in connection with it until
circumstances beyond my control seemed to ren-
der it an imperative necessity. Grateful to the
convention for this expression of confidence, I
accept its nomination. I hold it to be the duty
of eveiy citizen enjoying the benefits of a free
government of the people to sacrifice private in-
terests and inclinations when thus called upon
to serve the public. I do not regard the nomina-
tion as in any sense a personal tribute to myself,
but as an approval of the earnest and laborious
efforts which I have made to uphold the supre-
macy of the Constitution and laws, to arrest
Albany, September 20, 1879.
/
vicious and extravagant legislation, to punish
derelict officials, to reform and purify the ad-
ministration of the government, ta protect the
rights of all classes of citizens, to reduce expenses
and taxation to the lowest practical point, and to
relieve the people from all unnecessary burdens.
The work of reform, however vigorously car-
ried on, is unavoidably slow. It encounters at
every step the hostility of those who. reap rich
rewards from the abuses which it seeks to correct.
Overpaid, corrupt and lawless officials, stand at all
times in its way. They band together to buffet
or to buy every public officer wh<£ seeks to do
his full and honest duty. They make costly the
effort to execute the law and punish its trans-
gressors. But notwithstanding these hindrances,
the cause has made such progress in this State
that it is difficult now to comprehend the con-
dition in which we were five years ago. It
is not possible to fully appreciate that which
has been accomplished, except by a comparison
of the situation then with that of to-day. To
this it is proper that I should for a moment refer.
The long career of demoralization which sprang
from and followed the war, led to reckless legisla-
tion, loose and corrupt practices in the administra-
tion, fraudulent contracts for public works and
a general disregard of law both in the State and
municipal governments. Profuse expenditures,
exorbitant taxes, and vast indebtedness were
the natural results of such a condition of affairs.
In 1874 the people became aroused and demanded
the reform which was commenced in 1875,and has been steadily and vigorously pursued
ever since with most gratifying results.	^
In 1874, the Expenditures on Account
op the Canals, Exclusive op the Canal
Debt and Interest, Reached the Enormous
Amount op $3,842,892.75, and op this Sum
$2,373,425.92 was Paid prom the Proceeds
op a Direct Tax. In 1878, the Amount
Paid por the same Purpose was Only
$903,347.02, the whole op which WAS
PAID FROM THE REVENUES- OF THE
CANALS WITHOUT ANV TAX, and with
Lower Rates op Toll and Better Service
than were Ever Known Before.
In 1876, the year preceding the new manage-
ment of the State prisons, the excess of their
expenditures over earnings, paid by taxation
was $704,379.85. Now the tax-payers are relieved
'from any tax on that account; the prisons are
substantially self-supporting, and show greatly
improved methods and discipline.
In 1874, the State taxes were $15,727,482.08^
In 1879 they were only $7,078,103.64.
At the close of the war in 1865, the State debt
amounted to $51,041,537.86. It now amounts,
after deducting the sinking fund, to only
$8,130,726.09.
I give these results in brief to show the advan-
tage of pursuing the policy of paying debts in-
stead of creating them, and the benefits arising
from retrenchment and reform in all branches of
the public service. Besides the great reduction
effected in canal and prison expenditures, legis-
lative appropriations have been vetoed during the
last three years,to the amount of $1,534,015.30.
It is proper to add in this connection that of
all the appropitations thus arrested by the Execu-
tive during the last three years, not one has ever
been passed by the Legislature over the veto, a
statement which is also true of all the bills on
which vetoes have been interposed. The amount
of money thus saved is not all that has been
gained. The increased regard for law, the in-,
tegrity and fidelity in the administration of pub-
lic trusts which have been necessary to prevent
the squandering of the people’s money, have
developed a higher tone of morality and virtue
among all classes of public servants. It is not
claimed that the Governor and State • officers
under whose administration these results have
been attained, are entitled to any special credit
therefor. They have simply performed their
duty in obedience to the requirements of the
Constitution and laws. This is what all officers
are bound and sworn to do. TJiey are no more
entitled to extraordinary credit for it than any
citizen is entitled to applause fQ£ not being a
6
thief. But it does concern the people tt> know
that those who have carried on these reforms
and achieved these results have been true and
faithful to their trusts where others h%ve betrayed
them by gross negligence and unfaithfulness.
And the question now submitted to the voters of
the State is whether they will have a continuance
of the reform policy, or whether they will
abandon it for the profuse and corrupt expendi-
tures of former times with their inevitable attend-
ant of increasing and burdensome taxation.
I have myself no doubt of their decision. The
great mass of our people desire good government
and economical administration. They are not
deceived by the sophistry of the dishonest, or
the* clamoring denunciations of the disappointed.
They mean that this reform shall go on, that our
State government shall continue pure and that
the rottenness of municipal administration which
now disgraces some of our cities shall stop once
for all. In this good work I am willing and
anxious to join at any post of duty be it high of
low. We cannot better serve our State, our
country and our fellow-men.
The resolutions adopted by the Convention de-
claring the position of the Democratic Republi-
can'party upon the leading questions of the day
and pledging it anew to this great work of re-
trenchment and reform, have my cordial ap-
proval. The government is established and
should be administered for the protection and
benefit of all the inhabitants of the State, with-
out regard to political parties, religious creed,
or place of birth. In endeavoring to impress
these views upon the Legislature in my last
annual message, I used the following language.
