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The Clerk appointed Senators Jacobs and Ellsworth as a committee to conduct the President pro tem. to the chair, when he addressed the Senate as follows:

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SENATORS I thank you for the honor you have just conferred upon me. I will, to the best of my ability, perform the duties you have devolved upon me impartially, in regard to any division that may exist in this body.

I am happy to say that on this, New Year day, we commence this session with a spirit of harmony which must be pleasing to every Senator in this circle! If we continue this same spirit, using our wise judgment, the people, at the close of this session, will, with pleasure and of necessity, say, " Well done, good and faithful servants!" Let us hope that when we close our duties here this same spirit will be the one which will control our feelings and disposition, and that no other feeling shall prevail and control during our session. As to measures which shall come before us, each Senator, in his place, has his own individual responsibility to his constituents. It is but fair to assume that each Senator has been selected with reference to his discreet and wise judgment in the matter, and with that belief and opinion I leave all that matter to you, Senators, hoping that in presiding over you whatever mistakes and errors I may make, I shall receive your kind consideration and, when necessary, your support. Again I thank you for this great honor.

Mr. Thomas offered the following:

Resolved, That the standing committees of the Senate, as contemplated in Rule 16, be appointed for the term of the present Senate by the President pro tempore.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Comstock offered the following:

Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to wait upon the Governor and inform him of the election of Hon. Dennis McCarthy as President pro tempore of the Senate.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

The President appointed as such committee Messrs. Comstock and Nelson.

Mr. Vedder offered the following:

Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to wait upon the Honorable the Assembly and inform that body of the election of the Hon. Dennis McCarthy as President pro tempore of the Senate.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

The President appointed as such committee Messrs. Vedder and Newbold.

The President having resumed the chair,

Mr. McCarthy offered the following:

Resolved, That subdivision 25 of Rule 16 be amended so as to read as follows:

"25. On taxation and retrenchment, to consist of five members."

By unanimous consent,

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative.

Mr. Gilbert, from the committee appointed to wait upon the Assembly and inform that body that the Senate was organized and ready to proceed to business, reported that they had performed that duty.

Mr. Bowen, from the committee appointed on the part of the Senate to wait upon the Governor and inform him that the Senate was organized and ready to proceed to business, reported that they had performed that duty.

Mr. Vedder, from the committee appointed on the part of the Senate to wait upon the Assembly and inform that body of the election of Hon. Dennis McCarthy as President pro tem. of the Senate, reported that they had discharged that duty.

Mr. Comstock, from the committee appointed on the part of the Senate to wait upon the Governor and inform him of the election of Hon. Dennis McCarthy as President pro tem. of the Senate, reported that they had discharged that duty.

Mr. Vedder offered the following:

Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate make the usual arrangements for the payment of postage on all papers received and sent out by Senators and officers during the session; the postage on any document not to exceed forty cents; and also to send by express any document costing by mail over forty cents.

The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said resolution, and it was decided in the affirmative, a majority of all the members elected to the Senate voting in favor thereof, as follows:

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Messrs. Littlejohn and Johnson, a committee appointed on the part of the Assembly, appeared in the Senate and announced that the Assembly had organized and was ready to proceed to business.

A message from the Governor, by the hand of his private secretary, was received and read in the words following:

STATE OF NEW YORK:

To the Legislature:

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ALBANY, January 1, 1884.

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In transmitting a statement of the condition of the State, and recommending such matters for legislative action as are deemed expedient, I believe it to be entirely proper at the outset to direct attention to the fact that the growth and progress of the State in every direction, and the needs of the people, call for patient and intelligent action on the part of their representatives in the Legislature. Every one who has assumed any share of responsibility in

this branch of the government should enter upon the discharge of his duties, fully appreciating his trust, and with an unwavering determination to faithfully serve the State.

It is suggested that frequent and unnecessary recesses, taken during the session of the Legislature, not only result in great waste of time, but by interruption of thought and effort, tend to loose, careless and ill-advised legislative action.

Another evil which has a most pernicious influence on legislation is the introduction and consideration of bills purely local in their character, affecting only special interests, and which ought not upon any pretext to be permitted to incumber the statutes of the State. Every consideration of expediency, as well as the language and evident intent of the Constitution, dictate the exclusion of such matters from legislative consideration. The powers of boards of supervisors and other local authorities have been enlarged for the express purpose of permitting them to deal intelligently and properly with such subjects. But notwithstanding this, bills are introduced authorizing the building and repairing of bridges and highways, the erection of engine-houses and soldiers' monuments, the establishment of libraries, the regulation or purchase of cemeteries, and other things of a like nature. In many cases no better excuse exists for the presentation of such bills than the dignity and force which is supposed to be gained for their objects by legal enactment, the saving of expense and trouble to those interested in their poses, and the local notoriety and popularity sought by the legislators having them in charge. Their consideration retards the business of the session and occupies time which should be devoted to better purposes. And this is not the worst result that may follow in their train. Such measures, there is ground to suspect, are frequently made the means of securing, by a promise of aid in their passage, the votes of those who introduce them, in favor of other and more vicious legislation.

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The crowding of a large amount of business into the closing hours of the session gives opportunity, in the haste and confusion which ensue, for the passage of bad and improvident laws, perhaps to the exclusion of measures of importance and value.

