and the utmost uncertainty and confusion prevailed until a decision of the court of appeals was rendered affirming their constitutionality.1

For a decade after the first interference the charter was still respected and changes were infrequent; but, under the inspiration of William M. Tweed, legislative action placed millions at the command of Tweed and his associates. An act of 1868, chapter 853, authorizing the comptroller to adjust claims against the city, and a modest little clause stowed away in the tax levy of 1870, authorizing the mayor (A. Oakey Hall), the comptroller (Richard B. Connolly) and the president of the board of supervisors (William M. Tweed) to audit all existing liabilities of the County of New York, were the means through which more than ten millions were secured by the Tweed Ring. Moreover, seeing the increasing wrath of the citizens of New York, this ring actually purchased a new charter, which contained many novel and desirable administrative features. It abolished the state commissions and gave to the mayor increased power and corresponding responsibilities. But it provided that the terms of all heads of departments should end five days after the passage of the charter, and conferred upon the mayor (A. Oakey Hall) the power to fill all these offices, not merely for the remainder of his term, but for a period of five years. This provision was unsound in principle as it was dishonest in motive. It was devised in order to perpetuate the power of the Tweed Ring, even if it should be overthrown by the people at the polls. In depriving the incoming mayor of the power to

assault and battery. Intrenched in the City Hall and surrounded by a considerable detachment of the municipal police, the mayor determined to resist service of the warrant. The result was a bloody encounter between the two factions.

1 The People ex rel. Fernando Wood vs. Simon Draper et al., 15 N. Y. The court held that "plenary power in the legislature for all purposes of civil government is the rule." The restrictions in the constitution are comparatively few, "and consist generally of those ancient limitations which are essential to constitutional government. It follows that it belongs to the legislature to arrange and distribute the administrative functions from such portions as it may deem suitable to local jurisdictions, and retaining other portions to be exercised by officers appointed by the central power, and changing the arrangement from time to time as convenience, the efficiency of the administration and the public good may seem to require."

select his own heads of departments, it made responsibility for corrupt administration impossible.

Just as the violence and fraud under Fernando Wood first led to legislative interference, so the exposure of the frauds of Tweed and his associates stimulated the legislature to renewed activity. The charter of 1870 was followed by a reform charter in 1873. The new charter has been changed from year to year by legislative acts, at first general in character, but later dealing with minute details, and passed even without any reference to the original charter which they amended. These acts were so numerous between 1873 and 1882 that the legislature deemed it wise to pass what is known as the Consolidation Act of 1882. It was not a new charter, but only a compilation of existing laws. By 1891 the special acts for New York City had again become so numerous that it became profitable to prepare an annotated edition of this Consolidation Act. In the preface to this work the author declares that

the legislature has during the nine years since 1882 passed a number of laws, which, although relating to New York City solely, do not in terms amend any of the sections of the Consolidation Act. Many of these laws, however, supersede, modify or affect the provisions of the Consolidation Act.

To sum up, then, we find that the Montgomery Charter of 1730 remained substantially unchanged for more than one hundred years. It was modified only to conform to the changed conditions arising from the greater area and increased population of the city. For four decades more the session laws show only reasonable special legislation for the city, with the exception of the acts passed during the years from 1857 to 1860, in the administration of Mayor Wood. The legislature of 1830, for example, made only two changes in the charter;2 it passed some general acts for the city; but among the 337 acts of that year, none applying to New York City were private or

1 New York City Consolidation Act as in Force in 1891. By Mark Ash.

2 Authorizing the register to appoint a deputy (chapter 58); directing the board of assessors to meet annually (chapter 307).

8 Requiring party walls to be made of brick (chapter 291); defining jail liberties to be south of Fourteenth Street (chapter 78).

391 special in character. In the acts of 1850 no change appears in the legislative practice. The charter amendments are few,2 while all the remaining 380 laws are general in their nature, or relate to private corporations. So until after 1870, the legislative acts show the same respect for the city charter. The city had rights, which, if not valid in a court of law, were at least supported by custom, and the legislature respected them. But if the Consolidation Act was needed in 1882, and if it was necessary to edit this act again in 1891, then we have indeed strayed far away from former practices.

Though the corruption exposed at the downfall of the Tweed Ring was the excuse for this legislative interference, an impartial study of the rule of Tweed must put upon the legislature much of the responsibility for the plunder and fraud. Not only did the legislature annually confirm every tax levy prepared by the supervisors under the inspiration of Tweed, but by passing special financial acts at his behest, it gave the ring unlimited control over the city's finances. Legislative interference was one of the primary causes of these crimes; but in a hopeful spirit the same action was invoked to prevent a recurrence of the evils. The necessary aid, however, was sought, not in the passage of a charter conforming to the best principles of government, but in further interference in the details of municipal administration.