I cannot more clearly give my meaning than
by quoting it: “Under the Constitution the
State aims to secure fair and equal representa-
tion for the people, pure elections, an honest can-
vass of, and a peaceful submission to, their
results, to the end that the majority may con-
trol the government; equal and exact justice to
ail men that neither the poverty of the poor or
the wealth of the rich may help or hinder the
maintenance of their rights ; rigid economy in
public expenses, and the lightest possible exer-
cise of the taxing power that labor may bear no
neeedless burdens ; an honest currency assuring
stability to finance and steadiness to wages; per-
fect integrity and fidelity in office; a prosecution
and punishment of derelict officials as prompt
and energetic as that of common criminals; the
protection of every man in his right to pursue his
lawful calling in his own way, and to enjoy its
fruit, and finally the sacred preservation of the
public faith under all circumstances. It forbidsall local and special legislation for private profit;
all wasteful and profligate expenditure of public
money, the folly of creating debts, as well as the
crime of repudiating them when created. Con-
ceding to the Federal Government all the powers
expressly delegated to it, and shrinking from no
sacrifice to maintain them, it yet sternly insists
upon those inherent rights reserved to each free
and independent State.”
These principles lie at the foundation of our
system of government. They are cardinal doc-
trines of the Democratic party as I early learned
and have always tried to follow them. In public
and private life it has been my constant effort in
the past, as it will be in the future, to uphold
and enforce them by all legitimate means. While
the party lives up to them and maintains them
with firmness and fidelity, it will command the
support of all good citizens. If it falls below
this high standard to engage in a mere scramble
for the spoils of office and the drippings of an
unclean administration, it will lose, and deserve to
lose, the confidence of the people.
It should constantly be borne in mind that
the approaching election concerns State affairs
exclusively, and is of great and unusual import-
n
ance. It is the first election in our history for the
choice of all the elective State officers and both
branches of the Legislature. Its results will
therefore touch very closely the home interests
of our people. Every one of them, high or low,
rich or poor, has a direct interest in the just and
economical management of the State govern-
ment. We must beware of the fallacy that gov-
ernmental burdens rest only on the rich. They
are most grievous to the poor and laboring
classes. / The cost of careless or corrupt public
officers falls in the end upon those who work from
day to day to pay the rent and buy the food.
The dollar added to taxation comes at last out of
them. The dollar saved to the State is a dollar
added to their little stock.
The continuance of the reform policy is thus
the only important question to be answered at
the polls. The chief aim of the people of New
York is to secure an efficient government which
shall burden as lightly as possible their quicken-
ing trade and commerce. To this issue our
people will address themselves and I believe will
deal with it wisely.
Very respectfully yours.
•	L. ROBINSON.
/
Far 1 8T§.
STATE OP' NEW TORE:
ExECUTIVBi OsAMSEBj )
Albaky, January 7, 1679. )
To the Legislature:
The event which first claims attention is your
removal into the New Capitol. The condition of
the appropriation of last year has been so far ful-
filled that the Assembly chamber is substantially
•ompleted. The room intended for the Court of
Appeals has been fitted up for the temporary use
of the Senate, the court in the meantime occupy-
ing the old Senate chamber. All the rest of the
building, except the Attorney-General’s office,
remains unfinished. Many millions of dollars
and years of time Will be required to complete
it, although the sum already expended upon it
amounts to $9,276,615.36. My views in regard
to the extravagant cost of the building, its osten-
tatious exterior and most inconvenient interior,
have been frequently expressed, and they remain
wholly unchanged. The subject of further ap-
propriations for the work will be presented in
another part of this message.
I sincerely hope that you will find the change
conducive to your health and comfort, and in
every way so agreeable and convenient that you
will not regret it. If the occupation of their
new and gorgeous apartments shall lead the two
houses of the Legislature to so emulate the ex-
alted virtues which have, at different times and
on many occasions, adorned the history of the
old chambers, that they shall enact only wise and
good laws, that they shall honestly and faithfully
execute the great trust committed to them by the
people, that they shall strictly obey the Constitu-
tion and the laws, that they shall establish and
maintain a higher tone of public morality, the
enormous cost of the building' will i be repaid in
something better than money. But if, on the
other hand, ho such effects appear, if the lament-
able vices which have too often marked the leg-
islation of the old building shall stain that of the
neWv if the extravagant expenditure made upon
it is to stimulate profuse and wasteful appropri-
ations to other objects, if, instead of encouraging
a plain and honest republican simplicity, it is to
cultivate a weak and vain desire to imitate the
manners of European courts or to rival regal
magnificence and imperial splendors, nay, more,
if bribery and corruption, following naturally
in the wake of such influences, shall soil the
new chambers, the people will have cause to
regret the erection of such a Capitol, and to
wish that the earth might open and swallow
it up.
I trust that you may be so enlightened and
guided of the Divine Wisdom, that you may
choose and follow the better path.
Finances.
