THE OFFICE OF THE CITY REFORM CLUB, 33 LIBERTY STREET, New York, OCTOBER, 1888. HE City Reform Club issues its third annual record of the representatives of New York in the State legislature. This record is the result of careful observation of the course of members during the session, and of study of all official publications touching the legislature. Any one who will study the results which are briefly set down in this pamphlet will see that the prevailing, but somewhat indefinite belief that this city is represented most unworthily at Albany has ample warrant in facts. The average honesty and ability of the New York delegation to the legislature are probably somewhat below what is here indicated, for in every case of doubt the member has received the benefit. The utmost care has been exercised, and the Club confidently makes public this record as a faithful description of the characters and the services of the thirty-one representatives of this city. No mere rumors or unsupported newspaper statements have been accepted as correct without ample corroborative proof upon which the City Reform Club can safely rely. A member's votes are an important factor in his record, but an estimate of his character or ability as a legislator founded solely upon a record of his votes is apt to be misleading. Nor can his record be judged solely by the bills introduced by him, which are often cited for their general public interest. Where these do not appear to illustrate the estimate of his character, it is to be under stood that other sources of information have contributed to the result. It is necessary to repeat that the City Reform Club has no connection with any party or faction, and that it is, and always has been, strictly non-partisan. It gives here an unimpassioned and unbiased statement of matters which are of vital concern to the City of New York. The facts carry their own lessons. If evils are shown to exist, it is not the purpose of this pamphlet to suggest the remedies. It is certain that no legislative body composed of the elements which make up our city delegation to Albany, in the proportion in which they enter into that delegation, could display, as a body, much wisdom or honesty in law-making. The New York City delegation in the assembly of 1888 was about the same in its aggregate of honesty and ability as the delegation of 1887. The New York senators, elected for 1888 and '89, were somewhat of an improvement upon those in the Senates of 1886 and '87. While Mr. Daly and Mr. Dunham, who served in those years, were better public servants than any of the present New York senators, Mr. Ives and Mr. Cantor replace two most dangerous senators, and Mr. Stadler takes the place of a more cunning and mischievous plotter. EXPLANATION OF THE COURSE OF BILLS IN THE LEGISLATURE. The bills introduced in the legislature come from various sources, and members introduce them from various motives, -to oblige a friend or a constituent, to secure some personal benefit from a change in the law, to squeeze money out of corporations or rich individuals, to make a good record, and sometimes even to work some public benefit. Bills are commonly drafted more or less carelessly, by persons more or less incompetent, as is shown by the awkward, incoherent, and contradictory laws which are ground out at the rate of nine hundred printed pages a year. When a bill is introduced in the assembly, it is read the first time, and is also read immediately the second time. The "first reading" is merely the recital by the clerk of the enacting clause of the bill, and the "second reading" is a hurried announcement by the clerk of the title. The bill is then referred by the presiding officer to the standing committee having charge of legislation on the subject upon which the bill bears. The fate of most bills is decided in committee. A determination upon the part of the committee to smother or to kill a bill will commonly decide its fate. The standing committee may give notice that at certain times it will hear arguments for or against the bill; and at such times any advocates or opponents of the bill may speak. The committee may report the bill to the assembly with or without amendments. If a bill is reported favorably to the assembly by a standing committee, and the report is accepted, it is then printed. A disagreement with a favorable report would send the bill back to the committee; but such a disagreement never takes place. If it is reported unfavorably, and the report is accepted, it is dropped, and may be brought up for consideration only by a vote of the assembly. As a rule, the contents of a bill are not known to the members generally until it is reported, printed, and distributed. Chapter 710, laws of 1887, however, provides that hereafter all bills shall be printed in the "Legislative Record within twenty-four hours after they are introduced. This was not done however. The bill is then considered in committee of the whole. In that committee the bill may be amended, or another bill upon the same subject may be substituted. No record of |