Misplaced Pages

144th New York State Legislature
← 143rd 145th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1921
Senate
Members	51
President	Lt. Gov. Jeremiah Wood (R)
Temporary President	Clayton R. Lusk (R)
Party control	Republican (39–11–1)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	H. Edmund Machold (R)
Party control	Republican (120–28–3)
Sessions
1st January 5 – April 16, 1921

The 144th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 16, 1921, during the first year of Nathan L. Miller's governorship, in Albany.

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 Farmer–Labor Party, the Prohibition Party and the Socialist Labor Party also nominated tickets. The Prohibition Party endorsed the "dry" candidates for the Legislature, mostly Republicans, and nominated own candidates only where the major parties' candidates where "wet". In most of the Socialist strongholds in New York City, Democrats and Republicans nominated fusion candidates.

Elections

The New York state election, 1920, was held on November 2. Nathan L. Miller and Jeremiah Wood were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor, both Republicans. The incumbent Governor Al Smith ran on the Democratic ticket for re-election, but was defeated by Miller with a plurality of about 75,000 votes out of more than two and a half million.

The other eight statewide elective offices up for election were also carried by the Republicans. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for governor, was: Republicans 1,335,000; Democrats 1,260,000; Socialists 172,000; Farmer-Labor 68,000; Prohibition 36,000; and Socialist Labor 5,000.

Only one woman was elected to the State Assembly: Marguerite L. Smith (Rep.), an athletics teacher, of Harlem, became the first woman to serve a second term in the Assembly.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 5, 1921.

H. Edmund Machold (Rep.) was elected Speaker with 114 votes against 25 for Charles D. Donohue (Dem.) and 2 for Charles Solomon (Soc.).

Clayton R. Lusk (Rep.) was elected Temporary President of the State Senate with 38 votes against 8 for Jimmy Walker (Dem.) and one for Edmund Seidel (Soc.).

At the beginning of the session, resolutions were offered to expel Henry Jager, Samuel Orr and Charles Solomon from the Assembly for being Socialists and thus unfit to sit, which were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On January 12, another resolution was offered, contesting the eligibility of Henry Jager because he was alleged to be a resident of New Jersey.

On March 29, the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary presented its final report in the matter of the eligibility of Henry Jager. The majority (Rowe, Lown, T. K. Smith and Everett) concluded that Jager was a resident of Maywood, New Jersey, and therefore was ineligible for office under the provisions of the Public Officers Law of New York. A minority—in one report by Bloch and McKee, and another by Stitt and Ullman—concluded that Jager was a resident of Brooklyn. On the next day, Jager's seat was declared vacant by a vote of 77 to 62.

On April 4, the members who had offered the resolutions against Orr and Solomon attempted to call the resolutions up, which was voted down. Thus the resolutions remained on the table of the Committee on the Judiciary until the end of the session, without any action taken.

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. William T. Simpson, Martin G. McCue, Frank L. Wiswall, Warren T. Thayer, George R. Fearon, Allen J. Bloomfield and DeHart H. Ames changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

Employees

• Clerk: Ernest A. Fay
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles R. Hotaling
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Henry Witbeck Jr.
• Principal Doorkeeper: Lee V. Gardner
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Frank Heilbron
• Stenographer: John K. Marshall

State Assembly

Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."

Assemblymen

Employees

• Clerk: Fred W. Hammond
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Harry W. Haines
• Principal Doorkeeper: James B. Hulse
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Walter S. Gay
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: Charles H. Jackson
• Stenographer: George Munson
• Postmaster: James H. Underwood

Notes

1. Crawford, F. G. (1921). "The New York State Legislative Session of 1921". American Political Science Review. 15 (3): 384–386. doi:10.2307/1946697. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1946697.
2. see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 19ff
3. see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 57ff
4. see Assembly Journal, Vol. II, pg. 1380–1391
5. see Assembly Journal, Vol. II, pg. 1463
6. see Assembly Journal, Vol. II, pg. 1606f
7. McCUE SURROGATE'S CLERK in NYT on June 19, 1921
8. see Senate Journal, pg. 217ff
9. see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 470–476
10. see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 481–487
11. see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 476–481
12. On March 14, his defeated opponent Andrew B. Yacenda (D) belatedly sent a notice of contest to the Assembly, but no action was taken, and he was not seated; see Assembly Journal, Vol I., pg. 874; and Vol. II, pg. 1463
13. see Assembly Journal, Vol. I, pg. 959
14. Assemblyman Gordon H. Peck in NYT on February 19, 1921
15. Malcolm, James (1921). The New York Red Book. Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 148 – via Google Books.