You will be pleased to learn that the financial
affairs of the State are in a more satisfactory con-
dition than they have been at any time within a
long series of years. It has no longer any Gen-
eral Fund debt, any bounty debt, nor any float-
ing debt. These have all been paid and extin-
guished. A small remnant of the canal debt
alone remains to be provided for. The able
and faithful management of the financial de-
partment has maintained a steady and unin-
terrupted advance towards lower expendi-
tures, lower taxes and a rigid accountability
for all payments from the treasury. # This is
strikingly illustrated by the following state-
ment :In 1874 tl«B State tax was.... $15,727,482 08
In 1875.........'............. 14,206,680 61
In 1876..........................   8,529,174	32
In 1877.........................    8,726,511	01
In 1878............................ 7,941,297	94
The administration of the affairs of the canals
and of the State prisons under the new systems,
through single officials and responsible heads, ex-
hibits the most satisfactory results in the same
direction. No reformation in State affairs and
finances was ever more thorough and complete.
But for the school tax and the enormous de-
mands for the New Capitol, the tax levy would
not be more than about one-half its present
amount.
The following statement gives a general ac-
count of the financial operations of the year:
Aggregate balances in the
treasury of all the funds, Octo-
1, 1877......... ........... $5,759,434 22
Aggregate, receipts during the
fiscal year ending September
30, 1878 .................... 12,404,505 01
$13,163^939
Deduct payments during the
year........... ............. 13,870,055 69
Balance in the treasury Septem-
ber 30,1878......... .......... $4,293,883 54
The amcttmt of receipts into the.
treasury, on account of the
General Fund revenue, during
the year ending,September 30,
1878.......................    $6,097,469	29
The payments...... .............. 6,983,307	67
Apparent deficiency September
30, 1878 ........................  $885,838	38
Supplementary Statement.
Balances due from County
Treasurers September 30,
1878, on State tax of 1877 . ...	$1,385,809 09
Add amount paid on account of
1878 appropriations, included
in tax levy of last year, paya-
ble in State treasury in April
and May, 1879................ 1,159*017 01
$2,544,386 10
Deduct apparent *
deficiency of - the
revenue Septem-
ber 30, 1878, as
shown in preced-
ing statement ... $885,838 38
Also balances of
1877 appropria-
tions, unpaid and
in force Septem-
ber 30,1878.	..	266,643 21
------------ 1,152,481 59
Actual surplus September 30,
1878 ................ $1,391,904 61
The details of the foregoing statement, and of
the accounts with the separate funds, will be
found fully and clearly stated in the Comptroll-
er’s report:
4 '
Debt.
On the 30th September, 1877, the total Funded
Debt was $10,957,054.87, classified as,follows:
General Fund.. ................ . $926,694 87
Canal.........;........ 9,900,360 00
Bounty ....................... 130,000 00
$10,957,054 87
On the 30th September, 1878, the total Funded
Debt was $9,154,054.87, classified as follows :
General Fund..................... $122,694	87
Canal .......................... 9,020,360	00
Bounty . ......................     11,000	00.
$9,154,054 87
The General Fund State Debt is all paid, and
the item of $122,694.87, included above, repre-
sents the amount required to yield, at the rate of
six pen cent, the sum necessary to pay the Indian
annuities. The balance of $11,000 of Bounty
Debt had not been presented for redemption at
the close of the fiscal year. A balance of
$1,012,358.18 in the Canal Sinking Fund, leaves
the amount of that debt unprovided for, Septem-
ber 36,1878, at $8,008,031.82.
The State debt, on the 30th of,
September, 1877, after deduct-
ing the unapplied balances of
the Sinking- Fun*ls, amounted
to ....... ................. $8* 707,663 85
On the 36Mi September, 1878
(including $122,694.87) to ....	8,130,726 09
Showing, net contributions to
the Sinking Fund of ........... $576 937 16
The actual reduction of the
debt during the same period,
by cancellation, beings........ $1,803,000 00
Taxation.
The tax levy for 1878 was at the rate of 2 9-10
mills and will produce $7,941,297.94, as against
$8,726,511.01 for the previous year.
The State receives very little revenue for the
payment of its expenses from any source except
direct taxation. The mode of levying .and the
time of paying the taxes make it important that
the Legislature should give special attention to
the nature of the balance found in the General
Fund, at the close of the fiscal year on the thirtieth10
of September. The report of the Comptroller
submitted to the Legislature on the first of
January last, showed that there was a balance
on the 30th of September, 1877, amounting to
$1,104,465.21, and that there wo^ld be an esti-
mated balance of $1,754,565.01 on the 30th of
September, 1878. His report, prepared for sub-
mission to the Legislature at its present session,
9hows that there was a balance on the thirtieth
of September last of $2,191,904.51, exceeding the
estimate by $437,839.50. The Legislature having
directed the payment of, the New Capitol appro-
priation out of this balance, the payments to
the New Capitol Commissioners up to Septem-
ber thirtieth, amounting to $800,000, should be
deducted from this apparent balance.' This
deduction leaves an actual balance on the thirti-
eth of September last of $1,391,904.51. The
same report shows that there will be an estimated
balance on the thirtieth of September next,
amounting to $1,073,896.83. But the taxes levied
to cover the appropriations for the fiscal year com-
mencing oil the first of October, are not actually
paid into the Treasury until the next April.* This
is the case in each year. It will be seen, there-
fore, that these balances which are unappropriated
on the thirtieth of September, become appropri-
ated the very next day by the general appropria-
tion act passed for the fiscal year commencing on
the first of October, and that they are the only
means which the State has, without borrowing
from other funds,'to carry on the government for
the space of six months, that is, until the receipt of
the taxes in the n&tt April. It will thus be seen
that any appropriation like the one made for the
New Capitol in the last Supply bill, out of an
unappropriated balance in the Treasury, is based
on a delusion. There is no unappropriated bal-
ance on and after the first of October. On the
contrary, there is and must be a deficiency in
each year, to be met by borrowing from other
funds in anticipation of the taxes which will be
received six months after the payments com-
mence. It would be more consistent if the
taxes could be made payable on the first of Octo-
ber, at the time when the payments on account
of them commence, or if they could be divided
and one-half paid on the first of October, and
the other half on the first of the following April.
