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established, that the said Horace G. Prindle be then removed from the office of county judge and surrogate of said county.36

JOHN T. HOFFMAN."

March 20. To the Assembly:

Veto of a bill entitled "An act to amend an act to incorporate the Port Chester Savings Bank, passed May 14, 1865."

"The bill provides that it shall be lawful for the bank to invest twenty per cent of its assets in county, town or village bonds, and also to lend ten per cent of its assets upon the pledge of town or village bonds, so that, in all, thirty per cent of its total assets may be in the class of securities above described. The general town bonding law has a provision in it allowing savings banks to invest ten per cent of their deposits in bonds issued to further the building of railroads; which was a general act applying to all the savings banks in the State.

It may be presumed that, on the passage of that act, applying, as it does, to all the savings banks of the State, the Legislature gave to the question involved in the present bill more careful consideration than would be likely to be bestowed upon it when presented, as now, in a case in which the interest of one bank only is involved.

The Legislature cannot be too careful in providing, by proper restrictions, for the safety of the money deposited with this class of institutions. They are created for the benefit of those who have no direct interest in speculative enterprises, and whose accumulations are savings from the wages received for labor. They should be managed exclusively with reference to the interests of that portion of our population who live by the wages of labor, and other persons of small means, and, to that end, the assets of

36 The Senate met on the 14th of May, 1872, for the purpose of hearing the charges against Judge Prindle. At the conclusion of the trial the charges were dismissed.

savings banks should always consist of investments of the highest ultimate security, and of such as are least likely to fluctuate in value. It is also important that a large portion of their assets should be of such a nature that, at any time, or under any circumstances, they can be sold readily in the public market. While the bonds of towns and villages may be perfectly safe as a permanent investment, they are not of that class of securities which are daily bought and sold in our large markets, and cannot, therefore, be counted upon to be converted into money promptly, at a time of difficulty or of unusual demand upon the savings banks from their depositors. I have submitted the bill to the Superintendent of the Banking Department, who thinks it not advisable that the limitation now imposed upon the savings banks generally, restricting their investments in town bonds to ten per cent of their assets, should be enlarged, and I concur in his views.

The bill would be objectionable, in my judgment, if it applied to all savings banks; and is also objectionable because it specially exempts this one bank from the restrictions which have been by law imposed on all of these institutions.

Occurrences within the past year have shown that our laws cannot be made too rigid in restraining savings banks from investing the money of their depositors in any but the very best class of securities."

The bill was not passed over the veto.

March 26. To the Assembly: Transmitting the annual report of the Commissary General and Chief of Ordnance.

March 28. To the Assembly:

Veto of a bill entitled "An act in relation to non-resident highway taxes upon certain lands in the counties of Hamilton and Warren."

"The bill provides that the county treasurers of Hamilton and Warren counties shall pay over to the Comptroller

the amount of any highway taxes assessed upon townships Nos. 3, 9, 10, 11 and 29, in Totten and Crossfield's purchase in the counties of Hamilton and Warren, which townships are by the bill made a road district, and that the Comptroller shall pay such moneys over to certain commissioners named in the bill, to be expended upon the road from Washington Craig's, in the town of Wells, Hamilton county, to Rollin Russell's, in the town of Johnsburgh, Warren county.

Township No. 3 is distant more than five miles from the town of Wells, taking a direct line from the points in each nearest to each other. The road begins at some point in the town of Wells and runs continually farther and farther from township No. 3. There can be no propriety in the taxes assessed on this township being applied to the proposed road. Moreover, the eastern portion of township No. 9, the whole of township No. 10, and part of 29 are already subject to an assignment of their non-resident highway taxes to the purposes of a special road by the provisions of chapter 507 of the Laws of 1867. The repealing clause in this bill will not serve to avoid complication.

The commissioners are required by the bill to account to the Comptroller, and yet to give bonds to the county treasurer of Hamilton county. Vacancies occurring among them are to be filled by the county treasurer of Hamilton county. It seems to me proper that the vacancies should be filled by the Comptroller, as is provided in similar acts on the statute book.

The special laws so often passed in relation to roads in this region of our State are becoming complicated, and it is very difficult, with the changes that are from time to time made in enlarging or diminishing the area, the taxes of which are to be applied to special road purposes and in partially repealing the provisions of one act by some subsequent law, for the Comptroller to administer them. This

class of legislation should not be encouraged; but the roads should be left to be worked out as best they may under general laws and under the regular authorities."

The bill was not passed over the veto.

April 3. To the Legislature:

"EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,

}

ALBANY, April 3d, 1872. "The telegraph to-day announces the death of its inventor, Samuel F. B. Morse. Born in Massachusetts, his home has for many years of his eventful life been New York.

His fame belongs to neither, but to his country and to the world; yet it seems fitting that this great State, in which he lived and died, should be the first to pay appropriate honors to his memory.

Living, he received from governments everywhere more public honors than were ever paid to any American private citizen. Dead, let all the people pay homage to his name.

I respectfully recommend to the Legislature the adoption of such resolutions as may be suitable, and the appointment of a joint committee to attend the funeral of the illustrious deceased."7

JOHN T. HOFFMAN."

37 Each house adopted resolutions of condolence and appointed a committee to attend the funeral of Mr. Morse. The Assembly resolutions, adopted on the 4th of April, contained the following:

"That the lightning flash, first compelled from Heaven by mortal hands, through the instrumentality of a Franklin, utilized and rendered the handmaid and most efficient aid of civilization, by a Morse, will never perform a more painful and sad act than when it set the tune to the requiem over the grave of one who, by the control of its mighty power, is acknowledged and known of all men as one of the greatest human benefactors of his age or of the world in its history."

April 3. To the Assembly:

Veto of a bill entitled “An act to amend title twelve of the charter of the city of Albany, entitled 'the police department,' passed March 16, 1870.” 38

66

'Among the very earliest of the bills presented to me for approval, after I had come into office, was one relating to the police of the city of Syracuse, being now chapter 19 of the Laws of 1869. This bill was modeled after a law which I found upon the statute book in relation to the police of the city of Utica, chapter 414 of the Laws of 1867. In both cases there were four commissioners of police, whose term of office was four years, but divided into two classes so that half of them went out every two years, and who were to be chosen in the same mode as provided in the present bill, that is to say, every elector was entitled to vote for only one commissioner, the one having the majority of votes to be declared elected, and the one having the next highest number of votes to be appointed by the common council. The general provisions of both bills were well guarded, and the police commissioners were in each case made removable for cause in the same manner as sheriffs.

In 1870 the law of 1867 applicable to Utica was repealed. In Syracuse the law of 1869 is still in force. With more consideration of the principle involved in the Syracuse bill and with the experience of to-day, I would not have given it my approval. The method adopted for the selection of the commissioners in that bill and in the bill now under consideration, while it seemingly gives the election to the people, is, in fact, simply a designation by party caucuses or conventions, and the supposed ratification by the people is a form, and nothing more.

It is only on very rare occasions that, even in the mu

38 The Albany police bill was passed over the veto and became a law, chapter 186, on the 6th of April.

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