previous chapter the history of the discussion of this subject, and the reasons which induced the late Convention to propose the article; it seems unnecessary, therefore, to make any further comment now. The Commis

sion said of the article that its "simple purpose" was "purity in office." "The leading reason for the amendment is the inability in the past to procure witnesses capable of giving evidence of guilt. The direct purpose is to overcome, in a practical way, a great public abuse."

The text of the article will be found in the Introduction. This article was approved by the legislature, and became article 15 of the Constitution.

ART. XVII. WHEN AMENDMENTS TO TAKE EFFECT.

§ 1. All amendments to the Constitution shall be in force from and including the first day of January succeeding the election at which the same were adopted, except when otherwise provided by such amendments.

The committee on revision proposed this section, intending by it to fix the time when "the amendments now proposed, or any future proposed amendments to the Constitution, shall take effect if adopted by the people." This section was approved by the legislature and became a part of the amendments of 1874. By virtue of its provisions all the amendments adopted at that time took effect from the first day of January, 1875. It is a continuing provision, applicable to all subsequent amendments, and incorporated in the Constitution the principle of the rule relating to statutes, established early in our history, that every law, unless a different time shall be prescribed therein, shall take effect on the twentieth day after its approval by the governor. By other provisions of the Constitution the political year and legislative term both

begin on the 1st of January, and by this section constitutional changes take effect at the same time.

In notes to the foregoing articles and sections recommended by the Commission I have indicated the action thereon by the legislatures of 1873 and 1874. Several amendments agreed to in 1873 were rejected in 1874, the remaining amendments which had received the approval of two legislatures were submitted to the people, as required by the Constitution, on the 3d of November, 1874. The legislature provided for submitting, on one ballot, all the amendments which were grouped in eleven propositions, as follows: I, article 2, suffrage and bribery; 2, article 3, part one, §§ 1 to 8, inclusive; 3, article three, part two, §§ 17 to 25, inclusive; 4, article 4, the governor and lieutenant governor, their powers and duties; 5, article 7, finance and canals; 6, article 8, part one, §§ 4 to II, relating to corporations, local liabilities, and appropriations; 7, article 8, part 2, § 10, state appropriations; 8, article 10, § 9, relative to compensation of certain officers; 9, article 12, oath of office; 10, new article 15, relating to official corruption; II, new article 16, time for amendments to take effect. A voter was permitted to cancel any proposition "with ink or pencil" and the inspectors were required to count the ballots for each proposition not so canceled.

The amendments were adopted by an average majority, in round numbers, of 200,000, ranging from 120,000 to 360,000. These figures are significant in view of the vote five years before, 1869, when the revised Constitution, except the judiciary article, was rejected by an adverse majority of 66,000. It will be remembered that many of the amendments submitted in 1874 were also included in the Constitution proposed by the Convention of 1867. The result shows that the people were not opposed to constitutional revision, but were opposed to many

changes recommended by the late Convention.

ments found a home in the Constitution.

Thus,

after much tribulation and many buffetings, these amend

CHAPTER X.

From 1874 to 1894.

I purpose in this chapter briefly to review constitutional development during the twenty years intervening between the amendments of 1874 to the Convention of 1894, reserving, however, for other chapters the Commission of 1890 and the preliminary history of the Convention of 1894, beginning with the affirmative vote of the people in 1886, on the question of holding a constitutional convention. The amendments of 1874 had disposed of a large number of subjects which for many years occupied the serious attention of statesmen, and, taken as a whole, the period now under review was not so prolific in constitutional amendment and suggestion as some other periods in our history; yet it will be observed that, especially during a part of this period, the canals and the judiciary were subjects of almost constant agitation. Numerous other subjects received legislative attention by way of suggested amendments, and while each branch. of the legislature agreed to several amendments, only a few were approved by both branches, and some of these were not submitted to the people. Eleven amendments were adopted during this period; five related to the judiciary, four to canals, one to prisons, and one to local indebtedness. Of these, two (public works and prisons) were adopted in 1876; one (additional justice in second district) in 1879; two (judicial pensions, and three additional judges in New York common pleas) in 1880; four (one additional general term and twelve additional

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justices of the supreme court, free canals, taxation for canal debt, and restoring the Black River canal to prohibition against sale) in 1882; one (limiting local indebtedness) in 1884; and one (court of appeals, second division) in 1888. In addition to these eleven amendments, which became a part of the Constitution, the legislature in 1888 and 1890 passed a prohibition amendment, but it was not submitted to the people. Three other amendments, providing for additional justices of the supreme court, for the determination by the courts of legislative election contests, and authorizing the sale of the salt springs, were voted on by the people in 1892, and rejected; two amendments were also voted on in 1894, providing for an additional county judge in Kings county, and for additional justices of the supreme court in the first and second districts, but the revised Constitution of 1894 was adopted at the same time, and, by a provision on this subject, superseded the independent amendments. Several subjects suggested during this period were considered by the Commission of 1890 and the Convention of 1894, and were incorporated in the Constitution proposed by that Convention. These will be noticed here and will receive further consideration in subsequent chapters.

AMENDMENTS.

The possibility that a constitutional amendment might be adopted by a minority of the electors of the state led to a proposed increase in the vote required to make the amendment effectual. An amendment is now adopted if it receives the votes of a majority of the electors voting thereon. In 1883 it was proposed to require a majority of all the electors of the state to adopt an amendment; and in 1893 it was proposed that an amendment should not be deemed adopted unless the total vote for and