The 138th New York State Legislature, consisting of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

and the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

, met from January 6 to April 24, 1915, during the first year of

Charles S. Whitman Charles Seymour Whitman (September 29, 1868March 29, 1947) was an American lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of New York from January 1, 1915, to December 31, 1918. An attorney and politician, he also served as a delegate from New York to t ...

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the

New York Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constitut ...

of 1894, re-apportioned in 1906 and 1907, 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 were made up of entire counties, except New York County (twelve districts), Kings County (eight districts), Erie County (three districts) and Monroe County (two districts). 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 Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Assemblyman

William Sulzer William Sulzer (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was an American lawyer and politician, nicknamed Plain Bill Sulzer. He was the 39th Governor of New York and a long-serving congressman from the same state. Sulzer was the first, and to date ...

, who had been removed from the office of governor in 1913, founded an American Party and ran also on the Prohibition Party ticket for governor. The

Independence League The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Munici ...

, the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

, the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

also nominated tickets.

Elections

The

New York state election, 1914 The 1914 New York state election was held on November 3, 1914, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state engineer, a U.S. Senator and ...

, was held on November 3. D.A. of New York County

and

Edward Schoeneck Edward Schoeneck (August 1, 1875 in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York – June 22, 1951 in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1915 to 1918. Life He studied ...

were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor; both Republicans. Of the other seven statewide elective offices, six were carried by Republicans and one by a Democrat. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for governor, was: Republicans 687,000; Democrats 412,000; Independence League 125,000; American 71,000; Prohibition 54,000; Progressives 46,000; Socialists 38,000; and Socialist Labor 2,000. Also elected were 34 Republicans and 17 Democrats to the State Senate; 99 Republicans, 49 Democrats and two Progressives to the State Assembly; and 168 delegates (15 at-large; and three per senatorial district) to the Constitutional Convention.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 6, 1915; and adjourned on April 24. Thaddeus C. Sweet (R) was re-elected

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

, Elon R. Brown (R) was elected Temporary President of the Senate. On April 6, the Constitutional Convention met at the State Capitol in Albany; and adjourned on September 4. All proposed amendments to the Constitution were rejected by the voters at the state election on November 2, 1915.

State Senate

Districts

Senators

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Charles C. Lockwood, Alvah W. Burlingame Jr., Jimmy Walker, Franklin W. Cristman, Samuel A. Jones, Clinton T. Horton and William P. Greiner 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: Samuel Russell * Principal Doorkeeper: Lee V. Gardner * First Assistant Doorkeeper: George W. Van Hyning * Stenographer: John K. Marshall (also Stenographer of the Constitutional Convention)

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 (also Sergeant-at-Arms of the Constitutional Convention) * Principal Doorkeeper: * First Assistant Doorkeeper: * Second Assistant Doorkeeper: * Stenographer: *Postmaster: James H. Underwood

Notes

Sources

''FULL TICKETS OF THE PARTIES''
in NYT on October 25, 1914
''THE LEGISLATURE RESUMES WORK''
in ''The Yonkers Statesman'' on January 14, 1915
''Journal of the Senate'' (138th Session)
(1915; Vol. I, from January 6 to March 31)
''Journal of the Senate'' (138th Session)
(1915; Vol. II, from March 31 to April 24)
''Laws of the State of New York'' (138th Session)
(1915)
''Documents of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York 1915''
(1915) {{NYLegislatures 138 1915 in New York (state) 1915 U.S. legislative sessions