prominent item. The following table of the holdings of stock is self-explanatory: exceeded in three Western States. Each decade After hay, the potato is the most valuable farm product. The State is unapproached in the area devoted to this vegetable, and in the value of this product. New York also takes first rank in garden farming. Long Island is almost wholly devoted to this industry, for which it has the special advantage of being near to the New York market. In the production of beans the State holds second rank. In the western counties north of the watershed and in Ulster County are large fruit orchards, the apple trees constituting 70 per cent. of the total number of fruit trees in the State. Grapes are grown abundantly in the southern part of the Hudson Valley and in the lake region. Tobacco is raised in the Chemung Valley and northeastward to the eastern end of Lake Erie. Hops are a prominent crop in some of the central counties, but recently there has been a significant decrease, owing to Western competition. A large income is annually obtained from the products of floriculture. Fertilizers are very commonly used throughout the State, an average of $20 per farm being expended for them. The following table of acreages explains itself: STOCK-RAISING. Stock-raising is characterized by the great prominence of dairy cows. The number of cows has increased steadily, and the dairy industry has likewise grown. In 1900 the value of dairy products constituted 30.5 per cent. of the gross farm income. The receipts from the sales of milk in that year were $36,248.833, and from sales of butter, $9,868,446. From 1890 to 1900 there was a decided increase in the number of cattle and a marked decrease in the number of sheep. Poultry products are a very 1900 1890 1,501,608. 1,440,230 691,162 628,438 664,430 984,516 1,528,976 843,342 FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS. Forests of white pine, spruce, and hemlock originally covered the Adirondacks, and, mingled with hard woods, were common throughout other parts of the State. New York has long played a prominent part in the lumber industry of the country, and in 1850 ranked first among the States in the value of timber products. As a result the merchantable timber has been generally removed except in the Adirondacks, and most of the pine has been cleared from that region. The State possesses here 1,163,414 acres. In 1900 there were in New York 705,914 acres in private reserves, and 1,356,816 acres were owned by individuals or companies for other purposes. Hemlock and spruce are cut in the largest quantities. From the table below it will be seen that while the value of the lumber and timber products, as also the planing mill products, etc., decreased somewhat during the decade, the value of paper and wood pulp increased 88.2 per cent. gave the State first rank in this industry. This MANUFACTURES. The leading position of New York as a manufacturing State dates from about 1825, when the Erie Canal was finished. The largest absolute gain in the industry was made from 1880 to 1890. The percentage of the population engaged in the industry as wage-earners increased from 6.4 in 1850 to 11.7 in 1900. There was, however, a decrease in the last decade of that period. The total value of manufactures for the year 1900 was $2,175,726,900. This figure was one-seventh greater than that for Pennsylvania-the only other State which approaches New York in this respect. The figure was in fact nearly one-sixth of that for the United States. This position is held by the State de: spite the comparative lack of iron manufacturing and textile industries. It is due to the great number of factories and shops producing the more highly finished products. The State is not without valuable resources of field, forest, and mine, and counts also among its advantages the sources of an abundant water-power, including the Niagara Falls. But its advanced position is the outgrowth rather of its superior situation with respect to both home and foreign markets. The construction of the Erie Canal westward through the Mohawk Valley-the only natural break in the Appalachian Mountain range-established early communication between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes, and brought to New York much of the commerce of the West. The water routes determined the location of nearly all the large towns, which in turn largely determined the location of railway routes. the southern extremity of this system of water transportation was New York Harbor, with its superior natural facilities for shipping. New York City thus became the metropolis of the country, and extensive manufacturing industries sprang up in and about it. About three-fifths At of the total State output is accredited to New York City, but this output includes many industries of only local concern, such as the manufacture of gas and of bread and other food preparations, carpentering, plumbing, tinsmithing, and In the different branches of masonry work. the clothing and garment industry, New York City and other towns of the State produce more than a third of the output of the United States. The production of men's and women's factory-made clothing is largely confined to the metropolis. The work is generally performed in small workshops or tenement rooms. This system grows out of the necessity for specialization owing to the large number of patterns used, and is favored by the abundance of cheap labor available where there are such large numbers of foreigners unable to secure more profitable employment. This branch of industry is of comparatively recent development. Troy shares with New York in the extensive production of men's