Year: 1876

Amid the great strife of parties and the
countless strlggles for Office that constitute
the Presidential campaign, the people of this
State should not forget that their interests are
at stake In measures winch are disputed by
neither party, and therefore in danger OF be-
iny pushed by neither. The men who are to
be elected to office may fail to fulfill their
pledges, but the amendments to the State
Constitutions which it lies in the power of the
people to adopt at this election, effect perma-
ncnt reforms which faithess officials cannot
obstruct or destroy. There Is no reason, ex-
ccpt in the possible inactivity of committees,
or the Indifference of voters, why both these
amendmcnts-reforming the State Prison and
Canal systcmS-shoud not be adopted. They
10 10 the people with all the sanction
that parties and officials can give
them. Both have been approved as
required by the Constitution, by two success
sivc Legislatures, one of them divided in poll
tics. the other not both have been recon-
mcndcd for adoption by the Governor III his
messages; both have been twice unanimously
approved by the conventions of both parties,
last year by resolution. this year by formal
declaration in their platforms; and both have
been recommended for adoption by the
respective Investigating Commissions APP
rointcd to probe in each system the abuses
which they will help to cure. Before recent
disclosures of corruption had forced parties
and Legislatures into the support of these
measures, they had been before the peo-
pie. in one form or another, for years,
having originated in the Constitutional
Convention of 1867. Their failure to
pass successfully the ordeals prescribed
bv the Constitution was the work of the Rings
at which they were aimed, and was accom-
piShcd by trcachery, which the people must.
now take care that the politicians do not re-
peat. Having been SO long in agitation, the
people have probably become somewhat tamll-
lar with their provisions, but, in response to
numerous inquiries for definite information, we
print elsewhere the full text of these amend
nruts. 10 which it is necessary to add only Il
few words of explanation.


The two amendments are in reality almost
identical They substitute for the present cum
brous arrangement by which the canal and
prlson systems are each governed by three
officers of cdual grade, each absolute over his
third OF the system, and accountable to no
one head, single executive known as the
Superintendent. The officer at the head OF the
canals will be known as the Superintendent of
Public Works, and at the head of the prisons
as the Superintendent of State Prisons. The
first is to hold Office for three the
second for five years. Each is to ap-
n,pt three assistants, who will take the place
of the present Canal Commissioners and State
Prison Inspectors, except that they will be
subordinate, not supreme. Each Superln-
tcndcnt is to appoint all his subOrdlnateS, with
the exception of the clerk of each prison, who
is TO be appointed by the Controller, and each
is to be removed only for cause and after
hearing. The offices of Canal Commissioner
and State Prison Inspector are abolished.


1t cannot be necessary to multiply words in
behalf of these measures. 1t can be seen at
glance that they secure fixity of responsibility
and greater simplicity of administration, and
will tend 20 decrease very greatly the political
element which has been the bane of both sys-
TENS. and which has now converted our pris-
onS into places where men already guilty of
crime are dcmoralizcd and corrupted instead
of being reformed. Under this system there
will be stability and order where now the
spoils system is bearing its worst fruits.


1t does not follow that because 10 one
opposes these amendments their adoption is
assured. They displace six Democratic officials
who are doubtless secretly using all their inilu-
ence and all the efforts of their employees to
defeat them; and though both parties approve
them, it does not follow that their committees
are hard at work to carry them through. This
is matter which the people can afford to
take out of the hands of the politicians. We
shall publish in a few days ballot
in favor of these amendments which voters
can cut out and deposit in the ballot-bOx, and
shall do 80 sufficiently early to allow those