The present practice, however, has prevailed so
long and the operations of the Treasury have
become so accustomed to it, that it is not likely
that any change in that respect will be made, but
it will be seen from the foregoing statement that
an appropriation out of an unappropriated bal-
ance in the Treasury is liable to mislead, and that
such phraseology should be avoided. Above
all let it never be forgotten that every ap-
propriation of any considerable amonnt must
be provided for either by a special tax, or else
by an increase to the amount of it in the general
tax levy.
The New Capitol.
An important question to be disposed of by the
Legislature is whether further appropriations for
the building of the New Capitol shall be made at
the present session. The only necessity for rapid
progress hitherto urged, has been the inconvenient
and insufficient accommodation of the Senate and
Assembly in the old building. Ample provisions
have now been made at a vast expense to over-
come the difficulty complained of. All the im-
portant State offices are more conveniently and
comfortably situated where they are than they
ever can be in the New Capitol. The amount
which has already been expended is $9,276,615.36,
and of this some $4,300,000 have been drawn
from the tax-payers during the period of financial
disaster and distress which commenced in 1873
and still continues. The question then arises
whether the tax-payers ought not to be allowed '
some respite ; and in considering this question
account should be taken of the widespread dis-
satisfaction and sense of wrong felt by the peo-
ple of the whole State at the deception practiced
upon them, and the violations of law committed
almost at the outset of the enterprise. In 1867
an act was passed by the Legislature, being chap-
ter 485, of which the first section is as follows:
“ The sum of two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars is hereby appropriated, out of any mon-
eys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,
toward the erection of a New Capitol, authorized
by chapter six hundred and forty-eight of the
Laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and the
necessary expenses attending the same. But no
part of the amount hereby appropriated shall be
expended, nor shall the Capitol Commissioners
incur any expense on account of thfe said Capitol,
until a plan of the Capitol shall be adopted and
approved by them, and approved by the Gover-
nor, not to cost more than four millions of dol-
lars when completed.”
In 1868 the Legislature emphatically reiterated
the condition of the year before. Chapter 830
of the Laws of that year appropriated two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars for the New
Capitol, created a new Board of Commissioners
and further contained the following explicit lan-
guage: “The said commissioners shall review
the plans which have been adopted for the New
Capitol, and may change and modify the same,
or adopt others in their place, as they may deem
advisable and proper; provided, however,*that11
they shall not proceed to the construction of
the said New Capitol unless they shall be sat-
isfied that the expense thereof shall not exceed,
when completed, the sum of four millions of
dollars.’*
Thus, in two successive years, the people of
the State were assured that the New Capitol
should not cost them to exceed four millions of
dollars, and it was made a condition precedent
that the Commissioners should not proceed with
the work except upon such plans and specifica-
tions as would insure its completion within that
sum. These acts have never been repealed or
modified. They were at once violated and, in
effect,'nullified for all time by the deliberate
adoption of a plan under which the building
could not possibly be completed for four times
the amount fixed as its maximum cost, and the
work has gone on until over nine millions of
dollars have been expended instead of four mil-
lions, and there is no reason to expect that the
building can now be completed on the scale and
in the style in which it has hitherto been carried
on at a less total cost than five times the four
millions to which it was originally limited.
About three years ago a partial change of plan
was made, under the representation that it
would reduce the cost, but it had little effect.
It was too late. The evil lay in the illegal
plan above referred to, and could not be re-
moved without taking down the building to its
foundation.
