143rd New York State Legislature

143rd New York State Legislature
← 142nd 144th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1920
Senate
Members	51
President	Lt. Gov. Harry C. Walker (D)
Temporary President	J. Henry Walters (R)
Party control	Republican (30–21)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	Thaddeus C. Sweet (R)
Party control	Republican (110–35–5)
Sessions
1st January 7 – April 25, 1920 2nd September 20 – 24?, 1920

The 143rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 7 to September 1920, during the second year of Al Smith'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 also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1919, was held on November 4. No statewide elective offices were up for election. Two women were elected to the State Assembly: Elizabeth V. Gillette (Dem.), a physician, of Schenectady; and Marguerite L. Smith (Rep.), an athletics teacher, of Harlem.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 7, 1920. Thaddeus C. Sweet (R) was re-elected Speaker.

At the beginning of the session, the five Socialist assemblymen were suspended by Speaker Sweet, pending a trial before the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary to determine whether they were fit to take their seats. Charles Evans Hughes (Rep.) and Governor Al Smith (Dem.) condemned Speaker Sweet and the Republican majority for taking this course of action.^[1]

On March 30, a majority of 7 members of the 13-member Judiciary Committee recommended the expulsion the five Socialists. Minority reports recommended the seating of all or part of the Socialist assemblymen.^[2]

In the early morning of April 1, the five Socialist assemblymen were expelled.^[3]

The Legislature adjourned at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, April 25, after a session of 37 hours.^[4] During this last session, Marguerite L. Smith occupied for about half an hour the Speaker's chair.^[5]

On August 12, Gov. Al Smith called a special session of the Legislature for September 20, and ordered special elections to be held on September 16 to fill the vacancies caused by the expulsion of the Socialist members. The session was called to consider the housing situation in New York City.^[6]

On September 16, all five Socialists were re-elected to the Assembly.

The Legislature met for a special session at the State Capitol in Albany on September 20, 1920.^[7]

On September 21, Claessens, Solomon and Waldman were again expelled, while DeWitt and Orr were permitted by a majority vote to take their seats. However, DeWitt and Orr resigned their seats in protest against the ouster of their three comrades.^[8]

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.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	George L. Thompson*	Republican
2nd	John L. Karle	Republican	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Frank F. Adel
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
8th	Alvah W. Burlingame Jr.*	Republican
9th	Charles E. Russell*	Democrat
10th	Jeremiah F. Twomey*	Democrat
11th	Daniel J. Carroll*	Democrat
12th	Jimmy Walker*	Democrat	Minority Leader
13th	John J. Boylan*	Democrat
14th	Bernard Downing*	Democrat
15th	Abraham Kaplan*	Democrat
16th	Joseph D. Kelly	Democrat	elected to fill vacancy, in place of James A. Foley
17th	Julius Miller*	Democrat
18th	Salvatore A. Cotillo*	Democrat
19th	Edward J. Dowling*	Democrat
20th	William C. Dodge*	Democrat
21st	Henry G. Schackno*	Democrat
22nd	Peter A. Abeles*	Republican
23rd	John J. Dunnigan*	Democrat
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
29th	Charles W. Walton*	Republican
30th	Henry M. Sage*	Republican
31st	John J. Mackrell*	Democrat
32nd	James W. Yelverton*	Republican
33rd	Mortimer Y. Ferris*	Republican
34th	N. Monroe Marshall*	Republican	on November 2, 1920, elected New York State Treasurer
35th	Burt Z. Kasson*	Republican
36th	Frederick M. Davenport*	Republican
37th	Fred B. Pitcher*	Republican
38th	J. Henry Walters*	Republican	President pro tempore
39th	Adon P. Brown*	Republican	Chairman of Agriculture
40th	Clayton R. Lusk*	Republican
41st	Seymour Lowman*	Republican
42nd	Charles J. Hewitt*	Republican
43rd	William A. Carson*	Republican
44th	John Knight*	Republican
45th	James L. Whitley*	Republican
46th	John B. Mullan*	Republican
47th	George F. Thompson*	Republican
48th	vacant		Ross Graves resigned on December 27, 1919
	Parton Swift	Republican	elected to fill vacancy on February 3, 1920[9]
49th	Samuel J. Ramsperger*	Democrat
50th	Leonard W. H. Gibbs*	Republican
51st	J. Samuel Fowler*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Ernest A. Fay
• Sergeant-at-Arms:
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms:
• Principal Doorkeeper:
• First Assistant Doorkeeper:
• Stenographer:

