day of January 1900 until the causes undisposed of in said Court shall have been reduced to two hundred in number. GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the city of Albany this [L S] second day of January in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred. By the Governor: THEODORE ROOSEVELT WM. J. YOUNGS Secretary to the Governor DESIGNATION OF JUSTICE WERNER TO THE COURT OF APPEALS STATE OF NEW YORK Executive Chamber WHEREAS the Judges of the Court of Appeals have certified to me that said Court is unable by reason of the accumulation of causes pending therein to hear and dispose of the same with reasonable speed; THEREFORE by virtue of the power conferred upon me by section seven of article six of the Constitution, I do hereby appoint the Honorable WILLIAM E. WERNER of the city of Rochester who is a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Seventh Judicial District to serve as an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals from and after the first day of January 1900 until the causes undisposed of in said Court shall have been reduced to two hundred in number. GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the city of Albany this [L S] second day of January in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred. By the Governor: THEODORE ROOSEVELT WM. J. YOUNGS Secretary to the Governor COMMISSION TO EXAMINE INTO THE SANITY OF SQUIRE TANKARD, CONVICT STATE OF NEW YORK Executive Chamber CHARLES L. DANA, M. D. and CHARLES H. G. STEINSIECK, M. D., both of the city of New York, are hereby appointed commissioners to make examination as to the sanity of SQUIRE TANKARD, now confined in the Auburn State Prison under sentence of death, and to report thereon with their conclusions touching the same; such report to be made to me in writing. GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the city of Albany this [L S] second day of January in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred. THEODORE ROOSEVELT By the Governor: WM. J. YOUNGS Secretary to the Governor ANNUAL MESSAGE STATE OF NEW YORK Executive Chamber Albany, January 3, 1900 TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: It is a very genuine pleasure to congratulate the Legislature upon the substantial sum of achievement in legislation and administration of the past year. Laws of the utmost usefulness to the community have been enacted, and there has been a steady betterment throughout the year in the methods and results of the administration of the government. CANALS The first matter which had to be dealt with on the incoming of the new administration was the question of the canals. New York State led the Union in the development of canal navigation. Of recent years the change in the methods of transportation, by immensely increasing the railroad competition with the canal, has greatly altered the conditions of successful administration of the latter. There were really two questions to be solved in reference to the canals. The first was as to their administration; the second as to the general canal policy of the State in the future. A very slight examination showed that as regards the latter there were not sufficient data to warrant the formulation of an intelligent policy. A commission appointed by my predecessor to examine into the conditions which make for the commercial supremacy I of the State, was still sitting. This commission was continued. The subject with which it dealt was of so vast and of such vital importance that it has not yet been able to complete its labors; and it was evident it would not have time to consider the canal problem in the way that was desirable. I accordingly appointed a con mittee consisting of General Francis V. Greene of New York, Mr. Frank S. Witherbee of Port Henry, Major Symons of the U. S. Army, Mr. John P. Scatchard of Buffalo, and ex-Mayor George E. Green of Binghamton, to examine the whole canal question. Their report will be ready in about a fortnight, and will be submitted to the Legisla ture with a special message, probably submitting at the same time the report of the Commerce Commission. wish to call attention to the fact that the gentlemen serving on these two bodies are business men, whose lives. are filled with exacting duties; yet they have given, unpaid, months of their valuable time and their best thought and effort to the solution of these problems. Such disinterested expert service is of incalculable value to the State and makes it greatly the debtor to the men rendering the service. The conduct of these two commissions, and of the Commission on the Educational Bill emphasizes one of the most pleasing features of our public life, viz.: the readiness with which able and high-minded private citizens will do special public work when they are convinced of its necessity from the public standpoint. There remained the question of the proper administration of the canals. Very grave accusations had been. made against the former canal management; accusations which varied from charges of mere inefficiency and bad judgment, to charges of wholesale personal corruption, criminal in its character. SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS DONE Such being the conditions, there were two things to be done: first, to secure by the employment of the best counsel an investigation which would be final and complete, and determine whether it were possible to proceed criminally against any contractor or public employee; and, second, if there had been no criminal misconduct, but if there had been failure to manage the canals so as to secure the best results for the State then, to provide a thorough and radical change in the management. These were the only two lines on which action could be taken. On both of them action was taken. On the one hand, the investigation was so conducted as to leave no room for any further question as to criminal proceedings; and, on the other hand, the reformation in the methods of management has been so complete as to leave nothing to be done save to continue and perfect the new system. DETAILED STATEMENT As a result of the reports made to my predecessor in office by the commission appointed by him to make an investigation concerning the work of improving and enlarging the canals under the acts of 1895 and 1896, commonly known as the "Nine Million Dollar Acts," the accusation against the then existing canal management had been resolved into two categories. In the first place it was asserted that there had been on the part of the outgoing State Engineer and Surveyor and of the former Superintendent of Public Works, malfeasance and misfeasance in office which called for the criminal prosecution of themselves, of their subordinates and of certain contractors. This was a legal question, |