furnishing goods-shirts, neckwear, etc. Millinery and lace goods and silk and silk goods are New York City products, the last having suffered a large decline from 1890 to 1900 owing to the removal of establishments, in quest of cheaper rents and certain other advantages, to points outside the State. Yonkers is the centre of a large knitting industry, and Cohoes and Utica are noted for their carpet and rug manufactures. The manufacture of fur goods in New York City, and of boots and shoes at different points, is extensive. Tanning and the manufacture of leather are also very important. While the iron and steel industry is of comparatively small and decreasing importance, the foundry and machine-shop industry is rapidly developing, and in 1900 gave the State second rank. The printing press and steam engine are the best known of these products. The industry is well represented at most of the large centres. New York is unrivaled in the manufacture of electrical apparatus and musical instruments. Especially prominent are the manufactures of refined sugar and molasses, roasted and ground coffee and spice, confectionery, patent medicine, tobacco, and liquors-most of which are produced almost wholly in New York City. Flour and grist milling, slaughtering and meat-packing, and the factory production of cheese, butter, and condensed milk, are more generally distributed over the State. In the first-named industry_the State ranks second. On the opening of the Erie Canal, Rochester, being favored with water power from the falls of the Genesee River, became the leading 'flour city' of the United States, and New York held first place until the comparatively recent development of the industry at Minneapolis. Between 1890 and 1900 both the flouring and slaughtering industries declined. 1890 factory production of cheese, butter, and condensed milk, on the contrary, increased during that period nearly 85 per cent., and the State continues to hold first rank in this line. The manufacture of chemicals, including paints and varnishes, has attained large proportions in New York City. The printing industry of New York is more than twice that of any other State, and the metropolis is the centre of the periodical press as well as of book publishing. New York has long ranked as one of the foremost States in the brewing industry. The preceding table is a summary for the leading industries. COMMERCE AND TRANSPORTATION. In maritime commerce New York far outranks any other State in the Union. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, 64 per cent. of the imports and 35.60 per cent. of the exports of the entire nation passed through the port of New York. Its traffic to and from other United States coast points is between two and three times the volume of its foreign trade. In addition it has a vast trade along the Hudson. Buffalo is the chief lake port of the State, and has an immense commerce with the West. With this commerce may be included that of Tonawanda. is the principal port on Lake Ontario. important shipping points are: Charlotte, Sodus Point, Fair Haven, and Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario, Ogdensburg on the Saint Lawrence River, Rouses Point, Plattsburg, and Whitehall on Lake Champlain, and Newburgh and Rondout on the Hudson River. The total traffic for the entire State can best be noted in connection with the means of inland transportation. Oswego Other New York was the first State to enter actively on the work of canal construction. In addition to the Erie Canal, opened in 1825, the State has constructed the Champlain Canal, the Oswego Canal, and several other branch canals, and enlarged the Erie Canal to four times its original dimensions. The total expenditure on canal construction has been nearly $100,000,000. In recent years, owing to railroad competition and the neglect of the State to improve the canals, the traffic on them has declined, most of the branch canals have been abandoned, and only on the Erie and Champlain routes is there any considerable tonnage. Proposed plans for the enlargement of the Erie Canal constitute a most important question for the State. The first railroad in the State was the Mohawk and Hudson, opened in 1831 from Albany to Schenectady, a distance of seventeen miles. By 1842 there were lines extending from Albany to Buffalo. Within another decade the Erie road across the southern part of the State and the Hudson River road from New York to Albany had been completed. Since then roads have been The built over every section of the State, and the different lines have been united into great systems. There were, in 1900, 8095 miles of road and over 12,000 miles of track in the State. The total traffic in 1899 was 150,000,000 passengers, moved 3,500,000,000 passenger miles, and 170,000,000 tons of freight, moved 24,000,000,000 ton-miles-being one-fourth of the passenger traffic and one-fifth of the freight traffic of the entire country. The principal railroad systems crossing the State are the New York Central and Hudson River, the Erie, the Lackawanna, the New York, Chicago and Saint Louis (with the West Shore), the New York, Ontario and Western, and the Lehigh Valley. Other important systems enter at the east and west. There is a State board of railroad commissioners, having general supervision of railroads and their operation with reference to public safety and convenience. The board is empowered to investigate and report violations of the law. BANKS. The paramount position of New York City in the American financial world places New York State in the lead among the States in the number and resources of its financial institutions. The first bank of the State was the