State Assembly

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

Assemblymen

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Edgar C. Campbell	Republican
	2nd	Charles F. Moss	Republican
	3rd	Frank L. Wiswall	Republican
Allegany		William Duke Jr.*	Republican
Bronx	1st	Albert H. Henderson	Democrat
	2nd	Edward J. Flynn*	Democrat
	3rd	(Samuel A. DeWitt)	Socialist	suspended on January 7; expelled on April 1; elected to fill vacancy on September 16, resigned on September 21
	4th	(Samuel Orr)	Socialist	suspended on January 7; expelled on April 1; elected to fill vacancy on September 16, resigned on September 21
	5th	William S. Evans*	Democrat
	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*	Republican	died on August 23, 1920
	2nd	Joseph A. McGinnies*	Republican
Chemung		John J. Richford*	Republican
Chenango		Bert Lord*	Republican
Clinton		Charles M. Harrington	Republican
Columbia		Ransom H. Gillett	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	August Seelbach	Republican
	4th	Andrew T. Beasley*	Democrat
	5th	Alexander A. Patrzykowski*	Democrat
	6th	George H. Rowe*	Republican
	7th	Herbert A. Zimmerman*	Republican
	8th	Nelson W. Cheney*	Republican
Essex		Raymond T. Kenyon*	Republican
Franklin		Warren T. Thayer*	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Eberly Hutchinson*	Republican
Genesee		Charles P. Miller*	Republican
Greene		Frank G. Jacobs	Republican
Herkimer		Edward O. Davies*	Republican
Jefferson		H. Edmund Machold*	Republican
Kings	1st	John J. Griffith*	Democrat
	2nd	James J. Mullen	Republican
	3rd	Frank J. Taylor*	Democrat
	4th	Peter A. McArdle*	Democrat
	5th	James H. Caulfield Jr.*	Republican	Chairman of Commerce and Navigation
	6th	Harry Dimin	Republican
	7th	John J. Kelly*	Democrat
	8th	Michael J. Reilly	Democrat
	9th	James T. Carroll	Republican
	10th	Leo V. Doherty	Republican
	11th	James F. Bly	Republican
	12th	William T. Simpson	Republican
	13th	George W. Lindsay	Democrat
	14th	Joseph Lentol*	Democrat
	15th	John J. McLoughlin	Democrat
	16th	Harvey J. Ross	Republican
	17th	Frederick A. Wells*	Republican	Chairman of Military Affairs
	18th	Theodore Stitt	Republican
	19th	John Damico	Republican
	20th	John O. Gempler	Republican
	21st	Warren I. Lee	Republican
	22nd	George U. Forbell	Republican
	23rd	(Charles Solomon)*	Socialist	suspended on January 7; expelled on April 1; elected to fill vacancy on September 16, expelled on September 21
Lewis		Frederick S. Easton Jr.	Democrat
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	Theodore Roosevelt Jr.	Republican
New York	1st	Peter J. Hamill*	Democrat
	2nd	Caesar B. F. Barra*	Democrat
	3rd	Thomas F. Burchill	Democrat
	4th	Samuel Dickstein*	Democrat
	5th	Charles D. Donohue*	Democrat	Minority Leader
	6th	Sol Ullman*	Republican
	7th	Noel B. Fox	Republican
	8th	(Louis Waldman)	Socialist	suspended on January 7; expelled on April 1; elected to fill vacancy on September 16, expelled on September 21
	9th	Martin Bourke	Republican
	10th	William W. Pellet*	Republican
	11th	William C. Amos*	Republican
	12th	Martin G. McCue*	Democrat
	13th	Robert B. Wallace	Republican
	14th	Edward F. Healey	Democrat
	15th	Joseph Steinberg*	Republican
	16th	Maurice Bloch*	Democrat
	17th	(August Claessens)*	Socialist	suspended on January 7; expelled on April 1; elected to fill vacancy on September 16, expelled on September 21
	18th	Owen M. Kiernan*	Democrat
	19th	Marguerite L. Smith	Republican
	20th	Louis A. Cuvillier	Democrat
	21st	John Clifford Hawkins*	Republican
	22nd	Oscar J. Smith	Republican
	23rd	George N. Jesse	Republican
Niagara	1st	David E. Jeffery	Republican
	2nd	Alan V. Parker	Republican
Oneida	1st	Hartwell W. Booth*	Republican
	2nd	Louis M. Martin*	Republican	Chairman of Judiciary
	3rd	Chauncey J. Williams	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Manuel J. Soule*	Republican
	2nd	Gardner J. Chamberlin*	Republican
	3rd	George R. Fearon*	Republican	Chairman of Affairs of Cities
Ontario		George M. Tyler*	Republican
Orange	1st	Arthur E. Brundage	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	Edward J. Neary	Republican
	4th	Nicholas M. Pette	Republican
	5th	Ralph Halpern	Republican
	6th	Henry Baum	Republican
Rensselaer	1st	Hugh C. Morrissey	Republican
	2nd	Arthur Cowee*	Republican
Richmond	1st	Thomas F. Cosgrove	Democrat
	2nd	George P. Reynaud	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	Harold E. Blodgett	Republican
	2nd	Elizabeth V. Gillette	Democrat
Schoharie		Jared Van Wagenen Jr.	Democrat
Schuyler		Clarence W. Hausner	Republican
Seneca		George A. Dobson	Republican
Steuben	1st	Ernest E. Cole	Republican
	2nd	Delevan C. Hunter*	Republican
Suffolk	1st	John G. Downs*	Republican
	2nd	William G. Carroll	Democrat
Sullivan		Guernsey T. Cross	Democrat
Tioga		Daniel P. Witter*	Republican
Tompkins		Casper Fenner*	Republican
Ulster		Simon B. Van Wagenen	Republican
Warren		Stewart MacFarland	Republican
Washington		Eugene R. Norton*	Republican
Wayne		Charles H. Betts	Republican
Westchester	1st	Thomas Channing Moore	Republican
	2nd	Walter W. Westall*	Republican
	3rd	Edward J. Wilson*	Republican
	4th	Mitchell A. Trahan Jr.	Republican
	5th	George Blakely*	Republican
Wyoming		Bert P. Gage*	Republican
Yates		James M. Lown*	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: Edwin Van Cett
• Postmaster: James H. Underwood^[10]

