142nd New York State Legislature

The 142nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 1 to June 16, 1919, during the first year of Al Smith's governorship, in Albany.

142nd New York State Legislature
← 141st 143rd →
New York State Capitol (1919)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1919
Senate
Members	51
President	Lt. Gov. Harry C. Walker (D)
Temporary President	J. Henry Walters (R)
Party control	Republican (29–22)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	Thaddeus C. Sweet (R)
Party control	Republican (96–52–2)
Sessions
1st January 1 – April 19, 1919 2nd June 16, 1919 –

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1894, re-apportioned in 1917, 51 Senators and 150 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts consisted either of one or more entire counties; or a contiguous area within a single county. The counties which were divided into more than one senatorial district were New York (nine districts), Kings (eight), Bronx (three), Erie (three), Monroe (two), Queens (two), and Westchester (two). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county.

At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Socialist Party, the Prohibition Party and the Socialist Labor Party also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1918, was held on November 5. This was the first election at which women had the right to vote, and the right to run for elective offices.^[1] Two women were elected to the State Assembly: Ida B. Sammis (Rep.) and Mary M. Lilly (Dem.).

Al Smith and Harry C. Walker were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor, both Democrats. The incumbent Governor Charles S. Whitman ran on the Republican and the Prohibition tickets for re-election, but was defeated by Smith in a tight race, with a plurality of about 15,000 votes out of more than two million.

The other five statewide elective offices up for election were carried by the Republicans. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Democrats 1,010,000; Republicans 956,000; Socialists 122,000; Prohibition 39,000; and Socialist Labor 5,000.

In New York City, where in November 1917 ten Socialists had been elected to the Assembly by pluralities in three-way races, Republicans and Democrats combined to stem the "red flood", and nominated joint candidates in most of the "Socialist" districts. Thus they managed to outpoll the Socialists in eight of the ten districts; only two Socialists, August Claessens and Charles Solomon, managed to get elected.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 1, 1919; and adjourned on April 19.

Thaddeus C. Sweet (R) was re-elected Speaker.

J. Henry Walters (R) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate.

The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany in the evening of June 16.^[2] This session was called to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which established women's suffrage. The amendment was ratified by a vote of 44 to 0 in the Senate, and 137 to 0 in the Assembly. State Senator Henry M. Sage—who was an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage–was, on his request, excused from voting because "he did not care to vote against it, but could not possibly vote to ratify." The Legislature also passed four bills concerning the housing situation in New York City; and adjourned after four hours.^[3]