Bank of North America, incorporated in 1782. In 1791 the second bank was chartered under the name of the Bank of New York. In 1804 an act was passed prohibiting banking and the issuing of currency in the State except under a special charter from the Legislature. Due to the high profits, banking charters were eagerly sought and became political favors. At the time At the time of the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812 there were twenty banks in the State, and twenty-four more were chartered between 1812 and 1829. As the bank charters were for a limited number of years, and most of them were to expire in 1831, the banks in 1828 made a combined effort for a general renewal of their charters. But a strong opposition developed to this plan. The careless distribution of charters to political friends had produced bad results, and the New York currency was becoming less secure. A reform of the banking system was therefore undertaken in 1829, and the plan of securing bank circulation by the formation of a safety fund was successfully carried through. The law required all banks with new or renewed charters to contribute one-half of one per cent. of their capital annually to a common safety fund, out of which losses from bank failures were to be covered. A board of three bank commissioners was created by the same bill, and quarterly examinations and annual reports pro National banks object of popular dissatisfaction, which expressed itself in a demand for a free banking system. As a result of this agitation a free banking law was passed in 1838, which, in order to secure the bank currency, compelled the investment of the bank capital in New York State bonds or equally good securities and their deposit with the State. This was the plan afterwards adopted by the Federal Government in the national banking system. For some time both systems of banking worked side by side, notwithstanding a great deal of friction. For twelve years (182941) this safety fund was not drawn upon, as no chartered bank failed during that time. But the failure of six banks in 1841 so exhausted the fund that a law was passed in 1842 limiting the guarantee to circulation only, and not to all the liabilities of the failing banks. As the charters of the chartered safety fund banks expired, most of them reorganized under the free banking law. This was amended in 1840 by limiting the deposits to New York State bonds, as many of the other securities deposited had proved worthless. In the many bank failures during the crisis of 1841, this system of deposits proved its value, preventing serious losses on circulation. In the severe financial crisis of 1857 this system was again put to a severe test, but notwithstanding a general suspension of specie payment for some time, the banks remained firm. At the time of the introduction of the national banking system the New York banking was not only the greatest, but also the most secure in the country. The new system was therefore not welcomed, and specially heavy taxes were imposed on the national banks. These taxes were, however, declared unconstitutional by the Federal courts. courts. The State banks were forced to obtain national charters, and from 309 in 1863 the number of State banks was reduced to 45 in 1868. After that their number increased but slowly until 1880 (70), when a steady increase began. Since 1894 capital has preferred the new form of organization known as trust companies, which, while doing a general banking business, are yet different enough to have a more favorable system of taxation. Savings banks have existed in the State since 1819, and their number grew rapidly, especially after the Civil War, increasing from 71 in 1863 to 150 in 1873. Though since then their number has gradually diminished, the amount of deposits has increased immensely. See article on BANK, BANKING. The condition of the banks in New York State in 1902 is shown as follows: State banks vided for. In 1832 fifty-two banks were members of the safety fund, and twelve did not belong to it. The financial crisis of 1837 was heavily felt in New York, where the banks suspended specie payments, and bills of many concerns passed at à discount. The chartered banks became the VOL. XIII.-4. 9,339,000 1,051,689,000 464,997,000 The system of clearing houses originated in New York City. The total exchanges for the first year (1854) were more than five and a half billions, and in 1900 more than sixty billion dollars. Consolidation has latterly become a prominent feature of the banking business of New York, about thirty small banks having been bought out by larger institutions, and in many instances becoming local branches of the same. The largest financial transactions all over the country mostly emanate from New York, and, besides, New York City remains the main channel for all financial transactions between the Old and New Worlds. The New York clearing house is therefore the clearing house for the whole nation. The New York money market regulates the country's money markets, and is beginning to assert a dominant influence upon the European world. Many foreign loans have been floated in New York during the last few years, and many foreign securities listed on the New York exchange. The greatest industrial and railroad consolidations between 1890 and 1900, though chartered in New Jersey and Delaware, and uniting property located in various parts of the Union, are nevertheless all creatures of 'Wall Street'-as the New York financial world has come to be known. FINANCE. At the close of the Revolutionary War the State, by the sale of public lands, formed a general fund, the revenues of which were to defray the expenses of