USA > New York > A short history of New York State > Part 72
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Source Materials
The Public Papers of successive governors, the Journals of the Assembly and the Senate, and the reports of the various legislative committees are invaluable sources. For constitutional changes, see Journal of the Constitutional Commission of the State of New York, . . . 1872-73 (1873); Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, . . . 1894 (1894); Re- vised Record of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, .. . 1894 (1900); Journal of the New York Constitutional Convention, 1915 (1915) and Record of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, 1915, . . . (1915). The constitutional histories of the state by Dougherty and Lincoln (both have been cited earlier) are helpful.
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The Democrats in the Postwar Years, 1865-1876
J. K. McGuire, ed., The Democratic Party of the State of New York (1905), covers this subject, but this book is not always reliable, and biographies of the party's leading figures are generally more rewarding. Mitchell, Horatio Seymour, is as indispensable for the immediate postwar years as for the war years. Flick, Samuel Jones Tilden, is a scholarly and authoritative study, but those interested in Tilden's career should also consult John Bigelow, ed., Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., 1908) as well as Bigelow's Life of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., 1895) .
The story of Tweed's rise and fall has been told by countless authors. The essential facts concerning Tweed's influence in state politics are furnished in Werner, Tammany Hall; Myers, History of Tammany Hall; Flick, Tilden; and D. T. Lynch, "Boss" Tweed: The Story of a Grim Generation (1927). For a contemporary account by one of Tweed's opponents, see S. J. Tilden, The New York City "Ring" ... (1873). There is also a great deal of pertinent information concerning Tweed and his machinations in Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Aldermen Appointed to Investigate the "Ring" Frauds, Together with the Testimony Elicited during the Investigation (Board of Aldermen, Jan. 4, 1878, Doc. no. 8, 1878).
Conkling and the Republican Organization, 1865-1883
The most rewarding volume on Conkling is D. B. Chidsey, The Gentle- man from New York: A Life of Roscoe Conkling (1935). A. R. Conkling, The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling (1889), is far too laudatory, but it does contain many interesting and significant Conkling letters. For Conkling's strug- gle with Hayes over civil service reform, see V. L. Shores, The Hayes- Conkling Controversy, 1877-1879 (Smith College Studies in History, vol. IV, no. 4, 1919); H. J. Eckenrode, Rutherford B. Hayes, Statesman of Re- union (1930); C. R. Williams, Life of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (2 vols., 1914); and Josephson, Politicos. Chester A. Arthur's role as a Conkling lieu- tenant is discussed in detail in F. G. Howe, Chester A. Arthur: A Quarter- Century of Machine Politics (1934). For the life of a leading opponent of Conkling within the Republican party, see Edward Cary, George Wilbur Curtis (1894).
Cleveland and Hill, 1884-1890
There have been many articles and books about Cleveland, but Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage (1932), is clearly superior to all other works on the man. Nevins has also edited the Letters of Grover Cleveland, 1850-1908 (1933). Every student of this period should also con- sult the scholarly and exhaustive M. D. Hirsch, William C. Whitney, Modern Warwick (1948).
One of the most distressing gaps in the historiography of New York's politics and government occurs for the years in which David B. Hill dominated the state's government and Democratic party. There is no biography of Hill, and
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to date no intensive study has been made of the state's government and politics while he was governor. Although Hill's administration was perhaps the most important in New York's history from the Civil War to the turn of the century, it is treated only in cursory and perfunctory fashion in the stand- ard multivolumed histories of the state. Under the circumstances, the student wishing to examine in detail Hill's methods and policies must consult the Public Papers of David B. Hill, Governor (1886-1892), the Assembly and Senate Journals, and contemporary newspaper accounts.
Tammany Hall's history following the downfall of Tweed can be followed in the accounts by Myers and Werner as well as in T. L. Stoddard, Master of Manhattan: The Life of Richard Croker (1931), and A. H. Lewis, Richard Croker (1901). For developments in three of the state's other cities, see Mc- Kelvey, Rochester; Horton, Erie; and H. C. Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, 1865-1898 (1944).
