the provisions of the Public Health Law, he having been appointed to such office during the recess of the Senate and his term being about to expire. Mr. Walker moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. A message from the Governor, at the hands of his secretary, was received and read in the words following: STATE OF NEW YORK To the Senate: EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, January 14, 1924. I hereby nominate as Superintendent of Public Works, Frederick Stuart Greene, of Sands Point, who was heretofore appointed to such office during the recess of the senate and whose term is about to expire. Said nomination was referred to the committee on finance. A message from the Governor, at the hands of his secretary, was received and read in the words following: STATE OF NEW YORK To the Senate: EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, January 14, 1924. I hereby nominate as Major General of the National Guard of the State of New York, Charles White Berry, of the Borough of Brooklyn, who was heretofore appointed to such office during the recess of the senate and whose term is about to expire. (Signed) ALFRED E. SMITH. Mr. Walker moved that the said nomination be confirmed. to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. A message from the Governor, at the hands of his secretary, was received and read in the words following: STATE OF NEW YORK EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, January 14, 1924. To the Senate: I hereby nominate as a Manager of the Thomas Indian School, John L. Snyder, of Irving, who was heretofore appointed to such office during the recess of the senate and whose term is about to expire. Said nomination was referred to the committee on finance. IN SENATE, January 15, 1924. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Frederick Stuart Greene of Sands Point as Superintendent of Public Works, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Walker moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of I. M. Lincoln of Gowanda as Agent of the Onondaga Indians, residing on the Allegany, Cattaraugus, Tuscarora and Tonawanda Reservations, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Walker moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Rt. Rev. Daniel J. Curley of Syracuse as Manager of the Syracuse State School for Mental Defectives, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Downing moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Mary A. Johnson of Endicott as Manager of the Binghamton State Hospital, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Lusk moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Edward Ward McMahon of Brooklyn as Member of the Commission on Uniform Laws, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Downing moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Daniel C. Daley of Buffalo and Barney S. Beuerlein of Mount Morris as Managers of Craig Colony re,ported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Downing moved that the said nominations be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of John L. Snyder of Irving as Manager of the Thomas Indian School, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Downing moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of Edward H. Teall of Little Falls as Member of the Board of Commissioners of the Herkimer Home, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Robinson moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Mr. Downing, from the committee on finance, to which was referred the nomination of John A. Warner of White Plains as Superintendent of State Police, reported the same to the Senate for confirmation. Mr. Westall moved that the said nomination be confirmed. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. IN SENATE, January 16, 1924. A message from the Governor, at the hands of his secretary, was received and read in the words following: STATE OF NEW YORK EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, To the Senate: January 16, 1924. I hereby nominate as a Justice of the Supreme Court of and for the First Judicial District Thomas W. Churchill of New York City, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Daniel F. Cohalan. (Signed) ALFRED E. SMITH. Said nomination was referred to the committee on finance. IN SENATE, January 21, 1924. A message from the Governor, at the hands of his secretary, was received and read in the words following: STATE OF NEW YORK-EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, To the Legislature: ALBANY, January 21, 1924. At the beginning of my first term in 1919, I appointed a Prison Survey Committee of which Mr. Adolph Lewisohn was chairman, to make a study of the prisons of the State. The results of this survey were embodied in a report printed in 1920. The expense of this survey and the printing of the report were generously borne by Mr. Lewisohn. The survey dealt with the prison prob lems as a whole. A considerable number of changes in administration were introduced as a result of the work of this survey committee, chief among them being the replacement of obsolete machinery in the prison industries and improvements in methods of production to make them conform more nearly to methods used in successful private industries. In 1921 the position of Superintendent of Prison Industries was created by Governor Miller as a result of the recommendations of the survey committee. This was part of a plan of reorganizing and modernizing the industries through the creation of a separate industrial management organization. In practice this arrangement proved unsatisfactory because the