government, and for some time this was actually accomplished. Another fund was established for school purposes. In 1814 the State even paid out of this fund the direct tax levied by the National Government. A State tax became necessary after that, but was discontinued in 1826. In 1817 the State entered In 1817 the State entered upon the system of public improvements, mainly canal construction, and a public debt of more than $7,000,000 was created for that purpose. At the same time a sinking fund was organized, and the tolls of the canals, as well as the salt duties, were assigned to it so as to prevent as to prevent financial difficulties. After the construction of the main Erie Canal, other lateral canals were undertaken, which increased the public debt. In 1827 the State entered upon a new policy of lending its credit to private companies for public improvements, and $5,228,700 was loaned to ten companies, chiefly railroads. Some of them failed, the most important one being the Erie Railroad (in 1842). Their indebtedness ($3,665,000) became a burden upon the State fund. The total debt then amounted to more than $20,000,000, and the State was threatened with insolvency. A new course was therefore adopted in 1842. All expenditures upon public works were stopped, outstanding debts funded, and a tax imposed to meet the expenses of government and the payment of interest. The new Constitution of 1846 provided for a special canal sinking fund and a general sinking fund, and prohibited the creation of a new indebtedness except for war purposes, and even then only after popular sanction by a referendum. This last provision has been preserved in the present Constitution. Under these strict regulations the bounty State debt of $30,000,000 was created in 1865 to meet the expenses of the Civil War, and at that time the State debt reached its maximum of $53,000,000. After that the debt was rapidly reduced by means of the sinking fund. In 1870 it was only $32,400,000; in 1880, $8,988,000. The year 1893 saw the total extinction of the debt. But a public debt was again created toward the year 1900 for purposes of canal improvement. Since 1842 the main source of the State income was a direct tax upon all assessable property. Between 1890 and 1900 other sources, such as licenses, fees from foreign corporations, etc., became more important, and at the end of the nineteenth century several energetic efforts were made to separate the sources of State and local taxation. New taxes were laid upon banks, trust companies, public franchises of corporations. Further efforts in the same direction were made in 1902. On January 1, 1903, the debt of the State amounted to $10,000,000. The aggregate receipts of the ten funds for which separate accounts are kept were $27,049,558, or, subtracting transfers from one fund to the other, $24,042,462. The main sources of income were a State tax for general and for school purposes, 29 per cent.; inheritance tax, 14 per cent.; excise tax, 172 per cent.; and corporation tax, 251⁄2 per cent. The expenditures were $26,609,055, or, excluding transfers, $23,601,959, leaving a surplus of $440,503. Balance in treasury (1903), $6,992,599. The last GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION. revision of the Constitution took place in 1894, and on being approved by the vote of the people of the State went into force on January 1, 1895. It provides for a census in 1905 and every tenth year thereafter. It permits of amendments if passed in two consecutive Legislatures by a majority of each House, and adopted by a vote of the people. It provides for the submission to the people of the question of a constitutional convention every twenty years, or oftener if ordered by the Legislature. A voter in New York must have been a citizen of the United States ninety days, a resident of the State one year, of the county four months, and of the town or precinct thirty days. The registration of voters is required, but such registration cannot be required for town and village elections except by express provision of law. The holding of party primaries in the cities is regulated by statute. The Legislature consists of a Senate of 50 members, chosen for two years, and an Assembly of 150 members, chosen annually. Of the latter, sixty are elected in New York City. The Assembly districts are single-member districts. Each county, except Fulton and Herkimer, has at least one representative. The more populous counties are formed into Assembly districts, but county lines are not crossed. The members of either House receive a salary of $1500 and mileage. The capital of the State is Albany. EXECUTIVE. The Governor is elected for two years. He has the right to veto legislative measures, including items in appropriation bills, but his veto may be over-ridden by two-thirds but his veto may be over-ridden by two-thirds of the members of each branch of the Legislature. He has the power to pardon; he may remove certain State and local officers; and with the consent of the Senate he makes appointments to a number of positions. With the Governor there are elected for the same term a LieutenantGovernor (who is president of the Senate), a Secretary of State, a Comptroller, a Treasurer, an Attorney-General, and a State Engineer and Surveyor. The most important appointive officers are the superintendent of public works (who has charge of the State canals), and in addition the superintendents of banking, of insurance, and of State prisons; also a commissioner of labor statistics, a factory inspector, an excise commissioner, and a commissioner of agriculture. There are boards or commissions, also appointed, for charities, health, lunacy, |