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four hours after they are introduced. This has not been done, however.

The bill is then considered in committee of the whole. In that committee the bill may be amended, or another bill. upon the same subject may be substituted. No record of the votes in committee of the whole is kept, and little of the proceedings of importance appears in the official record. That this is so is to be regretted; for the committee of the whole, while a committee in name, is in fact and effect the assembly itself. Thus the committee of the whole may be used by dishonest members as a screen for crookedness. The theory upon which the committee of the whole exists is that at some point in the consideration of measures, members ought to have an opportunity to talk and to vote more freely than strict parliamentary rules will allow, and without the restraint imposed by an official record of the proceedings. Chapter 181, laws of 1887, provided for the printing of a daily legislative record to contain proceedings in committee of the whole, except debates and votes. This obviates in

a measure the delay of from one to two weeks in printing, which was a serious inconvenience to all who attempted to follow the doings of legislature.

The legislative printing is not good. Cases of misprinting which might cause injustice to be done to members of the legislature, are common. For example, resolution and bills introduced by one member have often been credited to another, both in the journals and upon printed bills. Great care was necessarry on the part of the Club to avoid confusion caused by these mistakes.

The committee on rules of the last assembly submitted numerous new rules regulating legislative business, at the close of the session. Among them was the excellent one that all bills should be printed as introduced, before a reference to a com

mittee. While this would undoubtedly involve some additional expense, the restraining effect upon dishonest members, in the publicity given to their schemes and strikes, would much more than offset the cost.

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If a bill is reported favorably by the committee of the whole, and the report is accepted by the assembly, the bill is placed on the order of third reading. If the assembly disagrees with a favorable report, or agrees to an unfavorable report, of the committee of the whole, the bill is deemed lost. When the bill comes up for a third reading, may be read in full by the clerk. But the practice with all but very important bills is to read only the title, the enacting clause, and the numbers of the sections. At any time during the reading, debate and amendments are in order; but after the reading of the last section no debate may take place and no amendment may be offered, and the final vote is immediately taken.

The course of a bill in the senate is the same as in the assembly; and a bill which has been passed by one house goes through the same course in the other before it is ready for the governor's signature.

Often the same bills are introduced in the two houses. If such a bill passes one house and goes to the other, the bill as introduced in the second house is dropped in many cases, and action is taken only on the bill as received from the first house. But the house may treat the senate and the assembly bill as distinct. By formal motion either bill may

be substituted for the other.

Upon a bill as printed in either house the letters "G. O." followed by a number indicate the place of the bill in general orders; the mark "Int." followed by a number is used to show the order in which bills are introduced. The phrase general orders refers to the order of considering bills

in committee of the whole. The third number upon a bill, "No.-," is given when the bill is printed, and by it the bill is commonly cited. The mark "3d Rdg." when substituted for the letters "G. O." upon a bill, denotes that it has been advanced to its third reading or placed upon its final passage out of its general order. As a new number is given to a bill each time it is printed, and as bills are often printed afresh after undergoing amendments, a bill may appear under two or more numbers. The introductory number, however, remains unchanged. bill is the day of introduction.

never printed.

The date upon a printed

Many bills introduced are

A member may introduce a bill "by request," without any statement of the source of the request. But this manner of introducing bills is not considered to affect any responsibility that may be thought to attach to the act of introducing them.

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THE LOBBY.

The lobby is that indeterminate body, often called "the third house,' composed of men who make it a business to influence by corrupt means the official action of members of the legislature. The methods of exerting this influence are various; but the simplest and commonest is the payment of fixed sums to legislators for their votes. The lobbyists stands ready to defeat or to pass any bill for a consideration. Good citizens who would not think of offering bribes to members of the legislature directly will pay money to lobbyists with knowledge that it will be used to corrupt senators and assemblymen in the consideration of measures in which the good citizens are interested.

The leaders of the gangs of lobbyists are notorious, and their calling is matter of common knowledge in Albany.

The dealings of these men with the corrupt members of the legislature are open and constant. In many instances distinct hints of the connection between the lobby and the members have been uttered in the senate and the assembly. Upon the passage of a corporation bill in the assembly during the last session a member asked that the vote be announced, so that it would head off the lobbyists, who he said were at work dragging in members from the corridors and cloak rooms to be recorded in favor of the bill. In the senate this same bill was sneaked through, and votes recorded for it, which were not cast.

Before the new member of the legislature has been a week in Albany, and in some cases even before he arrives, the prominent lobbyists of the city are thoroughly informed as to his exact moral calibre, and what arguments and inducements are most likely to be of use in their work upon him. With some it is good fellowship and sociability, with far too large a number it is cold cash, and with others, political preferment; while there is always a small number who are absolutely inaccessible. When the lobbyist has thus

studied his ground, and made up his list, he knows just how and where to go to work, and can figure pretty closely as to whether it will cost much or little to pass or to defeat a certain bill, the amount being dependent largely on the popular interest in the measure and the attention paid to its progress in the public press. The amount of money that annually passes through the hands of these men must be hundreds of thousands of dollars. An indication of the proportions to which this business of the lobby has grown, is the fact (well known to all who have had experience in legislative matters in this state) that in the assembly a few years ago 94 men out of the 128 were open to "influence" of one kind or another, and that over 75 per cent. of these

stood ready to sell their votes for money on any bill in which they were not otherwise interested.

The "Black Horse" Cavalry is a well-known body which exists in greater or less strength in every assembly. It is composed of assemblymen banded together for the purpose of exacting tribute from persons or corporations interested in legislation. Their combination give them the power to wield a compact body of votes for or against a measure, and makes it worth while for those interested in bills to propitiate them.

HISTORY OF THE DEAL BILLS.

No bills of recent years attracted more attention and comment than the so-called "deal" bills. This was due not only to the character of the bills themselves but also to the method employed to pass them.

They were the result of an agreement between the Republicans and Tammany Hall Democrats and were intended to enable the Republican and Tammany organization to divide the New York City patronage, leaving the County Democracy out in the cold.

They were political in conception and character, and the interests of the city were quite outside their scope.

If they had been introduced in the form in which they finally passed, so that public criticism might have had its effect upon them, they probably would not have passed at all. Their sponsors knew this and therefore used concealment and deception to aid their plans, not revealing the true nature of the bills until they were ready to be passed. The course of the bills shows the extent to which reputable men can carry their partisanship, losing their sense of honor in their endeavors to gain party advantage. It also illustrates the methods of the practical politician when in office,-how he manipulates and

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