The colored American., 1900-09-29


lcan Ice Company and the various Ie.
gal actions growing out of it.
The present Attorney General has
also organized bureau and placed q
deputy in charge, for the prosecution
OF all violations of the Agricultural isw.
In this bureau the Attorney Generals
Office alone has conducted about 500
prosecutions year. During the pres
ent term the amount of fines and penal
ties received by the State from these
cases has exceeded the cost of prosecu'
tiOn by over $15 600.
The prosecutions Of all violations OF
the Metropolitan Election Law was
placed with the Attorney. General aud
has necessitated the organization of
bureau for that purpose. Before the
Special ADD Extraordinary Grand Jury
held in tAis city after the last election.
over 200 cases were presented and 1oS
indictments were found. The fact that
526 subpRnas amount of work required
of this single department.
The Ford Franchise Law not only
added to the labor of the New YORK
State Tax Commissioners. but placed
upon the Attorney. General the entire
litigation connected there with, and for
this work there has been special bu'
reau established with a Deputy in
charge. About 200 wrjts of certierari
have already been taken out against
the State under this Law, which are
now being defended by the Attorney
General.
There have been many actions to se'
questrate the property Of corporations,
many mandamus proceedings against
heads of departments. proceedings to
declare vecant the Office OF persons
prima facie elected thereto, and some
score or more additional miscellaneous
actions. Nearly all of these have been
peculiar TO the present administration
and have occurred during the last year.
The present members of the Canal
Board found upon entering office q
suspension Of work along the entire
canal, contracts which had been enter
ed into were declared rescinded, money
had run out and work was az stand
still. Charges were pending AGAINST
the former state canal officials, con
tractors who had not received their pay
were clamoring fOr their money, claim
ing that every legal specification had
been complied with. Those who had
not been allowed to complete their con
tracts were demanding damages from
the state. The circumstances OF the
situation were peculiarly and almoPt
| entirely legal IN their character. and
| thus the tangle was left to Attorney
General Davies to unravel.
In addition so the power given to the
Cenal Board by Chapter 544, Laws Of
1899, to settle uncompleted contracts,
Chapter 81 of the present year bestoWs
upon it all the powers Of Supreme
| Court To- investigate and consider claims
for work prefermed and for dam ages
where opportunity for completing con-
tracts have been denied. During the
year 1899, claims and contracts involv.
ing nearly So 900, 600 were disposed OF
by the Canal Board, and under the
new powers given the Board it is ex
pected that the results will be equally
satisfactory, aud bsfore the close oi
the present year every contract will
have been faa'ly settled
| Under the So, ,0O0. 900 Canal Improve
ment Act, more than 200 claims ag'
greg8ting in amount some 81, ,6OO,O
were filed against the stste for temper
ary and permanent appropriation o.
lands, ard damages resulting from the
enlargement of the canal. Abeut one
naIf of these claims have already beer
disposed of. The Attorney Genera
has caused an investigation Of each o
the claims, and as result, the claim
ants have recovered an average sf L;
per cent OF the amount claimed I'd date
the remainder Of the claims are in pro
{ cess of inveEtigatlon, and before tn
end of ths present year the work