USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. IV 1896-1920 > Part 21
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6New York Times, July 24, 1918.
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which he discharged his duties. On the ballot the vote was: Smith 4401/2 votes, Osborn 1/2 (that of Seabury), and blank 3. Seabury then moved to make the nom- ination unanimous.
The platform dwelt on the success of the Democratic administration in the conduct of the war, contrasting it with the sanitary mismanagement of the Spanish War, reviewed the social legislation promoted by the Demo- cracy, arraigned the Whitman administration for fail- ure to bring about promised economies, demanded a vigorous support of the President by the State govern- ment and "no profiteering in power by the Governor," and favored a prohibition referendum, a reduction of the State budget, agricultural development, a check to profiteering, campaign fund publicity, increased sup- port of public schools, cooperation with the national administration in Americanization, water power development, city home rule, public ownership of utili- ties, extension of the Workmen's Compensation law to occupational diseases, extension of the Labor law to pro- tect women in industry, a Minimum Wage commission with power to fix a living wage for women and minors, the upbuilding of the merit system, and the readjust- ment of the tax laws to proportion the burden to the benefits received. It also welcomed women to the suffrage, invited them to join the party, and urged the passage of a Federal constitutional amendment for Woman Suffrage.
Osborn refused to accept the convention's designation as binding and carried his fight to the primary, where he received 32,761 votes to 199,752 for Smith. The
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other Democratic nominations for State offices were uncontested.7
The attitude of the Socialists toward the war caused a split in that party. Many sincere advocates of eco- nomic changes along socialistic lines, such as Charles Edward Russell, William E. Walling, J. G. Phelps Stokes, and Professor William P. Montague, were so out of sympathy with the pacifist and pro-German atti- tude of many of their party leaders that they seceded and formed the Social Democratic League, which, while advocating their industrial and social philosophy, strongly supported the government in carrying on the war. The party maintained its equivocal attitude and cast more votes than in 1916, but fewer in the whole State than were cast for Hillquit in the Mayoralty con- test of 1917.8.
Both Smith and Whitman spoke throughout the State. The Governor attacked Smith as a representa- tive of Tammany, and Smith retaliated with sharp detailed criticism of Whitman's administration, a task
7The Democratic ticket was: Governor, Alfred E. Smith, New York; Lieutenant-Governor, Harry C. Walker, Broome; Secretary of State, Frank- lin E. Bard, Erie; Comptroller, Bird S. Coler, Kings; Treasurer, Jacob G. Cohen, Westchester; Attorney-General, Charles Morschauser, Dutchess; State Engineer, Dwight B. LaDu, Albany.
8The Socialist ticket was: Governor, Charles W. Ervin, Queens; Lieu- tenant-Governor, Ella Reeve Bloor, New York; Secretary of State, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Kings; Comptroller, James C. Sheahan, Albany; Treas- urer, Charles W. Noonan, Schenectady; Attorney-General, Hezekiah D. Wil- cox, Chemung; State Engineer, Raymond Wilcox, Bronx.
The Socialist Labor ticket was: Governor, Olive M. Johnson, New York; Lieutenant-Governor, August Gillhaus, Kings; Secretary of State, Edmund Moonelis, New York; Comptroller, Charles E. Berns, Erie; Treasurer, Nadina Kavinoky, Erie; Attorney-General, John Donahue, New York; State Engineer, Joseph Galetta, Rensselaer.
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for which he was well fitted from his long experience in Albany. In a statement issued on November 3 he gave a list of Whitman's officials whom he promised to remove for reasons assigned. The sequel throws light at once on the exaggerations of political controversy and Smith's own broad-mindedness in revising preju- diced judgments. Among those marked for dismissal were many who a year after his accession to power were still serving and cooperating with him. Among these were three of the Public Service Commissioners of the Second district, two of the three Industrial Commis- sioners; George D. Pratt, the Conservation Commis- sioner ; two of the Civil Service Commissioners, one of them having been reappointed by him; and George W. Benham of the Board of Parole.
