years before, and whose administration had been very successful and popular. In accepting the nomination Mr. Hill emphatically announced that he believed the government of a city should be conducted on business principles, and that if elected he would endeavor to so conduct it. His administration, though brief, was brilliant, and was signalized by several important reforms which not only gave him additional strength locally but also extended his reputation as a reformer throughout the State. In another city in the State another Democratic Mayor, Grover Cleveland, was also winning golden opinions on all hands by a series of vigorous reform measures which were instituted and carried out almost simultaneously with those con ducted by Mayor Hill in Elmira. But neither of them seemed to comprehend that he was laying up a heavy political capital by this close attention to his bounden duty, and each worked on in his circumscribed sphere, actuated by a single thought-fidelity to the trust he had swore to administer in honor.

CLEVELAND AND HILL.

At the Democratic State Convention held in Syracuse in September, 1882, both gentlemen were backed by strong delegations for the chief places on the ticket. On the third ballot Mayor Cleveland, of Buffalo, who had received the earnest and active support of Mr. Hill and his friends, was unanimously nominated for the office of Gov. ernor. On the afternoon of the same day, September twenty-second, Mr. Hill's name was presented for the office of Lieutenant-Governor. It was received with cheers. George Raines of Rochester, who had been a rival candidate for the nomination, gracefully seconded Mr. Hill's claims, and asked that his nomination be made by acclamation. Several prominent political leaders, representing the various factions of the Democracy of the State, each spoke a good word for Mr. Hill, and the nomina

tion was made unanimous. Probably no ticket ever put in the field in the State of New York was welcomed with more sincerity cr more generally supported. Thousands of citizens who for years had been unswerving in their allegiance to the Republican party, now eagerly sup ported the reform candidates, who at the election held November 11, 1882, were chosen to the respective offices for which they were nominated, Grover Cleveland receiving a plurality of 196,854 and Mr. Hill receiving a plurality of over 195,000— a victory absolutely unprece dented in the history of State elections. Mr. Hill assumed his duties as LieutenantGovernor of the State of New York, and President of the State Senate January 1, 1883. He filled the position with ability, and as a presiding officer in the Senate was noted for the wisdom and justice of his rulings and remarkable and complete master of par liamentary law. During the session of 1883, when the capitol commission bill was before the Senate, he ruled that the refusal to vote of senators who were in their seats did not prevent the chair from taking cognizance of their presence in order to constitute a quorum-a decision which was sustained by the Republican attorney-general and which was made an important precedent and has been since followed.

AT THE HELM OF STATE. The election of Mr. Cleveland to the presidency of the United States, in the fall of 1884, caused that gentleman to resign his office as Governor with the close of the year, and thus Mr. Hill, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, became the chief magistrate of the State of New York, the duties of which office he discharged until the fall of 1885, when he was unanimously nominated by the Democratic State convention for Gov. ernor and was elected by about 12,000 plurality over Ira Davenport, and reelected again in 1888 by a plurality of over 19,000 over Warner Miller. For a

practically controlled by the Member or he Senator from the locality, and only he was the judge of its wisdom. More. over, it placed great Democratic cities, like New York and Brooklyn, at the mercy of a partisan Legislature, the majority of whose members knew nothing and cared nothing for the best interests of these municipalities. Much of this effort was checked by Governor Hill.

"HOME RULE" FOR MUNICIPALITIES. At the beginning of his administration he laid down the principles of home rule, and because he was consistent in maintaining it he accomplished great results. It required the vetoing of hundreds of bills which violated this principle before the Legis. lature, with its careless habits, found out to its satisfaction that the Governor was in earnest. It often angered, and sometimes alienated, many of the Governor's good friends because he would not sacri. fice his principles to their importunities. He has the satisfaction of having estab. lished a sound precedent, which, if followed by succeeding Governors with the same earnest determination, will sub. stantially transform the character of legislation and clearly point the way to the best method of securing municipal reform, namely, in complete local autonomy. The body of session laws has substantially shrunk, a great many good laws have been passed, and the powers of locality were amply enlarged during his administration. Mr. Hill's record as an opponent of special and local legisla. tion, gave him a strong hold upon the cities of the State, whose local authorities learned to look to him to defend them from the usurpation of their power by the Legislature, and protect them from harshly restrictive and illiberal laws. New York city especially had reason to be grateful. One reform which legal writers, judges, lawyers and others who have occasion to refer constantly to the session laws were grateful for Gov. Hill's plan

for statutory revision. The Legislature, acting upon his suggestion, authorized a revision of all the general laws of this State, which were full of conflicting and unintelligible provisions. Inasmuch as no similar work had been done for forty years, the necessity for it was apparent.

In his first annual message, after calling attention to the great changes in indus trial conditions during the present generation, and the failure of existing laws to meet these conditions, he gave utterance to the first official suggestion which had been made toward legislative recognition of organized labor. "Facilities," said he, "having been afforded by law to enable capital to incorporate and combine for its protection, like facilities should be afforded to the organization of labor." He reiterated the recommenda tions a year later and suggested the propriety of the passage of a general law for the incorporation of trades unions. This plan he said, would strengthen the worthy organizations of workingmen, enabling them to more readily enforce the right among themselves as well between them. selves and the public when acting as a body under the sanction of binding and legal authority. Other of his recommenda. tions, having as their object the ameliora. tion of the condition of the laboring classes, were that to regulate the employ. ment of child labor; that to create a State Board of Arbitration for the settlement of labor disputes; that to provide for the appointment of a special commission to suggest measures in the interests of labor; that to declare reasonable hours of labor a day's work; that to create a Saturday half holiday; that to set aside the first Monday in September as a labor holiday; that to provide for the greater safety and comfort of tenement-houses; that to sup. ply greater protection for the employes of corporations; that to prevent unfair legal discrimination against workingmen; that to provide for the weekly payment of wages; besides dozens of others of equal importance.

county, in this State. Nathan Flower learned the wool-carding and cloth-dressing trade in his father's mill at Oak Hill, and when he became of age established business for himself in Cooperstown, Otsego county. At Cherry Valley, in the

whom Roswell Pettibone Flower was the fourth son and the sixth child. Their father died when Roswell was only eight years old. Their mother ran the business for a couple of years, and young Roswell was put to work at picking wool