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STATE OF NEW YORK

PUBLIC PAPERS

OF

CHARLES E. HUGHES

GOVERNOR

1907

ALBANY

J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS

I

INAUGURATION

02-17-22

M.Y. Priblic Lib
1-9-28

INAUGURATION

The ceremonies attending the inauguration of Charles E.
Hughes as Governor of the State of New York were held in
the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany on
January 1, 1907. They began with prayer, after which Mr.
Hughes took the oath of office. The retiring Governor, Frank
W. Higgins, then made the following address:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :— So long as our institutions
stand the test of prosperity and adversity; so long as our civil-
ization continues to advance; so lang as liberty, with malice
towards none and justice towards all, protects alike the poor
from exploitation and the rich from plunder, it matters little
what individuals rise and fall. Men have their years of oppor-
tunity, their day of popu larity, and then pass on, leaving the
uncompleted work to others. But principles survive individ-
uals and are superior to them.

"He is a wise and useful public servant who, disregarding his own future, sees and averts on the one hand the dangers arising from a relentless despotism of wealth, and on the other hand the threatened excesses of an irrational and tyrannical class-hatred which would lay waste and confiscate if it dared.

"Temporary success cannot satisfy the conscience of one who to retain office would jeopardize civilization and liberty, either through the corrosive power of corrupt wealth or by hypocritical appeals to the passions and prejudices of the ignorant or thoughtless. No public officer can serve two masters. He who regards party or faction or business interests or personal ambition first and his own oath of office last, is a traitor to civilization itself.

"Macaulay prophesied fifty years ago that the day was not far distant when in the State of New York a demagogue,