taxation, were likewise defeated. The woman suffrage amend- ment proposed by the Legislature failed by almost 200,000 votes. The new Assembly was strongly Republican.
The Legislature of 1916 established a military training commis- sion to cooperate with the State Board of Regents in regard to physi- cal training for pupils in elementary and secondary schools, and to give military training to boys between the ages of 16 and 19 during the school or college year. The Sage-Maier budget bill provided for a legislative budget. The Finance Committee of the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee of the Assembly were required, by the new law, to submit to the Legislature, not later than March 15, a detailed budget. The two committees were authorized to sit continuously and to appoint sub-committees to gather the data needed in the preparation of the financial programme. This work actually devolved on the clerks of the two committees. The Legis- lature passed also the Whitney-Brereton resolution providing for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment in 1917.
In Nov. 1916 Gov. Whitman was reelected. He received 835,820 votes as against 686,862 for Judge Seabury, Democrat. For president, the Republicans carried the state, Hughes receiv- ing 869,066 votes as against 759,462 for President Wilson. The New York Legislature was strongly Republican in both Houses. The legislation of 1917 and 1918 was influenced decidedly by the entrance of the United States into the World War. On the governor's advice, the Legislature enacted a compulsory military training law for boys between the ages of 16 and 19. School-children were allowed to work on farms between April i and Nov. i. A state constabulary was created; and, under authorization of law, a census and an inventory of the military resources of the state were taken. -The governor was empowered to require the registration of aliens. Numerous changes were made in the public -health laws of the state. The Legislature accepted for the second time the woman suffrage amendment. In the autumn election 703,129 votes were cast for the amendment and 600,776 against it. Another amendment, providing that debts incurred by any first-class city for water-supply purposes shall not be included in determining the debt limit, was likewise approved. This amendment extended to Buffalo and Rochester, an exemption previously enjoyed by New York City alone.
The 1918 Legislature was in session from Jan. 2 to April 13. A considerable number of war-emergency measures were adopted.
It was made a felony to injure or destroy military stores. A com- pulsory work law, applicable to able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 50, was passed. The Food Commission established in 1917 was authorized to limit the margin of profits in retail sales of the necessaries of life. Contracts for the building of state and county highways were suspended for the period of the war. Teachers in the public schools were required to be citizens, and text-books con- taining seditious or disloyal statements were excluded from the schools. Absentee voting by those in the army and navy was authorized. The provisions of the workmen's compensation law were extended to cover practically all employments except farming and domestic service. A Central Supply Committee was created to make purchases for state departments, boards, and commissions. The Legislature partly repealed the " pay-as-you-go " law enacted in 1916, which made necessary the financing of all non-revenue- producing improvements in New York City through the annual tax levies, by the passage of a law allowing the city to issue annually during the war and one year thereafter $15,000,000 of bonds for certain kinds of improvements. A law provided for the enrolment and registration of women to participate in the 1918 elections. The Federal prohibition amendment failed of ratification.
In the Sept. primaries, 1918, Gov. Whitman was renominated for a third term. Alfred E. Smith, president of the New York City Board of Aldermen, was his Democratic opponent. Smith received 1,009,936 votes; Whitman, 956,034. The Republicans elected the other state officers except the lieutenant-governor. The Legislature remained Republican. In his message to the Legislature, Gov. Smith recommended important social and welfare legislation, most of which failed of passage because of the hostility of the Republican Legislature. The governor advocated health insurance, the minimum wage, and the eight-hour day for women and minors.
Several highly important laws were enacted. The income tax law provided for a tax of I % on incomes up to $10,000; 2 % on incomes up to $50,000; and 3 % on incomes of over $50,000. Single persons were exempt up to 1,000; and married persons up to $2,000. An additional exemption of $200 was allowed for each dependent. The salaries of school-teachers were increased. An appropriation of
$1,000,000 was made toward the building of the proposed New York-New Jersey vehicular tunnel. The employment of women on city railways was restricted. Children under 16 years of age were prohibited from working in factories longer than ^8 hours in any one week. The Public Service Commission with jurisdiction over New York City was abolished and two new commissions were established in its place. One commissioner was given the regulatory functions of the former commission. The rapid transit construction work was transferred to a transit construction commissioner. The Legislature ratified the Federal prohibition amendment.
Shortly after his inauguration, Gov. Smith appointed a non- partisan Reconstruction Commission to inquire into and report on retrenchment and reorganization in the state government. This commission in its report of Oct. 10 1919 recommended an executive budget and the reorganization of the administrative departments of the state, following closely the proposals of the 1915 Constitutional Convention. The 1920 session of the Legis- lature devoted itself largely to the suppression of radicalism. It expelled five Socialist members of the Assembly and enacted a number of repressive measures designed to curb " revolution- ists." These provided for the licensing of schools and school courses; additional certificates of loyalty from teachers; and machinery for testing the eligibility of members of the Legis- lature. All these measures were vetoed by Gov. Smith.
The most constructive work of the session was the passage of a number of bills designed to relieve the rent situation. The more important of these laws prevented the recovery of premises by land- lords from " hold over " tenants until Nov. I 1922, except where the tenants were objectionable, the premises were needed as resi- dences by the owners, or the owners were desirous of putting up new buildings. It was also provided that in proceedings for the non-payment of rent, where the rent had been raised, the tenant might defend on the ground that the new rent was excessive. In such cases the landlord was required to file a bill of particulars showing the reasonableness of the increase. The courts were to pass upon reasonableness. It was further made a misdemeanour not to furnish normal service. The Legislature made additional appropriations for the New York-New Jersey tunnel. The salaries of school-teachers throughout the state were substantially increased.
The Republicans carried the elections in 1920 by overwhelming majorities. The vote for president was Harding, Republican, 1,868,240; Cox, Democrat, 781,485; Debs, Socialist, 203,400. The Republican candidate for governor, Judge Nathan L. Miller, was elected by a plurality of less than 75,000. Gov. Smith, his opponent, ran almost 500,000 votes ahead of the national Democratic ticket. The state Legislature for 1921 contained large Republican majorities in both Houses. T/he voters by a large majority approved a bond issue of $45,000,000 for a bonus to soldiers and sailors in the World War.
Gov. Miller, in his message to the 1921 Legislature, dealt chiefly with finance, urging rigid economy, and opposing the creation of new positions and salary increases. He favoured the completion of authorized construction projects before undertaking others. Later the governor sent a special message to the Legislature in which he outlined a programme for the reorganization of the Public Service Commission and the solution of the traffic problem in New York City. He recommended that all public utilities be placed under the jurisdiction of one state commission, except that a commission of three be established with complete jurisdiction over the one sub- ject of transit in New York City. The Legislature passed measures carrying out the governor's recommendation. Other laws of im- portance, many of them sponsored by the governor, provided for the enforcement of the prohibition amendment directly by local police officers; the repeal of the daylight saving law; the re- turn to the convention system of nominating state and judicial officers; the reorganization of the State Industrial Commission; the reorganization of the State Tax Commission and the transfer to it of most state tax-collecting agencies; the creation of a Board of Estimate and Control consisting of the governor or his agent, the chairmen of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees and the comptroller; and a treaty with New Jersey for the development of the port of New York. The anti-sedition laws adopted were designed to compel teachers to take an oath of loyalty and to empower the state Department of Education to license all private schools. Provision was made for a legislative investigation into the affairs of the New York City administration and for another to study the problem of charter revision in that city. Although the Republicans elected a majority of the mem- bers of the Assembly in the autumn elections of 1921, their strength was materially reduced by Democratic gains.
The World War. New York led the states in the number of troops supplied for the World War. The total number from the