The entire eastern, western, southern and part
of the northern fronts are neither enclosed or
roofed. These portions of the building have
long remained in this condition, without harm,
and I know of no injury or inconvenience likely
to result from their remaining so as long as may
be desired. I recommend, therefore, that the
Legislature should carefully consider:	first,
whether any appropriation shall be made at this
session; second, whether, in the further progress
of the work, a simpler, cheaper, and less ambi-
tious style of finish ought not to be adopted. In
view of the pledges and conditions of the statutes
cited, that the building should not cost over four
millions; in view of the fact that near ten mil-
lions have already been spent upon it, the cer-
tainty that its completion in the present florid
style must cost from eigbt to ten millions more,
and the equal certainty that when completed its
accommodations for every department to be
moved into it will be far inferior to those now
•enjoyed, is it not wise, for a short time, to take
account ol the scanty progress which has been
made, and the enormous amount it has cost to
make it, to scan the method of this ^ast outlay
before further appropriations be made? No
doubt exists in the mind of any intelligent citi-
zen that a State Capitol^ far more becoming in
exterior design and internal finish than the pres-
ent one and far superior to it in convenience
could have been, or can now be, built at a cost
within the limit of the four millions originally
intended, and for half the money yet required to
complete the present building on the proposed
plan. It now, however, only remains, by frugal
management, to secure the best possible use of
every dollar given to it. If we concede the artis-
tic merit claimed for the present design, it yet
seems to me that in times like these the food and
raiment of our people are more to them than the
development of schools of art. A million dollar
tax cuts deep into the shrunken resources of the
people. They are ill able to pay it. Nothing
can justify its levy but stem necessity. That
necessity no longer exists. They are staggering
under a vast load of local debt and taxation, and
every dollar taken by the State lessens their pow-
er to endure these local demands. In the light of
all these circumstances and the unwelcome fact
that the care of this mammoth building, when
completed, will annually cost a fabulous sum, I
urge that all appropriations be stopped for the
present, that the Legislature inform itself
thoroughly as to the style and cost of the work,
to the end that before voting any more millions
it may be understood for what end they are ex-
pended, and whether the completion of the
building cannot be secured in some less extrava-
gant and ostentatious style. '
If, however, in the judgment of the Legislature,
it seems best that some appropriation be made, I
recommend that it be limited to a small amount,
and not made until such an#examination, as I
have already suggested, enables you to make it
intelligently. There is no proper legal audit of
these expenditures exercised by any financial
officer. The Commissioners draw in round sums
for their moneys. The payments of every other
department of the government are subject to a
rigid audit and scrutiny by the Comptroller. I
know qf no reason why those for the New
Capitol should not be likewise treated.
Common Schools.
In my former messages I have given fully my
views in regard to the proper scope and extent
of the schools that should be maintained by
general taxation. All my subsequent observa-
tion has confirmed the opinions expressed upon
this subject. To the extent of giving to every
child in the Statte a good common school educa-
tion, sufficient to enable him or her to understandand perierm th$ duties of American,, citizenship,
and to carry on. intelligently and. successfully
the ordinary labors of life,'the common schools
are and*should be objects of the deepest concern
to the whole; community. To the few who desire
and are capable of a still higher education, and
who have an ambition to shine as professional
men and in the arts of literature*, music, painting
and poetry, the door is wide open for them to
win distinction in those callings. But to levy
taxes upon the people for such purposes is a spe-
cies of legalized robbery, and even the recipients
come to know it. Their sense of justice cannot
fail to condemn it, it lowers their standard of
morality and helps to debauch instead of purify-
ing public opinion. It also breeds discontent on
the part of those who. are educated, or attempted
to be educated, to something above that for
which they are fitted* It really disqualifies them
for those duties and labors to which alone they
are by nature adapted, so that not only great
injustice but great demoralization is the result of
a system which collects money by force from
one man to educate the children of another man,
for callings which they can never fill. The argu-
ment sometimes advanced that this system is a
benefit to the poor is an utter fallacy. The
children of the poor man generally leave the
schools with a common school education and go
to work for themselves or their parents. Yet
while the poor man’s children are thus at work
his little home is taxed to give to the children of
others a collegiate education. Nine in ten of
those educated in the so-called high schools at
the public expense, would far better pay their
own bills than to have them paid by the people
of the State. These,views are so manifestly just
that I have no doubt they will ultimately prevail.
Indeed there seems to have been already a cessa-
tion of efforts to establish high schools, academies
and colleges, and support them by taxation. So
far as I can learn, the normal schools established
in various parts of the State are, with two or
three exceptions, wholly useless, and fail almost
entirely to accomplish the objects for which they
were established, and for which the State is
annually paying large amounts of money from
the Treasury. I recommend an inquiry into the
working of these institutions, and a discontinu-
ance of all those which fail to accomplish the
purposes of their establishment. The following
is a statement of the number and condition of
the common schools, and the number of pupils
instructed in them during the past year. The
full particulars will be found in the annual
report of the Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion.
Common School Statistics for the Year end-
ing September 30, 1878.*
Total receipts, including bal-
ance on hand; October 1, 1877,	111,793,637 67
Total expenditures ........... 10,626,505 69
Amount paid for teachers’
wages  ..................... 7,756,814 31
Amount paid for school-houses,
repairs, furniture, etc..... 1,363,429 57
Estimated value of school-
houses and sites.............	30,147,589 00
Number of school-houses_______	11,824
Number of school districts, ex-	v
elusive of cities........... #	11,270
Number of teachers omployed
for the legal term of school...	19,948
Number of teachers employed
during any portion of the year,	30,567
Number of children attending
public schools...................... 1,032,052
Number of persons attending
Normal schools.......................... 5,522
Number of children of school
age in private schools...... .	113,864
Number of volumes in school
district libraries.................... 751,534
Number of persons in the State
between the ages of five and
twenty-one years ..................... 1,615,256
Local Debt and Taxation.