1 The legislature then incorporated societies by special act, and there were many such special charters.

2 Chapter 187 divides the twelfth ward into two wards; chapter 330 authorizes the common council to fix the compensation of police officers and patrolmen ; chapter 120 provides for the appointment of fire wardens; chapter 201 relates to the powers of the assistant surrogate; chapter 275 to those of the board of health; chapter 121 to those of the assessors; chapter 329 to those of the governors of the almshouse.

3 The city's rights were not unlimited. In fact, until 1873 it could not impose taxes locally except by special legislative act. The establishment of the board of estimate and apportionment in the charter of 1873 secured to the city for the first time independent power over its own budget of expenditures. A legislative act, known as the Tax Levy, had always been necessary to confirm the preliminary budget prepared by the supervisors of the city and county.

III.

The laws of 1893 do not differ materially from those of the preceding twenty years, and well illustrate to what a dangerous point this interference has extended. The statute book contains 726 chapters, of which eighty, or more than eleven per cent, refer to New York City. Special legislation for other cities of the state is proportionately as frequent. Of the eighty laws, only eight are in the nature of general acts, amending the form of government of the city. These eight provide for a new armory board; enlarge the powers of the board of health (chapter 187); define more fully the powers of the commissioner of street improvements for the twenty-third and twentyfourth wards (chapter 443); limit the salaries and the expenses of administration of the board of excise (chapter 271); define the powers of the dock department relative to the city's water front (chapter 397); modify the organization of the department of public parks (chapter 418) and of the police department (chapter 38); and make the corporation counsel a member of the board of estimate and apportionment (chapter 106).

But not even all these acts can fairly be considered general laws; only two of them make a fundamental change in the organization of the city government. The act which creates an armory board and confers on it liberal powers of expenditure, unchecked by the board of estimate and apportionment, and that making the corporation counsel a member of the board of estimate and apportionment, make changes of questionable wisdom, and of sufficient importance to have merited careful deliberation on the part of the city and the citizens whose fundamental law was affected. It is unwise to divide the responsibility for the city's budget, and no public demand existed, nor was any reason urged, for the addition of the

1 Chapter 559, in conferring upon this body the needed power to erect and enlarge the armories, adds the unwise provision that whatever sums of money the board may determine upon as necessary for their plans, if approved by the commissioner of the sinking fund, “shall be assented to by the comptroller in his departmental estimates"; and the board of estimate is directed to include the amount in the final tax levy. And yet it is sought to hold the board of estimate responsible for the amount of the budget!

corporation counsel to the board of estimate and apportionment, except that, as the mayor's legal adviser, his opinion was frequently needed. Yet the change vitally alters the composition of the board. It had consisted of four members, of whom three, the mayor, the comptroller and the president of the board of aldermen, were chosen by the people, and only one, the president of the department of taxes and assessments, was appointed by the mayor; by the addition to the board of the corporation counsel, who is named by the mayor, the latter with his two appointees can control this important body against the votes of two officials elected by the people. This board was created by the charter of 1873 after careful deliberation; the financial budget up to that time required an act of the legislature for its confirmation, much doubt existing as to the advisability of conferring so much power on the municipality. There was no provision of the city charter more fundamental than this, and yet it was amended vitally without special reason and without popular demand from the city electors.

Twenty-five of the acts of 1893 were of a private nature, amending charters of charitable and public institutions within the city; authorizing the cancellation of assessments and of sales of property made for non-payment of assessments;1 releasing certain associations from taxes;2 and giving authority to the board of estimate and apportionment to pay special claims. Such legislation is very dangerous, and altogether unjustifiable.

The general powers of the board of estimate and apportionment include the right to determine finally the budget for the

1 Chapter 288 cancels the assessment on the property belonging to St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum; chapter 588 refers to the House of the Good Shepherd, Hebrew Orphan Asylum and St. Luke's Hospital.

2 Chapter 324 releases from taxes R. C. Church of the Blessed Sacrament; chapter 325, St. Andrew's M. E. Church; chapter 667, Southern N. Y. Baptist Association.

3 Chapter 649 authorizes the board to examine and pay the claim of Matthew Ellis, arising from the furnishing of bread to the city prison between January 1, 1885, and January 1, 1886; chapter 530, to pay Charles S. Walker's salary as janitor of the 10th District Court; chapter 513, to make an additional award to Essie Miller.