The postponement of legislation until the last of the session also results in leaving a large number of bills in the hands of the Governor at the time of final adjournment. By the terms of the Constitution, such bills cannot become laws unless they are approved by the Executive within thirty days after the adjournment; there is no opportunity for the Legislature to review the disapproval of the Governor, and he has the absolute power to determine which shall become laws and which shall fail. This arbitrary executive control of legislation should be guarded against by submitting the same to the Governor, as far as possible, in time to permit the Legislature to review his action thereon if unfavorable.

At the time of the adjournment of the last session, three hun

dred and fifty-seven bills had been signed by the Governor, and two hundred and forty-nine remained subject to his action.

FINANCES.

The total debt of the State on the thirtieth of September last, after deducting the amount in the Sinking Fund to meet the same, was $5,978,301.81, being a reduction of debt during the year of $407,054.49. This debt, with the exception of a balance of $3,000 of the bounty debt which remains unclaimed, and $122,694.87, the amount necessary to yield at six per cent interest the sum required to pay the annuities to Indians, consists of the stock of the State issued for canal construction, bearing six per cent interest and redeemable in the years 1887, 1891, 1892 and 1893.

The statement of the condition of the financial department of the State government, for the details of which you are referred to the annual report of the Comptroller, shows sufficient funds in the treasury to meet all obligations, and an available surplus at the beginning of the present fiscal year of $1,249,567.97. This surplus arises from the veto by the Governor of items of appropriation after the adoption of the tax levy, the excess of receipts from various sources over estimates, and unexpended balances of appropriations.

The amount received by the Treasurer from taxes on corporations, during the year, was $1,935,179.31, being an increase over the preceding year of $395,495.04; but of this amount $351,183.75 was on account of taxes due in 1880 and paid under recent decisions of the courts.

In consequence of the increase in the valuation of the taxable property of the State, the tax rate of three and one-quarter mills on each dollar, fixed by the last Legislature, will raise $9,334,836.31, an amount considerably in excess of the actual needs of government. The causes which contributed to slightly increase the rate of taxation for the present year were the adoption of the policy of reserving $1,000,000 of the surplus then in the treasury to meet current expenses, and the adjustment of the canal finances to the system under which these works are supported by a direct tax upon the people, which required that there should be raised in the ent fiscal year, for the Canal Debt Sinking Fund, an amount that otherwise would have been distributed over two years.

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Basing the estimates for the support of government on the cost of the present year, it is evident that a generous appropriation can be made for continuing work on the New Capitol, and that, by reason of the increased valuation and the lessening of the canal tax, an extraordinary reduction in the tax rate can still be made for the coming year. In fact, the observance of due care in the appropriation of public funds by the present Legislature, and the exercise of such economy as sound public policy dictates, will reduce the tax levy for the coming year to a point which has not been reached in twenty-five years, and effect a reduction of more than three millions of dollars from the amount raised by direct taxation last year.

ΤΑΧΑΤΙΟΝ.

The subject of taxation still remains a vexed question; and the injustice and discrimination apparent in our laws on this subject, as' well as the methods of their execution, call loudly for relief." There is no object so worthy of the care and attention of the Legislature as this. Strict economy in the management of State affairs, by their agents, should furnish the people a good government at the least possible cost. This is common honesty. But to see to it that this cost is fairly and justly distributed, and the burden equally borne by those who have no peaceful redress if the State is unjust, is the best attribute of sovereignty and the highest duty to the citizen. The recognition of this duty characterizes a beneficent government; but its repudiation marks the oppression of tyrannical power. The tax payer need not wait till his burden is greater than he can bear for just cause of complaint. However small his tax, he may reasonably protest, if it represents more than his share of the public burden, and the State neglects all effort to apply a remedy.

The tendency of our prosperity is in the direction of the accumulation of immense fortunes, largely invested in personal property; and yet its aggregate valuation, as fixed for the purpose of taxation, is constantly decreased, while that of real estate is increased. For the year 1882, the valuation of personal property subject to taxation was determined at $351,021,189, and real estate at $2,432,661,379. In 1883 the assessed valuation of personal property was fixed at $315,039,085, and real estate $2,557,218,240.

The present law permits, in the case of personal property, the indebtedness of its possessor to be deducted from its value, and allows no such deduction in favor of real estate, though it be represented by a mortgage which is a specific lien upon such real estate. Personal property, in need more than any other of the protection of the government, when discovered, escapes taxation to the extent of its owner's indebtedness, though such indebtedness is based upon the ordinary credit in the transaction of business or is fictitious, and manufactured for the temporary purpose of evading taxation. But real property, the existence of which cannot be concealed, is, in contemplation of the law, taxed according to its full valuation, though the incumbrance upon it easily divests the owner of his title, though the interest and perhaps part of the principal must, as well as the tax, annually be met, and though if sold the amount due upon this lien must always be deducted from any sum agreed upon as the price of the land.

This statement does not necessarily lead to a deduction of the amount of any incumbrance upon real estate from its valuation for the purpose of taxation; but it does suggest that both real and personal property should be placed upon the same footing, by abolishing, in all cases, any deduction for debts. This amendment, with some others regulating the manner in which local assessors should

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