necessary detailed plans and statutory changes were not made which would pave the way for a real reorganization of the prison industries, and because the position of superintendent of industries was simply superimposed upon the present prison system without being coordinated with this system. In other words, the position was only advisory. After considering the entire matter of prison reorganization in the light of my experience as Governor of this State for three years, I have come to the conclusion that the key to the prison problem lies in the prison industries and that by definitizing the prison industry program and putting it into effect, we shall be taking as long a step as can be taken at this time toward the solution of the entire problem. In accordance with this conclusion, I asked the Legislature at the last session to abolish the position of Superintendent of Prison Industries, and in its place to put at the disposal of the Board of Estimate and Control a sufficient sum of money to work out the prison industries program in detail. This recommendation was accepted. I was particularly anxious to retain the advice and assistance of Mr. Adolph Lewisohn and some of his associates who have rendered so much valuable assistance to the State in the past. Mr. Lewisohn was kind enough to agree to become chairman of a special committee of the New York State Association on Prison Industries and arrangements were made for the appointment to this committee of several other members of the original Lewisohn Survey Committee, and also for the assistance in this work of Mr. Robert Moses, Secretary of the New York State Association. The members of the advisory committee. in addition to Mr. Adolph Lewisohn, are: Sam A. Lewisohn, Richard S. Childs, Mrs. Henry Moskowitz, Peter Brady, George Foster Peabody, George W. Wickersham, John S. Kennedy, Robert E. Simon, Adelbert Moot and George W. Alger. I requested this advisory committee to make recommendations to me as chairman of the Board of Estimate and Control as to competent persons to be employed by the State. They recommended the appointment of Mr. Ernest Willvonseder, a Certified Public Accountant of New York city with many years of executive and investigative experience, to be in immediate charge of this program and also the employment of Mr. Fred F. Moran, who had been connected with the original Lewisohn Survey Staff and several others. Arrangements were immediately made for the employ ment of these persons by the Board of Estimate and Control. The report which follows was prepared by this staff with the advice and assistance of the committee of the New York State Association, and after consultation with me. I find myself in substantial accord with these recommendations which I am herewith transmitting to the Legislature with my approval. The necessary legislation to make these recommendations effective is being drafted and will be ready for introduction early in the session. The prison industries must be directed and managed by an organization closely related to the one which controls the disciplinary and custodial functions in the prisons. Prison industry and prison discipline should be given equal weight in determining the date of each prisoner's release. One body which controls both of these elements should determine all questions of parole. If we can bring about a condition in the State prisons, which will offer an incentive to each prisoner to work hard and conduct himself properly while in prison, we shall have gone a long way toward rehabilitating this unfortunate element in the community. At the present time the parole system does not operate in such a way as to offer a real incentive toward rehabilitation. The industrial record of the prisoner is given practically no weight in determining parole. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible, under present conditions, to give any weight to this matter. The prisoners are paid only a cent and one-half per day and the prison industries are in other respects not organized to offer any incentive to the prisoners to do more than the minimum amount of work. There is a general impression that an insufficient market for prison goods or inadequate machinery and industries are responsible for the relatively small output in prisons, for the small returns and even actual losses in conducting the industries and for the lack of interest on the part of prisoners in their work. As a matter of fact, the prison market in State and city departments is a great deal larger than the prisons even under a proper industrial system could supply at the present time. The machinery has been greatly improved and is only in relatively unimportant cases obsolete. Moreover, the present industries are rather well adapted to prison conditions and they can easily be extended before the market is covered and before new industries need to be created. The real trouble now lies in the fact that there is no incentive offered to the prisoners and that there is no business organization to encourage and direct the enterprises. The real need is to create such an industrial organization, to offer a reward to the prisoners in the form of pay based upon their actual accomplishment, and most important of all, to tie up intimately the question of the convict's release with the part he plays in making the industries successful. The proposed compensation plan is conservative. It provides at the beginning for the distribution to each prisoner who does productive industrial or maintenance work, of a modest amount based on what is actually being earned under a system without incentive. Once the new system is established and real |