Just as the campaign was drawing to a close, when attention was largely directed to the State contest and little interest was being taken in the Congress elections by voters who had accepted the President's declaration that politics was "adjourned," the President issued his appeal of October 25 for a Democratic Congress. The Republicans had been basing their campaign on the plea that they had supported the President's war policy more faithfully than many Democratic Congressmen and that without them many of his measures, including the draft, would have failed. They resented with loud denunciation the demand in the name of patriotism that they be indiscriminately set aside as Republicans in favor of Democrats, some of whom had given only half-hearted support to the war. Politics was immedi- ately resumed. Taft and Roosevelt issued a joint plea
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to the people for a Republican Congress to check one- man power in peace-making and reconstruction, which, it was charged, was what Wilson wanted, for in his let- ter he conceded that the Republicans had supported the war but not his administration. His appeal failed of its purpose, if, indeed, it did not turn the tide against the Democrats. The Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, the Senate by a narrow and the House by a substantial margin. In four districts in New York the Republicans and Democrats combined on three Democrats and one Republican to defeat Socialists opposed to the administration's war measures, whose election was otherwise probable. The New York delegation as a result stood: Republicans, 24; Democrats, 19.
Notwithstanding the aid of the Prohibitionists Whit- man was defeated by 15,108, largely through the heavy anti-prohibition vote for Smith in the first and second- class cities. Whitman received 956,034 Republican and 38,794 Prohibitionist votes, making a total of 994,828, while Smith received 1,009,936, Ervin (Socialist) 121,705, and Johnson (Socialist Labor) 5,183. The count was in doubt for some days, and Whitman started out to obtain a recanvass, but in December gave up the contest. Walker won the election for Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, receiving 965,471 votes to 930,066 for Schoeneck, 130,206 for Bloor (Socialist), 48,142 for Colvin (Pro- hibitionist), and 5,605 for Gillhaus (Socialist Labor). The Republicans carried the rest of their State ticket by pluralities ranging from 12,563 for Newton to 188,975 for Wells. The Senate stood 29 Republicans
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and 22 Democrats, and the Assembly contained 94 Republicans, 54 Democrats, and only 2 Socialists, as against 10 the year before. Two women, Ida B. Sam- mis of Suffolk, Republican, and Mary M. Lilly of New York, Democrat, were elected to the Assembly. They were the pioneers among women legislators in New York.
Three constitutional amendments were submitted. One restricted the period of a State debt to the probable life of the work for which it is incurred, in no case more than 50 years, and authorized the payment of bonds in annual installments by direct tax or legislative appro- priation ; it was approved by 780,099 to 285,977. The second, to permit the construction of a State highway through the Forest Preserve, was adopted by 756,894 to 337,257. The third, authorizing the sale of the aban- doned Erie canal-bed in Utica, was carried by 722,235 to 310,992. The people also approved, 769,162 to 267,916, a proposition relating to the use of unexpended balances for highway improvement.
On entering the Executive chamber Governor Smith found himself politically isolated. Both the Legisla- ture and the elective State departments were in the hands of the opposition. Many of the appointive officers held over, and some who he felt were doing good work he continued. Sweet remained in the Speaker's chair and J. H. Walters of Syracuse became President pro tem. of the Senate in place of Elon R. Brown, who did not return to Albany. The Legis- lature allowed the Governor to reorganize the Public Service commission in the First district as he wished,
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abolishing the five Commissioners and putting in their place two Commissioners, one with jurisdiction over rapid transit construction and the other to regulate metropolitan utilities. The Governor also obtained legislation to regulate the running of elevators by women, but the great body of his measures failed, including the minimum wage and health insurance plans, and the municipal ownership project, for which the Hylan administration had more enthusiasm than either the Governor or Lewis Nixon, his metropolitan Public Service Commissioner. Early in his administra- tion Smith encountered the hostility of Hearst, and in reply to violent newspaper attacks denounced the editor and his motives and methods with extreme bitterness.
