New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-09

THE CLOSING Days OF THE LEGISLATURE.
The Legislature ought to forcgo its usual
weekly adjournment to-day, IN order to allow
time to clear up its calendars before the date OF
the final adjournment on the 10th. Otherwise
there will remain only five working days of the
session, with about $50 bills on the order of
final passage There is danger that, in the
scramble TO get these measures through, the bad
ones may escape detection.
The closing days Of the session are always
full of anxiety to the friends of honest lcgisa-
ton. A bill which cOnceals a scheme detri-
mental to the public interests, or which proposes
to confer some unfair advantage, is nearly al
ways allowed to drag along until the final days
of the session. Then an attempt is made 20 rush
il through without debate, in the hope that its
bad purpose may not be detected. How such
an effort succeeds may be well illustrated by the
action of the last Legislature, which two days
before the final adjournment passed bill for
the alleged purpose Of preventing oyercrowd-
ing i'm the iails of New-York" II went to the
Governor and was signed by him, after he had
kept it i'll his possession for the thirty days al
lowed by the Constitution. That bill was de-
signed to accomplish purpose the opposite of
ply in order to put money in the pockets of
Sheriff Davidson. Under its provisions,
prisoners were taken from the Tombs Prison,
where they were well provided for at an ex-
pense to the city of thirty-four cents a day, and
given over to the care of the Sheriff, who placed
az many as four in q single one of the filthy
cells of Ludlow Street JAIL and charged the city
seventy-five cents a day for each prisoner
even then collecting pay for more days than the
prisoners were under his care. That bill de-
frauded the city treasury of several thousand
dollars besides leading to the Treatment of the
prisoners. Had it come up for passage at time
in the session when its provisions could have
been discussed, it would probably have received
the Governors veto, even though its partisan
character might have secured for it approval by
the Democratic Legislature. One of the good
things already accomplished by the present
Legislature is the repeal of that act and the ex-
posure of the dishonest methods of the Sheriff
who procured its passage. The men responsible
for such work in the closing days of the last
session are again in position, unless carefully
watched, where they may do great harm.
There is great danger from rushing
through bills at the end of q session, because
many of them do not. in the title, give any clew
to their contents. Thus, in a number of Code
amendments reported in the Assembly yester-
day, was found bill which affected the contro-
yersy over the location of the county seat of
Cbenango County The Constitution wisely
provides that no private or local bill which may
be passed by the Legislature shall embrace more
than one subject. and that shall be expressed in
the title. But private and local interests may
be affected by bills, of which many are reported
10 the Legislature every year. that express
nothing moro in their title than purpose ito
amend the Code of Civil PROCEDURE or "to
amend the Code of Criminal Procedure or to
amend the City Consolidation act" Some better
method to express in the title the intent of bill
should be devised and enforced.
Unless some bad mistakes are made between
this time and the end Of the session, the present
Legislature will compare favorably with any
similar body that has sat in Albany in many
years. There are several important measures
awaiting action which should pass. The So
called Tenure of Office bill was amended in the
Assembly yesterday and again had to run
the gauntlet of those Senators who care
more for the favOrs of IA disgraced official,
like Hubert o. Thompson, than they do
for the public good. Fortunately it is
now in tho Governors hands The Civil
Service bill, if concurred in by both houses in
the same form that it left the Senate, will re