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Nassau and Suffolk counties
• 2nd and 3rd District: Parts of Queens County, i.e the Borough of Queens
• 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th District: Parts of Kings County, i.e. the Borough of Brooklyn
• 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th District: Parts of New York County, i.e. the Borough of Manhattan
• 21st, 22nd and 23rd District: Parts of Bronx County, i.e. the Borough of the Bronx
• 24th District: Richmond County, i.e. the Borough of Richmond (now the Borough of Staten Island), and Rockland County
• 25th District: Part of Westchester County
• 26th District: Cortlandt, Greenburgh, Mount Pleasant, Ossining and part of Yonkers; in Westchester County
• 27th District: Orange and Sullivan counties
• 28th District: Columbia, Dutchess and Putnam counties
• 29th District: Delaware, Greene and Ulster counties
• 30th District: Albany County
• 31st District: Rensselaer County
• 32nd District: Saratoga and Schenectady counties
• 33rd District: Clinton, Essex, Warren and Washington counties
• 34th District: Franklin and St. Lawrence counties
• 35th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer and Lewis counties
• 36th District: Oneida County
• 37th District: Jefferson and Oswego counties
• 38th District: Onondaga County
• 39th District: Madison, Montgomery, Otsego and Schoharie counties
• 40th District: Broome, Chenango and Cortland counties
• 41st District: Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga and Tompkins counties
• 42nd District: Cayuga, Seneca and Wayne counties
• 43rd District: Ontario, Steuben and Yates counties
• 44th District: Allegany, Genesee, Livingston and Wyoming
• 45th and 46th District: Monroe County
• 47th District: Niagara and Orleans counties
• 48th, 49th and 50th District: Erie County
• 51st District: Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Peter J. McGarry, Kenneth F. Sutherland, Daniel F. Farrell, Jeremiah F. Twomey and Burt Z. Kasson changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	George L. Thompson*	Republican	re-elected
2nd	Frank F. Adel	Democrat	resigned his seat and ran unsuccessfully for Municipal Court Judge in the 3rd District of Queens
3rd	Peter J. McGarry*	Democrat
4th	Kenneth F. Sutherland*	Democrat
5th	Daniel F. Farrell*	Democrat
6th	Loring M. Black Jr.	Democrat
7th	Charles C. Lockwood*	Republican	re-elected
8th	Alvah W. Burlingame Jr.*	Republican	re-elected
9th	Charles E. Russell	Democrat
10th	Jeremiah F. Twomey*	Democrat
11th	Daniel J. Carroll*	Democrat	re-elected
12th	Jimmy Walker*	Democrat	re-elected
13th	John J. Boylan*	Democrat	re-elected
14th	Bernard Downing*	Dem./Rep.	re-elected
15th	Abraham Kaplan	Democrat
16th	James A. Foley*	Democrat	re-elected; Minority Leader; resigned; on November 4, 1919, elected Surrogate of New York Co.
17th	Julius Miller	Democrat
18th	Salvatore A. Cotillo*	Democrat	re-elected
19th	Edward J. Dowling*	Democrat	re-elected
20th	William C. Dodge	Democrat
21st	Henry G. Schackno	Democrat
22nd	Peter A. Abeles	Rep./Dem.
23rd	John J. Dunnigan*	Democrat	re-elected
24th	John A. Lynch	Democrat
25th	George T. Burling	Republican
26th	Walter W. Law Jr.	Republican
27th	Caleb H. Baumes	Republican
28th	James E. Towner*	Republican	re-elected
29th	Charles W. Walton*	Republican	re-elected
30th	Henry M. Sage*	Republican	re-elected
31st	John J. Mackrell	Democrat
32nd	James W. Yelverton*	Republican	re-elected
33rd	Mortimer Y. Ferris	Republican
34th	N. Monroe Marshall*	Republican	re-elected
35th	Burt Z. Kasson*	Republican
36th	Frederick M. Davenport	Republican
37th	Fred B. Pitcher	Republican
38th	J. Henry Walters*	Republican	re-elected; elected president pro tempore
39th	Adon P. Brown*	Republican	re-elected
40th	Clayton R. Lusk	Republican
41st	Seymour Lowman	Republican
42nd	Charles J. Hewitt*	Republican	re-elected
43rd	William A. Carson*	Republican	re-elected
44th	John Knight*	Rep./Dem.	re-elected
45th	James L. Whitley	Republican
46th	John B. Mullan*	Republican	re-elected
47th	George F. Thompson*	Republican	re-elected
48th	Ross Graves*	Republican	re-elected; resigned on December 27, after his election as Commissioner of Finance and Accounts of Buffalo
49th	Samuel J. Ramsperger*	Democrat	re-elected
50th	Leonard W. H. Gibbs*	Republican	re-elected
51st	J. Samuel Fowler*	Republican	re-elected

Employees

• Clerk: Ernest A. Fay
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles R. Hotaling
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms:
• Principal Doorkeeper:
• First Assistant Doorkeeper:
• Stenographer: John K. Marshall