The necessary number of States had ratified the Pro- hibition amendment on January 16, before its advocates in New York were able to obtain action. Then the desire to get on the winning side prevailed, and on January 23 the Assembly ratified, 81 to 66, eleven Republicans and all the Democrats opposing. On January 29 the Senate concurred, 27 to 24, two Republicans joining the solid Democratic opposition. With war prohibition al- ready enacted and soon to come into effect, and the con- stitutional prohibition to follow, the State faced a seri- ous financial problem, involving as it did the loss of liquor taxes to both State and local governments. To meet this emergency an inter-party agreement was made to pass an Income Tax law, despite the protests of Comptroller Travis that it was unnecessary. This method of dividing responsibility for an unpopular measure by lining up Democrats and Republicans in
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both houses was natural under the circumstances, but it is a precedent fraught with danger. It tends to make responsible party government impossible, by depriving the voters of any chance to bring any group of their representatives to account by turning to the opposition. It constitutes an evasion by a party in power of the duty to pass with courage the laws that it believes necessary and abide the consequences. The Income Tax law imposed a levy of 1 per cent. on incomes up to $10,000, 2 per cent. on amounts beyond $10,000 and up to $50,000, and 3 per cent. on any excess. The proceeds were divided between the State and its subdivisions.
The popular feeling growing out of the war that a curb should be put upon seditious and anarchist propa- ganda led to the appointment in March of a joint legis- lative committee, under the chairmanship of Senator Clayton R. Lusk, which sat through the summer inves- tigating the sources and character of the revolutionary movement in the State and its association with foreign organizations seeking the overthrow of American con- stitutional government. The Lusk committee gave much attention to the activities of the Russian Soviet government here, and to ultra-radical education, parti- cularly to the Rand School of Social Science in New York City.
Governor Smith called a special session of the Legis- lature to deal with the Federal constitutional amend- ment for woman suffrage, which had passed the House of Representatives on May 21 and the Senate on June 4. The Legislature met on June 16 and ratified the amendment without a dissenting vote in either house,
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though Senator Sage asked to be excused from voting, as he had been a consistent opponent and thought the extra session unnecessary as the regular session could act in ample time for the next Presidential election.
No State officers were to be chosen in 1919, and inter- est centered on local contests. The Republicans carried the Assembly by an increased majority, electing 110 members, while the Democrats elected 35, a decrease of 19. The Socialists greatly increased their vote from 1918, casting about 125,000 in New York City and falling only 20,000 below their great vote for Hillquit in 1917. They increased their membership in the Assembly from two to five. Neither of the women members of the Assembly of 1919 returned, but two new women were chosen, Elizabeth V. Gillette, Democrat, of Schenectady, and Marguerite L. Smith, Republican, of New York. The Republicans nominated Mrs. Sam- mis, but she was defeated largely by the votes of dis- satisfied women.
A sweeping change of opinion from that which gave Mayor Hylan his large plurality two years before enabled the Republicans to carry not only the city of New York but the borough of Manhattan. For Presi- dent of the Board of Aldermen to fill the vacancy caused by the promotion of Governor Smith they nom- inated Congressman Fiorello H. LaGuardia, a self- made product of the Italian immigration, who had a brilliant record as an officer on the European firing line. He defeated Robert L. Moran, the Democratic candidate, by a narrow margin. For a vacancy caused by the death of President Dowling of the
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borough of Manhattan the Republicans named H. H. Curran and elected him by 9,000 over E. F. Doyle, the Democratic candidate. They were assisted by the feeling aroused by Charles F. Murphy in denying a renomination for the Supreme Court to Justice Joseph E. Newburger, a respected Democrat. He seemed to have forgotten how Richard Croker courted disaster for his general ticket by similar treatment of Justice Daly, and he gave the nomination to Irwin Untermyer, a son of Samuel Untermyer. The Republicans adopted Judge Newburger and elected him and Philip J. McCook, over Untermyer and Robert L. Luce, by 20,000 plural- ity for McCook and 58,000 for Newburger over their leading opponent. In Brooklyn an odd situation was presented by the candidacy of Reuben L. Haskell on the Republican ticket for County Judge on an anti-prohibi- tion issue. This came about from attacks on him as a "wet" in the primary campaign, and he turned and capitalized the charge, though his views on the subject could have no relation to his judicial duties. He and his associate, Norman S. Dike, were both elected by more than 60,000 plurality over their Democratic opponents ; but to such an extent was independent voting carried that the Democrats elected their candidate for Surro- gate, George A. Wingate, in whose fate the Democratic leader, John H. McCooey, was especially interested since his own clerkship in the Surrogate's Court was at stake.