Whilst the State has paid all its debts, except
about eight millions of dollars, and is rapidly
reducing its expenses and taxes within reasonable
bounds, most of the cities, counties and towns
in the State are struggling under a load of debt,
large expenses and heavy taxation. In looking
over the long line of sufferers from these local
burdens, it seems almost incredible that men of
sense should have permitted themselves to be
placed in such a condition. Of course, it never
could have been done except under the influences
of a false financial system, which seemed to
deprive men of their reason, -and of all capacity
to foresee the evil which they were bringing upon
themselves and their children. They played
with debt, and courted taxation as if for pastime.
Many towns almost buried themselves with bonds,
issued for railroads which have never been built,
and covered their farms with mortgages for which
they have received no consideration. N®w that
the illusion is gone, they are deploring the mis-1
fortunes in which it has involved them. Some
of them are even hinting at the dishonor of repu-
diation. Others are appealing for legislative in-
terference. It seems impossible to withhold our
sympathies from any of them, but it is equally
impossible to discover what material aid the State
I can give beyond such authority, as it may be13
necessary to confer upon them, for making such
arrangements as they may desire for the ulti-
mate redemption of their own debts. Nothing
can be done in this respect which will, in any
manner, interfere with the sanctity of the con-
tracts into which they have entered. They
should understand that these contracts must
be carried out in good faith by those who
made them. The State can do nothing which
will, in any form, amount to an assumption
of these obligations, or any part of them.
The first step to be taken by the localities towards
their own reMef, is to stop at once and finally,
the making of any addition to their present indebt-
edness. However great it may be, they should
at once resolve not to allow it to become any
larger. In the next place the cities, counties and
towns should insist upon a thorough reduction of
their local expenses, which, like their debts, have
been swollen beyond all bounds of reason during
the unreasoning times that have prevailed. Sink-
ing funds should then be established, which, with
such contributions as can be made from year to
year with the least possible inconvenience, will
commence the reduction of the principal of the
debt and wholly extinguish it within a certain
period of ye ars. In many places where the debts
are large this will seem a long and rugged path
to complete relief, but it is the only one which I
am able to discover or suggest. By pursuing it
faithfully, the people will receive no small com-
pensation for what they suffer in learning to re-
duce their own personal expenses, and in having
it impressed upon them in a manner never to be
forgotten, that debts, both public and private,
are an unmitigated evil and should never be con-
tracted, except under the pressure of unavoidable
necessity.
Insurance and Savings Banks.
In a (State with such immense commercial,
manufacturing and mechanical interests, the bus-
iness of fire, life and marine insurance is of very
great importance. Its magnitude led to the con-
clusion that the Legislature should take charge
of it. For the purpose of subjecting great cor-
porations to the control cjjf just and general laws,
this was undoubtedly proper. But for the Leg-
islature to undertake to administer the business
fn alb its minute details was a step of more than
doubtful expediency. All experience has shown
that every legitimate branch of business is most
successfully conducted when left to the manage-
ment of those who understand it, with their
hands as free from, and untrammeled by, legis-
lative interference, as practicable. The assump-
tion that intelligent business men do not know
enough to manage their own affairs, and that the
Legislature should undertake the task for them,
is both erroneous and mischievous. Influenced
by this unsound idea, the Legislature, twenty
years ago, established the Insurance Department.
The ostensible purpose of its establishment was
to protect the public, the policy and stockholders
of the insurance companies. Whilst it confined
itself strictly to the accomplishment of that ob-
ject, it did comparatively little harm and no
good. Its whole history shows that the commu-
nity would have fared much better without it
than with it. People who wish to insure their
property or their lives, if left to exercise their
own discretion, will be more likely to select safe
and well conducted companies in which to insure
than tiiey will if they rely upon the direction
given them by an agent of the State. The inter-
meddling of a State official is almost invariably
mischievous in its operation and results. I am
informed that within the last sevem years thirty
life insurance companies have failed, involving a
loss to citizens of this State of $36,927,000. This
shows how little protection the department gives.
I am, therefore, of opinion that the wisest legis-
lation in regard to the Insurance Department
would be to abolish it, and to return its few
necessary powers to the Comptroller’s office,
whence they were taken. This step I advise,
believing that it will benefit the parties interest-
ed, and much redound to the credit of the State.
The same general rule naturally applies to the
business of banking. It may be claimed that, so
far as savings hanks are concerned, the class of
people who deposit their savings with them re-
quire some governmental guardianship. But
even this is doubtful. The hosts of savings
banks, which have grown up as if in a night,
flourished for a time, and then became insolvent,
could never have gained the confidence of the
poor people whose little1 all was lost by their op-
erations if character and credit had not been
given to them by the pretense that the State was
the protector of their interests. In 1877, the
Superintendent Whom the State had chosen, and
who had served for several years as guardian of
these institutions, was removed for negligence
and incompetency, and almost the entire time of
the veiy faithful and efficient deputy, into whose
hands the work has fallen, has been occupied in
saving what he could from the ruin into which
so many of the savings banks fell.
It is also a question worthy of consideration
whether, if the State will not leave people and
corporations to manage their own affairs in their
own way, but persists in exercising a govern-14
mental control over them through such agents as
it sees fit to appoint for that purpose, it ought
not to be responsible to parties who suffer
through the negligence or malfeasance of such
agents?