State Assembly

Assemblymen

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Clarence F. Welsh*	Republican
	2nd	John G. Malone*	Republican
	3rd	James M. Gaffers*	Republican
Allegany		William Duke Jr.*	Republican
Bronx	1st	Earl H. Miller*	Democrat
	2nd	Edward J. Flynn*	Democrat
	3rd	Robert S. Mullen	Dem./Rep.
	4th	M. Maldwin Fertig	Dem./Rep.
	5th	William S. Evans	Dem./Rep.
	6th	Thomas J. McDonald*	Democrat
	7th	Joseph V. McKee*	Democrat
	8th	J. Fairfax McLaughlin*	Democrat
Broome	1st	Edmund B. Jenks*	Republican
	2nd	Forman E. Whitcomb*	Republican
Cattaraugus		DeHart H. Ames*	Republican
Cayuga		L. Ford Hager*	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	Hermes L. Ames*	Rep./Dem.
	2nd	Joseph A. McGinnies*	Republican
Chemung		John J. Richford*	Republican
Chenango		Bert Lord*	Republican
Clinton		Wallace E. Pierce*	Rep./Dem.
Columbia		John W. Scott	Republican
Cortland		Irving F. Rice	Republican
Delaware		Lincoln R. Long	Republican
Dutchess	1st	J. Griswold Webb	Republican
	2nd	Frank L. Gardner*	Republican
Erie	1st	George E. D. Brady	Republican
	2nd	John W. Slacer*	Republican
	3rd	Nicholas J. Miller*	Republican
	4th	Andrew T. Beasley	Dem./Rep.
	5th	Alexander A. Patrzykowski*	Democrat
	6th	George H. Rowe*	Republican
	7th	Herbert A. Zimmerman*	Republican
	8th	Nelson W. Cheney*	Republican
Essex		Raymond T. Kenyon*	Rep./Dem.
Franklin		Warren T. Thayer*	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Eberly Hutchinson	Republican
Genesee		Charles P. Miller	Rep./Dem.
Greene		Harding Showers*	Republican
Herkimer		Edward O. Davies*	Republican
Jefferson		H. Edmund Machold*	Republican
Kings	1st	John J. Griffith	Democrat
	2nd	Thomas J. Cox	Democrat
	3rd	Frank J. Taylor*	Democrat
	4th	Peter A. McArdle*	Democrat
	5th	James H. Caulfield Jr.*	Republican
	6th	Martin Solomon	Democrat
	7th	John J. Kelly	Democrat
	8th	Edward J. Flanagan	Democrat
	9th	Frederick S. Burr*	Democrat
	10th	Hoxie W. Smith*	Democrat
	11th	Thomas E. Brownlee*	Republican
	12th	Albert Link*	Democrat
	13th	Morgan T. Donnelly*	Democrat
	14th	Joseph Lentol	Democrat
	15th	Christian J. McWilliams	Democrat
	16th	David Drechsler	Democrat
	17th	Frederick A. Wells*	Republican
	18th	Charles C. Johnson	Democrat
	19th	Benjamin C. Klingmann*	Democrat
	20th	George J. Braun*	Democrat
	21st	Wilfred E. Youker*	Republican
	22nd	James J. Morris*	Democrat
	23rd	Charles Solomon	Socialist
Lewis		Albert A. Copeley*	Republican
Livingston		George F. Wheelock*	Republican
Madison		Morell E. Tallett*	Republican
Monroe	1st	James A. Harris*	Republican
	2nd	Simon L. Adler*	Republican	Majority Leader
	3rd	Harry B. Crowley*	Republican
	4th	Frank Dobson*	Republican
	5th	Franklin W. Judson*	Republican
Montgomery		Alton A. Walrath	Republican
Nassau	1st	Thomas A. McWhinney*	Republican
	2nd	Franklin A. Coles*	Republican
New York	1st	Peter J. Hamill*	Democrat
	2nd	Caesar B. F. Barra*	Democrat
	3rd	Peter P. McElligott*	Democrat
	4th	Samuel Dickstein	Dem./Rep.
	5th	Charles D. Donohue*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	6th	Sol Ullman	Rep./Dem.
	7th	Mary M. Lilly	Democrat
	8th	Herman Weiss	Rep./Dem.
	9th	Philip A. Walter	Democrat
	10th	William W. Pellet	Republican
	11th	William C. Amos*	Republican
	12th	Martin G. McCue*	Democrat