Platt and the Republican Machine, 1890-1900
The multivolumed works on the state's political history and many of the books cited in the preceding section cover New York's government and politics in the decade of the nineties. The standard work on Platt, although in some ways outdated, is H. F. Gosnell, Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt and Others (1924). This, however, should be supplemented by T. C. Platt, The Autobiography of Thomas Collier Platt (comp. and ed. by L. J. Lang, 1910). In addition, the works on Theodore Roosevelt cited below in the section on the Progressive movement throw considerable light on Platt's ma- chine and his methods.
The Progressive Movement, 1900-1918
The standard works on the Progressive movement in the nation provide an essential background and contain much useful material on New York. Among such works are John Chamberlain, Farewell to Reform (1928); C. C. Regier, The Era of the Muckrakers (1932); B. P. DeWitt, The Progressive Move- ment (1915); Louis Filler, Crusaders for American Liberalism (1950); H. U. Faulkner, The Quest for Social Justice, 1898-1914 (1931); and Lincoln Steffens, Autobiography (1931).
In some ways the most valuable sources on the operation of the state govern- ment during the Progressive era are Journal of the New York Constitutional Convention, 1915 and Record of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, 1915. Among the secondary materials, biographies are not only useful, but in most instances they furnish the only accounts of important de- velopments available to students who cannot go to the primary sources. H. F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt, A Biography (1931), is an outstanding, if not definitive, study of Roosevelt's entire career. It should be supplemented by Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography (1913); H. L. Hurwitz, Theodore Roose- velt and Labor in New York State, 1880-1900 (1943); and G. F. Mowry,
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Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement (1946). M. J. Pusey, Charles Evans Hughes (2 vols., 1951), in addition to being a biography of unusual merit, contains a great deal of pertinent information on Hughes's utility and insurance investigations and the best summary available of Hughes's gubernatorial administration. H. L. Stimson, On Active Service in Peace and War (1948), deals in passing with the Progressive movement in New York politics, while Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1952-1954), treats the same subject from an entirely different point of view.
Tammany Hall's role in state politics immediately preceding and during the impeachment of Governor Sulzer is examined in detail in J. A. Friedman, The Impeachment of Governor William Sulzer (1939); S. B. Thomas, Boss or Governor (1914); J. W. Forrest and James Malcolm, Tammany's Treason (1913); and Proceedings of the Court for the Trial of Impeachments, The People of the State of New York by the Assembly Thereof against William Sulzer, as Governor (1913). For New York City politics in the Progressive era, see H. C. Syrett, ed., The Gentleman and the Tiger: The Autobiography of George B. Mcclellan, Jr. (1956); L. H. Pink, Gaynor (1931); Mortimer Smith, William Jay Gaynor (1950); and Lenora Arent, Electric Franchise in New York City (1919). Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities (1904), contains a chapter on New York City's government.
From Smith to Dewey, 1918-1952
No one has yet written a definitive biography of Alfred E. Smith or a de- tailed analysis of his work as a legislator and governor. In many respects the best book on his career is his autobiography, which is entitled, Up to Now: An Autobiography (1929). Although the autobiography is obviously biased, it is no more so than books on him written by others. When Smith emerged as a presidential candidate, several popular studies were made of his career. These books, which should be used with some caution, include T. H. Dickin- son, The Portrait of a Man as Governor (1928); Norman Hapgood and Henry Moskowitz, Up from the City Streets: Alfred E. Smith . .. (1928); and H. F. Pringle, Alfred E. Smith: A Critical Study (1927). Freidel, Roosevelt, is somewhat critical of Smith's administration as governor, while Frances Perkins in The Roosevelt I Knew (1946) writes as a friend and former associate of Smith.
Bernard Bellush, Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York (1955), is a model study of its kind and emphasizes the need for similar histories of the administrations of some of the state's other leading governors. E. K. Lindley, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1931), tells part of the story of Roosevelt's years in Albany in considerable detail, but it tends to be laudatory rather than analytical. E. J. Flynn, You're the Boss (1947), is indispensable, although it is in some respects disappointing for students whose primary interest is Roosevelt's gov- ernorship. Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew, is engaging and informative, but it deals only incidentally with Roosevelt's accomplishments as governor. The first volume of S. I. Rosenman, ed., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1938), furnishes a useful, but not complete, set of documents on Roosevelt's four years as governor. For a more comprehensive and detailed
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record, consult the four volumes entitled Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor (1930-1933).
