MAIN DUTIES the methods of assessment and taxation; furnish local assessors with instruction; hear and determine appeals from local equalization boards within the several counties; report annually to legislature. Supervises banks operated under state laws, savings banks, trust, loan, and mortgage companies or associations, etc. Receives reports from these, banks reporting quarterly, savings banks and all others in general semiannually. Reports annually to legislature. Controls and supervises insur ance companies doing business in the state; requires all life and casualty companies of the state and all foreign insurance companies to deposit securities with him for the protection of policyholders; has power to refuse a company right to transact business in the state. Reports annually to legislature. Carries out laws relating to repair and navigation of canals, their construction and improvement, except so far as the execution of such laws may be confided to state engineer and surveyor; subject to the control of legislature, makes rules and regulations for navi MAIN DUTIES gation or use of the canals; has charge of expenditure of all moneys appropriated by legislature for public improvements authorized by special acts. Prepares plans, specifications, and acts as supervising architect of all buildings constructed by the state. Supervises state prisons and convicts therein, discipline, police, contracts and penal concerns thereof subject to existing laws; appoints agents and wardens, physicians and chaplains of prisons; reports annually to legislature. Charge of state roads and improvements. Summary. In 1914 the state's payroll approximated $22,254,700. The state's business required 17,414 regular employees under salary and 1167 employees serving without compensation, in addition to a large number of persons employed by the day to whom $2,873,204 of the above sum was paid. During the same year the Greater City of New York employed 69,280 different people and paid $104,353,286 for the services which they rendered. No political significance whatever is attached to the vast majority of the state's employees, and, since better results for the state can be obtained by trained help, the necessity for taking precautions to secure efficient service and to safeguard entrance to that service, which is the work of the civil-service commission, is apparent. Furthermore, state officials should work as many hours per day as many days per year as they would be required to do by a private corporation. QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 1. State the conditions of eligibility to the office of governor, giving reasons. What is his salary? his length of term? 2. Give the mode of electing the governor, and five of his duties. Name the other officers elected by direct vote of all the voters of the state. What state and county officers may he remove? 3. Give in substance the provision of the constitution in reference to the succession to the governorship in case of the death, resignation, etc. of the governor. 4. What control has the governor over legislation? On what grounds is this arrangement justifiable? 5. State the qualifications, term of office, salary, and chief duties of the lieutenant governor. 6. When is the lieutenant governor not entitled to a casting vote? Why this restriction? 7. Mention the principal duties of the following officers: (1) attorney-general, (2) state engineer and surveyor, (3) comptroller, (4) state treasurer. 8. In what respects are the duties of the secretary of state of the United States and of the state (1) similar, (2) dissimilar? 9. Distinguish between the duties of the state comptroller and those of the state treasurer. Which officer is the more important? Give reasons for your answer. 10. Name two state officers appointed by the governor. 11. Name one state commission and mention its principal duties. 12. State the manner of obtaining office, the length of term, and the chief duty of the commissioner of excise. 13. Describe the organization and mention the principal functions of the state board of charities. 14. Describe the organization and state the principal function of the civil-service commission; of the public-service commissions. 15. What is meant by the civil service? What are the provisions of the constitution of this state regarding the civil service? What important change was made in this law in 1899? 16. Give in substance the provision of the constitution in reference to civil-service appointments and promotions. 17. What are the principal duties of the department of health? 18. Describe the department of labor touching on (1) organization, (2) principal functions. CHAPTER XII JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT Courts and Judges. The business of interpreting the law is vested in a regular series of courts - justice and municipal courts, county court, supreme court, appellate division of the supreme court, and court of appeals. No judge of any of these courts, except justices of the peace, may receive any fees or perquisites of office in addition to his regular salary, which is determined by law and cannot be increased or diminished during his term of office. Every member of these courts, except justices of the peace and the county judge in Hamilton County, must be an attorney and counselor of this state. None of these officers, however, except justices of the peace and county judges and surrogates in counties of less than 120,000 population, may carry on any private practice or act as a referee in the state during his term of office; and the legislature may impose a similar prohibition upon county judges and surrogates in other counties. When a judge has reached the age of seventy years, he must retire. Justice Courts. The lowest court for the trial of cases both civil and criminal is a justice court, presided over by a justice of the peace. This is primarily a town court, and is nearest to the people. City governments have provided special courts, which have absorbed much of the business of justice courts. The justices, four in each town, |