	13th	John J. Cronin	Democrat
	14th	Mark Goldberg*	Democrat
	15th	Joseph Steinberg	Republican
	16th	Maurice Bloch*	Democrat
	17th	August Claessens*	Socialist
	18th	Owen M. Kiernan*	Democrat
	19th	Martin J. Healy	Democrat
	20th	Charles A. Winter*	Democrat
	21st	John Clifford Hawkins	Republican
	22nd	Earl A. Smith*	Democrat
	23rd	B. Elliot Burston	Democrat
Niagara	1st	William Bewley*	Republican
	2nd	Nicholas V. V. Franchot II*	Republican
Oneida	1st	Hartwell W. Booth	Republican
	2nd	Louis M. Martin*	Republican
	3rd	George T. Davis*	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Manuel J. Soule*	Republican
	2nd	Gardner J. Chamberlin	Republican
	3rd	George R. Fearon*	Republican
Ontario		George M. Tyler*	Republican
Orange	1st	William F. Brush*	Republican
	2nd	Charles L. Mead*	Republican
Orleans		Frank H. Lattin*	Republican
Oswego		Thaddeus C. Sweet*	Republican	re-elected Speaker
Otsego		Allen J. Bloomfield*	Republican
Putnam		John P. Donohoe*	Republican
Queens	1st	Peter A. Leininger*	Democrat
	2nd	Bernard Schwab	Democrat
	3rd	John Kennedy*	Democrat
	4th	Frank E. Hopkins	Republican
	5th	Albert J. Brackley*	Democrat
	6th	William H. O'Hare*	Democrat
Rensselaer	1st	John F. Shannon*	Democrat
	2nd	Arthur Cowee*	Republican
Richmond	1st	Thomas F. Curley*	Democrat
	2nd	Henry A. Seesselberg*	Democrat
Rockland		Gordon H. Peck*	Republican
St. Lawrence	1st	Frank L. Seaker*	Republican
	2nd	Edward A. Everett*	Republican
Saratoga		Clarence C. Smith	Republican
Schenectady	1st	Walter S. McNab*	Republican
	2nd	A. Edgar Davies*	Republican
Schoharie		Harry M. Greenwald	Republican
Schuyler		Hiram H. Graham*	Republican
Seneca		Lewis W. Johnson*	Republican
Steuben	1st	Samuel E. Quackenbush*	Republican
	2nd	Delevan C. Hunter	Republican
Suffolk	1st	John G. Downs	Republican
	2nd	Ida B. Sammis	Republican
Sullivan		William J. Brown	Republican
Tioga		Daniel P. Witter*	Republican
Tompkins		Casper Fenner*	Republican
Ulster		Joel Brink*	Republican
Warren		Frank C. Hooper*	Republican
Washington		Eugene R. Norton	Republican
Wayne		Frank D. Gaylord*	Republican
Westchester	1st	Bertrand G. Burtnett*	Republican
	2nd	Walter W. Westall	Republican
	3rd	Edward J. Wilson	Republican
	4th	Charles Vezin Jr.	Republican
	5th	George Blakely*	Republican
Wyoming		Bert P. Gage*	Republican
Yates		James M. Lown Jr.*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Fred W. Hammond
• Deputy Clerk: Wilson Messer
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Harry W. Haines
• Principal Doorkeeper:
• First Assistant Doorkeeper:
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper:
• Stenographer:
• Postmaster: James H. Underwood^[4]

Notes

1. 2,916,974 MAY VOTE IN NEW YORK STATE in NYT on October 27, 1918
2. GOV. SMITH CALLS SUFFRAGE SESSION in NYT on June 11, 1919
3. WOMAN SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT WINS IN LEGISLATURE in NYT on June 17, 1919
4. Malcolm, James (1919). The New York Red Book. Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 185 – via Google Books.

Sources

• NOMINEES ANALYZED BY CITIZENS UNION in NYT on October 27, 1918
• THE NEXT LEGISLATURE in NYT on November 6, 1918
• REPUBLICANS' LEAD CUT IN LEGISLATURE in NYT on November 7, 1918
• "WETS" WIN IN SENATE CAUCUS in NYT on January 1, 1919