Four constitutional amendments were submitted. One, to facilitate the drainage of swamp and agricul- tural land, was adopted by 718,497 votes to 590,235.
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An amendment enabling the Legislature to provide for voting by persons unavoidably absent from home on election day (proposed for the benefit of commercial travellers), was adopted by 791,860 votes to 534,452. One, to increase the salaries of Senators and Assembly- men, was defeated, 625,897 votes for and 680,945 against; and another, to increase salaries of Judges of the Court of Appeals, was defeated, 608,244 votes for and 690,131 against, although newspaper opinion throughout the State had been strongly in favor of this measure of justice to men paid less than some Judges of lower courts whose opinions they review.
In the Legislature of 1920 Walters continued as President pro tem. of the Senate and Sweet was elected Speaker for his seventh consecutive term. No sooner was the Assembly in session than the question of dealing with the ultra-radical political groups was precipitated on the State by a resolution to investigate the fitness of the five Socialist members to sit in the house and to suspend them pending inquiry by the judiciary com- mittee. These assemblymen were August Claessens and Louis Waldman of New York, Charles Solomon of Kings, and Samuel A. DeWitt and Samuel Orr of Bronx. The charges against them were that they were disloyal, belonged to an organization that sought to subvert fundamental American institutions even by the use of force, and that they were not free agents, as the rules of their party bound them to obedience to its mandates in the performance of their official duties and required them to place their resignations in the hands of the party authorities to use if they were dis-
ALFRED EMANUEL SMITH
Alfred Emanuel Smith, 45th governor; (1919-1920) ; born in New York City, December 30, 1873; clerk in the office of the commissioners of jurors, New York City, 1895-1903; member of the state assembly, 1904-1915; speaker of the assembly, 1915; delegate to the constitutional convention, 1915; sheriff of New York county, 1915-1917; president of the board of aldermen New York City, 1917-1919; governor 1919-1920; defeated for re-election by Nathan L. Miller, November 2, 1920.
ROBERT LANSING
Robert Lansing, statesman; born at Watertown, N. Y., October 17, 1864; graduated from Amherst, 1886; admitted to the bar, 1869; counsel for the United States in the Behring sea arbitration, 1892-1893; counsel for the United States Behring sea claims commission, 1896-1897; solicitor and counsel for the United States under the Alaskan boundary tribunal, 1903; coun- sel for the North Atlantic coast fisheries arbitration at The Hague, 1909-1910; agent of the United States in American and British claims arbitration, 1912-1914; counselor for the depart- ment of state from March 20, 1914 to June 23, 1915; secretary of state in the cabinet of President Wilson, June 23, 1915 to February, 1920; member of the American commission to nego- tiate peace at Paris, 1918-1919.
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loyal. As these men had already taken the oath of office the right to suspend them was challenged, though there could be no question of the legal right of the Assembly to expel in its discretion. Both parties joined in passing the resolutions. To the defense of the sus- pended members came a large number of conserva- tives, who had absolutely no sympathy with socialism as a political philosophy, much less with any ideas of "direct action" to accomplish changes in government, but who argued that any man had a right to advocate constitutional changes however extreme or foolish, that the conservative answer to radical agitation had always been that the Anerican system gave them a free chance to seek the accomplishment of their ideals through the ballot-box, and that the expulsion of these men would tend to make that freedom seem delusive and encourage radicals to think force their only weapon for the redress of grievances. Chief among these men was Charles E. Hughes, who carried the New York Bar Association with him in support of this view. On the other side William D. Guthrie was conspicuous.