There is no satisfactory account of the administrations of Herbert Lehman and Thomas E. Dewey, and it seems unlikely that this period will be ex- amined by scholars in the near future. Much of Moscow, Politics in the Empire State, is devoted to the 1930's and 1940's. In general, Moscow is critical of Dewey and favorably disposed toward Lehman. The official version of the state's role in World War II, as well as a discussion of other phases of the state government during the war, can be found in K. D. Hartzell, The Empire State at War: World War II (1949). For the rest, the student interested in the Lehman and Dewey administrations in peace and war must consult the news- papers and the various printed materials published by the state.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPIRE STATE
Our Changing Population
Most of the data for this chapter is from the U.S. Bureau of the Census publications. Two Cornell University Experiment Station bulletins are very informative: B. L. Melvin, Rural Population of New York, 1855-1925 (no. 116, 1928); and W. A. Anderson, Population Trends in New York State 1900-1940 (no. 786, 1942). Publications of the N.Y. State Department of Health and those of the Welfare and Health Council of New York City supply vital sta- tistics. Valuable for its summaries and charts are the publications of the New York State Department of Commerce.
Immigration is best approached through books dealing with immigration to the United States. See M. L. Hansen, The Immigrant in American History (1940); M. R. Davie, World Immigration (1936); Oscar Handlin, The Up- rooted (1952). New York Panorama has a good chapter on the various nation- ality groups in the metropolis. R. F. Weld, Brooklyn Is America (1950), is appreciative of the diverse groups making up the population of that borough.
On the Negro in New York City see Claude Mckay's lively account, Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940). The literature on the immigration from Puerto Rico is growing rapidly. The latest and most valuable study is Bureau of Applied and Social Research of Columbia University, Puerto Rican Popula- tion of New York City (1954). See also New York County Lawyers Associa- tion, "The Rising Puerto Rican Problem," Bar Bulletin, IX (March 1952); Catholic Youth Organization, Archdiocese of New York, Leisure-Time Prob- lems of Puerto Rican Youth in New York City (1953); C. W. Mills, C. Senior, and R. K. Golden, The Puerto Rican Journey (1950); Puerto Rico Depart- ment of Labor, Employment and Migration Bureau, The Puerto Ricans of New York City (1953); U.S. Bureau of the Census, Puerto Ricans in Con- tinental U.S., Special Report P-E No. 30, 1950. Migration from New York to other states is covered by C. J. Galpin and T. B. Manny in Interstate Migra- tion among the Native White Population as Indicated by Differences between the State of Birth and State of Residence (1934).
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The problem of housing, especially that in New York City, has aroused much comment and investigation. Jacob Riis was one of the first to stir up widespread interest. See his The Battle with the Slums (1902) and A Ten Years War (1900). Another early commentator was C. D. Wright, The Slums of Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia (1894). Various investiga- tions by both state and city were carried on in almost every decade. For ex- amples, see Report of the New York City Tenement House Commission in 1884 and again in 1900. In the 1930's public attention to housing was renewed. See H. M. Shulman, Slums of New York (1938); New York State, Report of the State Board of Housing for 1933 and 1934. M. L. Walker, Urban Blight and Slums (1938); E. E. Wood, Slums and Blighted Areas in the United States (1936); James Ford et al., Slums and Housing, with Special Reference to New York City (2 vols., 1936).
For a description of recent accomplishments in the New York State public housing program see the Ten Year Look in State Housing-Past and Future (1949). Useful are Dorothy Shaffter, State Housing Agencies (1942); Twenti- eth Century Fund, American Housing, Problems and Prospects (1947); Cath- erine Bauer, Modern Housing (1934); Henry Bruère, Slum Clearance and Urban Development in the City of New York (1956).
A pioneer and highly significant study of regional planning appeared in 1926 in the Report of the Commission of Housing and Regional Planning. Another important regional survey was the Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs (8 vols., 1927-1929).
The Annual Reports of the Departments of Public Welfare and Correction contain excellent summaries. Schneider and Deutsch, History of Public Welfare, is the best introduction. Good chapters appear in Caldwell, Government and Administration of New York.
Agriculture in the Empire State
The bibliography covering New York agriculture in its various phases is very extensive, running into thousands of titles. Here are listed only a few of the more useful and accessible books and reports.