Sources

• Journal of the Senate (144th Session) (1921; Vol. I, January 5 to April 4)
• Journal of the Senate (144th Session) (1921; Vol. II, April 4 to 16)
• Journal of the Assembly (144th Session) (1921; Vol. I, January 5 to March 16)
• Journal of the Assembly (144th Session) (1921; Vol. II, March 16 to April 16)
• SENATE IS MEDIOCRE, SAYS CITIZENS UNION in NYT on July 15, 1921
• Manual for the Use of the Legislature of the State of New York prepared by Secretary of State John J. Lyons (1921)

v t e New York State Legislatures by year convened
1 (1777) 2 (1778) 3 (1779) 4 (1780) 5 (1781) 6 (1782) 7 (1783) 8 (1784) 9 (1785) 10 (1786) 11 (1787) 12 (1788) 13 (1789) 14 (1790) 15 (1791) 16 (1792) 17 (1793) 18 (1794) 19 (1795) 20 (1796) 21 (1797) 22 (1798) 23 (1799) 24 (1800) 25 (1801) 26 (1802) 27 (1803) 28 (1804) 29 (1805) 30 (1806) 31 (1807) 32 (1808) 33 (1809) 34 (1810) 35 (1811) 36 (1812) 37 (1813) 38 (1814) 39 (1815) 40 (1816) 41 (1817) 42 (1818) 43 (1819) 44 (1820) 45 (1821) 46 (1823) 47 (1824) 48 (1825) 49 (1826) 50 (1827) 51 (1828) 52 (1829) 53 (1830) 54 (1831) 55 (1832) 56 (1833) 57 (1834) 58 (1835) 59 (1836) 60 (1837) 61 (1838) 62 (1839) 63 (1840) 64 (1841) 65 (1842) 66 (1843) 67 (1844) 68 (1845) 69 (1846) 70 (1847) 71 (1848) 72 (1849) 73 (1850) 74 (1851) 75 (1852) 76 (1853) 77 (1854) 78 (1855) 79 (1856) 80 (1857) 81 (1858) 82 (1859) 83 (1860) 84 (1861) 85 (1862) 86 (1863) 87 (1864) 88 (1865) 89 (1866) 90 (1867) 91 (1868) 92 (1869) 93 (1870) 94 (1871) 95 (1872) 96 (1873) 97 (1874) 98 (1875) 99 (1876) 100 (1877) 101 (1878) 102 (1879) 103 (1880) 104 (1881) 105 (1882) 106 (1883) 107 (1884) 108 (1885) 109 (1886) 110 (1887) 111 (1888) 112 (1889) 113 (1890) 114 (1891) 115 (1892) 116 (1893) 117 (1894) 118 (1895) 119 (1896) 120 (1897) 121 (1898) 122 (1899) 123 (1900) 124 (1901) 125 (1902) 126 (1903) 127 (1904) 128 (1905) 129 (1906) 130 (1907) 131 (1908) 132 (1909) 133 (1910) 134 (1911) 135 (1912) 136 (1913) 137 (1914) 138 (1915) 139 (1916) 140 (1917) 141 (1918) 142 (1919) 143 (1920) 144 (1921) 145 (1922) 146 (1923) 147 (1924) 148 (1925) 149 (1926) 150 (1927) 151 (1928) 152 (1929) 153 (1930) 154 (1931) 155 (1932) 156 (1933) 157 (1934) 158 (1935) 159 (1936) 160 (1937) 161 (1938) 162 (1939) 163 (1941) 164 (1943) 165 (1945) 166 (1947) 167 (1949) 168 (1951) 169 (1953) 170 (1955) 171 (1957) 172 (1959) 173 (1961) 174 (1963) 175 (1965) 176 (1966) 177 (1967) 178 (1969) 179 (1971) 180 (1973) 181 (1975) 182 (1977) 183 (1979) 184 (1981) 185 (1983) 186 (1985) 187 (1987) 188 (1989) 189 (1991) 190 (1993) 191 (1995) 192 (1997) 193 (1999) 194 (2001) 195 (2003) 196 (2005) 197 (2007) 198 (2009) 199 (2011) 200 (2013) 201 (2015) 202 (2017) 203 (2019) 204 (2021) 205 (2023)
Senate Assembly List

• New York (state) legislative sessions
• 1921 in New York (state)
• 1921 U.S. legislative sessions