The judiciary committee considered the case until March 30, when seven of its thirteen members recom- mended the expulsion of all five of the Socialists on the ground that they were disloyal to the nation and the State and belonged to "a disloyal organization com- posed exclusively of perpetual traitors" intent on over- throwing the government. They also recommended legislation denying the Socialists the status of a political party with a place on the official ballot. The fact that the party was affiliated with foreign organizations and
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was made up partly of foreigners, who by its organiza- tion thus became in a measure the masters of American lawmakers, was considered by the conservatives a ground for such action, in addition to what they regarded as the dangerous and unpatriotic policies of the party. One member of the committee recom- mended the seating of Orr and De Witt, on the ground that they had not personally taken any of the actions or made any of the speeches complained of as showing disloyalty to the Constitution, and the expulsion of the others. Four members recommended that all five be seated for lack of legal authority to expel them for their policies. All were expelled. In the case of Claessens, Waldman, and Solomon, the vote was: For expulsion, 96 Republicans and 19 Democrats; against, 11 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Among those opposed was Theodore Roosevelt, the son of President Roosevelt. With respect to the other two, De Witt and Orr, against whom there was no proof of overt personal acts of disloyalty charged against the three first men- tioned, the vote for expulsion was 89 Republicans and 15 Democrats; against, 20 Republicans, including the floor leader Adler, and 20 Democrats.
A sequel to the expulsion of the Socialists was the passage of a series of measures, prepared as a result of the Lusk investigation, to curb radical propaganda. These provided a fund for the Attorney-General to hunt sedition, established training courses for teachers of patriotism to be sent into industrial establishments, forbade all private teaching outside of certain classes of institutions, among them those conducted by "well-
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recognized" religious denominations, except in schools licensed at the pleasure of the Regents of the Univer- sity, and compelled all public school-teachers to prove to the Regents their loyalty. All of these measures the Governor vetoed after the adjournment. He did not approve of a bureaucracy with despotic powers over all instruction, even by a music teacher or tutor in a private class, such as these bills would have made possi- ble. He vetoed a bill to change the procedure of taking the oath in the Legislature, so that the censorship might be exercised before the members were sworn in. He also disapproved of the bill aimed to exclude the Socialists from the ballot, which gave the Appellate division in the Third department power to determine whether a body's principles and organization entitled it to recognition as a political party.
The Legislature passed and the Governor signed the Walker bill allowing the manufacture and sale, to be drunk away from the place of sale, of beer containing 2.75 per cent. alcohol, although the United States Supreme Court had not then passed on the validity of any such variation from the one-half of 1 per cent. limit of the national Prohibition law-a limit it sustained a few weeks later. Measures intended to stop profiteering in rents, caused by the unprecedented increase of charges under the congested housing conditions in the cities of the State, became laws, and a referendum was adopted on a proposal to give $45,000,000 in bonuses to New Yorkers who served in the war with Germany.
Governor Smith was unable to carry out his pro- gram of industrial legislation, which included a
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Minimum Wage commission measure and an Eight- hour bill for women and children. He proposed an administrative reorganization scheme providing an executive budget, a four-year term for the Governor, and more State departmental heads appointed by the Governor. The Legislature refused to follow his lead, but took the first steps toward submitting to the people some alternative constitutional amendments for the consolidation of departments. Thus after five years some of the most important proposals of the Constitu- tional convention of 1915 were revived through a Democratic Governor who led his party in withdrawing from the antagonism it had manifested to them; while the Republican party reversed its previous policy. Just as much of the at-first rejected work of the Constitution- al convention of 1867 was in the course of a few years accepted piecemeal with the aid of both parties, so the constructive work of 1915 continues to exercise its influ- ence in the reorganization and conduct of the govern- ment of the State.
The Governor called an extraordinary session of the Legislature for September 20 to consider chiefly the housing situation in New York City. At a special elec- tion held for filling vacancies caused by the expulsion of the five Socialists all were reelected. At this session the Socialists Waldman, Solomon, and Claessens were again expelled by the Assembly-the vote being: For expulsion, 73 Republicans and 17 Democrats; against, 28 Republicans and 17 Democrats. The Assembly re- fused to expel DeWitt and Orr on the ground that, the Socialist party having amended its constitution so as to
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permit members who were public officers to exercise their individual judgment in the performance of their official duties, there was no longer any ground for com- plaint against such members. The vote stood : For ex- pulsion, 37 Republicans and 11 Democrats; against, 63 Republicans and 24 Democrats. After the vote, however, these two members resigned.
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