The impact of the transportation revolution upon farmers in the last half of the nineteenth century is best described in Benson, Merchants, Farmers & Railroads (1955). A helpful article is Eric Brunger, "A Chapter in the Growth of the New York State Dairy Industry, 1850-1900," New York History, XXXVI (April 1955), 136-145. The autobiography of the first Dean of the College of Agriculture at Cornell University tells much about farm life and about the difficulties of setting up a progressive agricultural college. See I. P. Roberts, Autobiography of a Farm Boy (1916). Liberty Hyde Bailey, one of the leading agricultural thinkers at the turn of the century, has left us his analysis of New York agriculture in York State Rural Problems (2 vols., 1913-1915) and in the Cyclopediae of American Agriculture (4th ed., 1912), IV, 547-628. One of the first to make a sociological study of a rural town was J. M. Wil- liams. His An American Town (1906) is a thinly disguised account of Water- ville, New York. He also wrote Our Rural Heritage-The Social Psychology of Rural Development (1925). A similar study is F. F. Hill, et al., Erin-
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The Economic Characteristics of a Rural Town in Southern New York (1943). Opposing views on the role of the Dairymen's League emerge from J. J. Dillon, Seven Decades of Milk (1941), and D. J. Carter, ed., The Fifty Year Battle for a Living Price for Milk: A History of the Dairymen's League (1939). Useful information, some of which applies to New York, can be found in W. C. Neely, The Agricultural Fair (1935), and C. B. Smith and M. C. Wilson, The Agricultural Extension System of the United States (1930). Christopher Rand, in "A Reporter at Large: County Fair," New Yorker, Oct. 6, 1956, pp. 96-119, gives an excellent account of the modern Dutchess County Fair.
There is a wealth of solid information in the hundreds of Bulletins issued by Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. Among the more valuable items are: R. S. Beck, Types of Farming, New York (1935); Charles Blanford, The Milk Supply for the New York Market (1938); F. B. Howe, Classifica- tion and Agricultural Value of New York Soils (1935); S. E. Ronk, Prices of Farm Products in New York State, 1841-1935 (1936); H. S. Tyler, Factors Affecting Labor Incomes on New York Farms (1939); S. W. Warren, Results of Farm Mortgage Financing in Eleven Counties in New York State (1939); T. E. LaMont, Agricultural Production in New York, 1866-1940 (1940).
A great amount of source material is available in publications of the federal and state governments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture issues an annual volume on Agricultural Statistics, which gives comprehensive statistics by states. Agricultural Situation is a monthly survey. The N.Y. State Department of Agriculture and Markets has some useful publications: Agricultural Manual of New York State Arranged by Counties (Bulletin 133); Annual Reports. See also The Agriculture of New York State (Bulletin 259); Statistics Relative to the Dairy Industry in New York State 1938-1941 (Bulletin 339). The legislature has made numerous investigations of agricultural conditions. One of the most important recent investigations was the Report of New York State Temporary Commission on Agriculture 1945-46 and 1946-47. The N.Y. State Department of Commerce includes useful information in its many publica- tions. See the article by G. B. Robinson, "Agriculture in New York State," Commerce Review, I (Nov. 1947). An important federal investigation was that by the Federal Trade Commission, Report on the Sale and Distribution of Milk and Milk Products through Certain Farmers Cooperatives and Dis- tributors in the New York Metropolitan Area and the Effect of Distribution by Nation-Wide Distributors (1936).
Much valuable information dealing with the dairy industry is available in the files of the Dairymen's League News. For farm co-operatives consult A. L. Gessner, Statistics of Farm Cooperatives, 1953-54, U.S. Department of Agriculture, General Report 23, Washington, 1956.
A Century of Industrial Enterprise
The New York State Department of Commerce publishes a great many pamphlets and studies. Perhaps the best introduction to the recent business life of the state is Business Facts New York State (1952). For each of thirteen areas, the Commerce Department has published a separate booklet in the New York State Business Facts series. The Commerce Review contains much
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up-to-date detail about the economic life of the state. Another useful state publication is the Industrial Directory of the State of New York: Directory of Manufacturing and Mining Firms in New York State (1953). It gives per- tinent descriptive details for about 50,000 establishments. Firms are listed alphabetically by industry and by county in which they are located. One can also find a good deal of information about manufacturing in New York State in the various U.S. Census Reports.