I commend to your consideration such meas-
ures as will tend to a more speedy and less ex-
pensive mode of proceeding for winding up the
affairs of the insurance companies and savings
banks that have failed, so that parties who have
suffered by them may receive, at the earliest day
possible, whatever may be saved from the wrecks
of such institutions.
Federal Interference at Elections. .
A significant fact in connection with our recent
election is the organized attempt of the Federal
authorities to interfere with the suffrage of our
citizens. This seems to me a step upon danger-
ous ground. The scanty j ustification pleaded for
it is that it is within the scope of Federal author-
ity to supervise the election of Members of Con-
gress. In the exercise of this supervision the
general government pretends to find the right of
passing on the qualifications of voters at the
polls, and to make arbitrary arrests in the dis-
cretion of Federal supervisors, thus preventing
the person arrested from voting either for Mem-
bers of Congress or State officers. But the Con-
stitution of the United States provides that the
qualifications of the electors of representatives in
Congress shall, in each State, be those requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch of the
State Legislature. The Constitution of our own
State, by virtue of which you hold your official
station, declares what those qualifications are.
It further casts upon you the duty of enacting
laws to determine by proper proofs the persons
entitled to the right of suffrage thereby estab-
lished. It is not fit that the Legislature of a
great State should sit calmly by while its chief
prerogative is torn from its grasp, nor does it
become an Executive to fail of warning words
when such an usurpation is attempted, as the
arrest by Federal officers of the voter at the
polls. In the name of the people whose highest
right is imperiled in this controversy, I protest
against such an interference. I urge upon your
notice the danger of permitting such proceedings
to pass unrebuked. Suffrage is a people’s right,
and, by our organic law, its regulation is com-
mitted to the State authorities. It has never been
yielded to Federal control, and a stern accounta-
bility will be put on any servant of the State
who neglects to combat the dangerous precedent
of Federal interference with these reserved pow-
ers of the State. Twice before has this imperti-
nent intrusion on its jurisdiction been attempted.
Twice before have able and courageous State
Executives made manly protest, in which the
Legislature and the people have sustained them.
The danger and usurpation is not less now than
then. As a question of highest moment, out*
weighing all party interests and temporary advan-
tage, I earnestly press it on your attention. A
prompt and fearless protest on your part will
stop this effort once for all. Your silent acqui-
escence in the wrong will certainly induce its at-
tempted repetition.
The City of New York.
In each of my previous annual messages, and
in the reasons given for disapproving several bills
relating to the government of the city of New
York, I have expressed the opinion that a new
charier, which should establish a local Legisla-
ture for the city, and leave the people to govern
themselves there, as elsewhere, was the only
practicable and complete remedy for existing
evils. As yet, nothing has been done in that
direction. The people there seemingly prefer to
continue victims of bad legislation, rather than
attempt to maintain local self-government. Great
commercial enterprise and the universal struggle
for wealth seem to absorb all attention and to
make men wholly indifferent to the laws which
are necessary, not only for the preservation of
their wealth when acquired, but also for their
personal safety and comfort. To this general
rule there are some honorable exceptions. But
how much more suffering will be endured before
the rule be changed, it is impossible to foresee.
The great debt which overhangs the city, the
army of useless officials and the extravagant sala-
ries paid to them, are all due to laws which have
been passed at various times by the State Legis-
lature. Usually from one hundred to two hun- '
dred bills are introduced at each session of the
Legislature relating to the government of the
city. There is no reason to doubt that a large
number will be presented at the present session.
To what subjects they may relate, or what pro-
visions they may contain, it is impossible to
know. Whatever they may be, they should
receive the closest scrutiny at your hands. If
any thing can be done within the limits of your
constitutional power for the relief of the city
from the enormous salaries and taxes which the
people are called upon annually to pay, it should
be, and I trust will be, done. The experience of
the past has shown, however, that many bills
originated ostensibly for such a purpose are so
changed and manipulated on their passage
through the Legislature by experts and men of15
! skill, who interweave the worst provisions along
with the best, that it is necessary to exercise great
care and vigilance in regard to them. There is
no need of expert and extraordinary skill in the
preparation of an honest bill for an honest pur-
pose. The language of such a bill will be always
plain, simple and easily understood. The sinis-
ter and dishonest purpose is usually concealed
under a skillful arrangement of crafty phrases.
It will be a wise precaution to beware of bills
which are said to be skillfully drawn. I am also
of opinion that bills which are of great length
and involve a variety of subjects are apt to lead
to bad results. Their real meaning becomes
involved, their provisions are conflicting and the
construction to be put upon them doubtful. A
much better and safer method will be to pass
only such bills as embrace a single object, and
are^learly and plainly expressed. But in this,
as in all Other cases, it should be borne in mind
that one of the worst evils of any community is
a mass of unnecessary, conflicting and doubtful
legislative enactments. Upon some subjects the
statutes in relation to the city are already so
numerous, confused and conflicting that even the
courts are unable to construe them. Whatever
may be done no addition should be made to this
mass of confusion. There is now pending in
the courts an action involving the constitution-
ality of the statute establishing the board of
estimate and apportionment. I understand that
the question will soon be brought before the
court of last resort, and I trust the great import-
ant public interests involved in it will lead to
its early and thorough consideration and final
decision.