The clothing industry, the largest in the state, has attracted several com- mentators: J. E. Pope, The Clothing Industry in New York (1905); M. E. Popkin, Organization, Management and Technology in the Manufacture of Men's Clothing (1929); M. Van Kleeck, A Seasonal Industry: A Study of the Millinery Trade in New York (1917); Joel Seidman, The Needles Trade (1942). Donald Sheehan, This Was Publishing: A Chronicle of the Book Trade in the Gilded Age (1952), is an excellent study. See also O. H. Cheney, Eco- nomic Survey of the Book Industry, 1930-31 (1931).
E. D. Fite, Social and Economic Conditions in the North during the Civil War (1910), has some information on New York. Flick, History, has the best over-all summary of developments since 1865. Manufacturing in upstate centers can be traced in the history of Buffalo by Horton and the excellent history of Rochester by McKelvey completed to 1925. For the story of East- man Kodak, see C. W. Ackerman, George Eastman (1930); Eastman Kodak Company, The Home of Kodak (1935); F. W. Lovejoy, The Story of a Prac- tical Idealist (1947). A good summary of the various industries in New York City is available in the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs, which has reports on leading industries.
The electrical industry is important for the state. See J. W. Hammond, Men and Volts (1941); H. G. Prout, Life of George Westinghouse (1922); J. T. Broderick, Forty Years with General Electric (1929); P. W. Keating, Lamps for a Brighter America: A History of the General Electric Lamp Business (1954); T. C. Martin and S. L. Coles, eds., The Story of Electricity (1919). Food processing is one of the top five industries in the state. See J. P. Arnold, History of the Brewing Industry and Brewing Science in America (1933); C. B. Kuhlmann, The Development of the Flour-Milling Industry in the United States (1929); H. Kyrk and J. S. Davis, The American Baking Industry, 1849-1923 (1925); C. L. Alsberg, Combination in the American Bread-baking Industry (1926).
A Century of New York State Labor
The best account is by Leo Wolman in Flick, History, vol. X. The scope of the State Department of Labor is described in Caldwell, Government and Administration of New York, and Beetle, New York Citizen. Much information is available in the Annual Reports of the State Department of Labor and in the publications of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Rela- tions at Cornell University.
A graphic picture of labor conditions emerges from the Report and Testi- mony Taken before the Special Committee of the Assembly to Investigate the Condition of Female Labor in the City of New York, Assembly Document
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no. 97 (1896). Hurwitz, Theodore Roosevelt and Labor, is also helpful for the period around the turn of the century. After the Triangle fire there were several investigations. Some of the findings are given in Reports of the Factory Investigating Commission (1912-1915). An early study is F. R. Fair- child, The Factory Legislation of the State of New York (1905).
The U.S. Bureau of the Census has issued many studies concerned with labor. Representative among them are: Immigrants and Their Children, Mono- graph VII (1920); decennial reports on Occupations and Population.
Conditions in the clothing industry are described in Seidman, Needles Trade. E. F. Baker, Protective Labor Legislation, with Special Reference to Women in the State of New York (1925), has much information. There are various editions of the Labor Law of the state. A recent article by Lester Velie, "The Union That Gives More to the Boss," Reader's Digest (Jan. 1956), is typical of the better relationships between capital and labor.
From Towpath to Airway
There is no adequate history of transportation in New York State. The most convenient introduction is found in Flick, History. H. H. Pierce, Rail- roads of New York: A Study of Government Aid, 1826-1875 (1953), is a model of scholarship. The previously cited works by Frank Stevens and Edward Hungerford tell the story of the New York Central. The D. and H. Railroad Company published in 1925 A Century of Progress: History of the Delaware and Hudson Company (1925). The lurid history of the Erie Railroad has attracted much comment. The classic account is C. F. and Henry Adams, Chapters of Erie (1871), which can be supplemented by F. C. Hicks, ed., High Finance in the Sixties (1929). Lane, Commodore Vanderbilt, is a balanced account of the leading railroad figure. E. H. Mott, Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie (1899), describes the construction and traffic of the railroad. For street railways, the standard monograph is H. J. Carman, Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City (1919). See also J. B. Walker, Fifty Years of Rapid Transit (1918) and D. F. Wilcox, Analysis of the Electric Railway Problem: Report to the Federal Electric Railways Commission (1921). Mark Hirsch's life of William Whitney has a good deal of information about the street railway system of New York City.
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