Excise Laws.
Again, as in my last annual message, I advise
that you devote careful attention to the condi-
tion of our excise laws. No branch of our law
needs to be so simple, concise and intelligible as
this. Excise administration, especially in the
city of New York, is now marked by continual
broils and entanglements. The law is transgress-
ed as often from ignorance as from design. Pun-
ishment is of tener inflicted for its accidental than
intentional violation. Continual appeals are
made to the Executive to relieve the errors of its
working. These clumsy complications are un-
worthy an intelligent people. It is true that the
subject of excise law presents a great social prob-
lem, but it is also true that a sensible and prac-
tical solution of it ms*y be reached if its discus-
sion be approached in an impartial and unpreju-
diced spirit. I commend the whole matter to
your reflection as one of the most important
likely to be brought before you, and suggest that
you substitute a clear, symmetric and complete
statute for the present laws on the subject.
Unemployed Labor — Revival of Easiness*
The evils which have arisen from great num-
bers of laborers being thrown out of employment
in consequence of the depression and disasters
in most branches of business, still continue, but
1 am happy to believe that they are, to some ex-
tent, diminishing. That a substantial revival of
business has commenced, and that, too, upon a
solid foundation, there can be no reasonable
doubt. The great intere^ which in this country
underlies and supports all others is agriculture.
With our immense territory, embracing every
variety of soil and climate, and producing, with
proper cultivation, every thing necessary for the
support and comfort of the human family, there
is no reason why we should ever be called upon
to pass through such eras of disturbance and dis-
tress as have marked the last five years. But by
the enormous inflation of the currency, the
fictitious increase of prices the overtrading
and overacting in all branches of manufactures,
mining, railroad building and other enter-
prises, men were seduced from the more
quiet occupation of agriculture into employ-
ments which, in their very nature, could not
endure. Out of these they were thrown when
the inevitable disasters came, and hence we have
had, and still have, so many unemployed labor-
ers in the country. But the number diminishes
as circumstances force a readjustment of the
proper fields of labor. Our primary sources of
wealth, the soil, its cultivation and its products
have been yielding, to the ^fullest extent, their
fruits during the last two years, producing a very
large surplus which has been and is now being
moved forward.over the various channels of com-
merce to all parts of the world. Agricultural
laborers have everywhere found full employment.
The transportation of their crops, and of the
goods returned in place of them, has given in-
creased employment to the vessels upon all our
lakes, rivers and canals, to the trains upon our rail-
ways, and to all the laborers employed in the busi-
ness of transportation. Here is the groundwork
of renewed properity. It is going on and can-
not fail to continue until legitimate business is
fully revived from one end of the country to the
other. All sections of the Union, north and south,
east and west, are feeling alike this new and sub-
stantial business life, and all efforts to embarrass
it or retard it, should be regarded and treated as
hostility to the best interests of the country.
At the same time there should he no mis-‘ 16
understanding as to what is meant by revival
of business.	By that phrase too many
people still suppose 'that the excitement
and wild schemes which prevailed in years
gone -by, are to be renewed; that wages
are to be doubled, prices more than doubled, and
that men are to make fortunes out of nothing.
This is not what is meant by*a reyival of busi-
ness. It is not business, it is madness. A restora-
tion of it would be simply to resume the road to
the-inevitable downfall and disasters from which
we have been so long suffering. There is ho hu-
man power which can raise the dead. There is
no magic by which debts can be paid without
money, nor by which individuals and corpora-
tions hopelessly insolvent can be restored to cred-
it and prosperity. The revival of business,
which is desirable and which is surely coming,
unless the people shall again be reft of their
senses, means the production of all those com-
modities for which pur country is specially
adapted, the sale and exchange of all the surplus
over and above what is needed for our own con-
sumption ; the mining, manufacturing, railroad
building and commercial traffic, which are fairly
demanded by these avocations and by the for-
eign market for them, and the payment of all
laborers employed in them with honest money
for honest work. As this comes on, labor will
adjust itself in accordance with the demands for
it, and employment in one way or another Will
be found for all. We shall cease to hear the cries
for help. All honest men will be found able to
nelp themselves in an* honest way.
Conclusion.
I have thus made the particular suggestions in
my power upon the condition of the State and
the vast interests which now pass to your legisla-
tive care. In. the broad field of your general
action your conscience and intelligence must
guide you. Your first official act is a solemn
oath to support the Constitution of the United
States and the Constitution of the State of New
York. These are the supreme law of the land
which no legislator or public officer may trans-
gress. All acts in conflict with either of them
are null and void. The State Constitution is the
creation of the people establishing a government
for their protection and defense as citizens of a
free and independent commonwealth. Strictly
obeying it, you cannot go far astray.
These are a few of the great lights given for
our guidance. The functions which we exercise
are committed to us as a sacred trust. The gov-
ernment which we control as public officers is
not our own, it belongs to those who placed us
here. The laws which we enact do not express
pur will, they are the voice of the people. The
money which we handle belongs to them, and
not to us. We can only take it from them for
the legitimate expenses of government. More
than this is robbery. Official generosity is offi-
cial crime. Every needless tax cuts some com-
fort from a thousand homes. It means less food,
less fuel, less cheer to many families.
L. ROBINSON.