Notes

1. SWEET DEFENDS ASSEMBLY'S ACTION in NYT on January 11, 1920
2. EXPEL THE FIVE SOCIALIST ASSEMBLYMEN, URGES MAJORITY REPORT, CHARGING TREASON; ROOSEVELT TO OPPOSE OUSTER MOTION in NYT on March 31, 1920
3. DEMOCRATIC FILIBUSTERS DELAY VOTE ON EXPULSION OF SOCIALISTS IN STORMY DEBATE IN ASSEMBLY in NYT on April 1, 1920
4. LEGISLATURE ENDS AFTER 37–HOUR SESSION; PASSES BEER AND ANTI-SOCIALIST BILLS; FAVORS TEACHERS' AND EX-SOLDIERS BONUS in NYT on April 25, 1920
5. ACTING SPEAKER SMITH in NYT on April 26, 1920; the editorialist of the New York Times envisioned a woman being elected Speaker of the New York Assembly in some near future, but to date, almost hundred years later, no woman has ever been elected to the office.
6. GOVERNOR CALLS SPECIAL SESSION ON HOUSING CRISIS in NYT on August 13, 1920
7. MOVE TO EXPEL SOCIALISTS AGAIN IS SIDETRACKED in NYT on September 21, 1920
8. ASSEMBLY AGAIN EXPELS THREE SOCIALISTS; DECIDES TO OUST THEM BY VOTE OF 90 TO 45; DE WITT AND ORR SEATED, BUT RESIGN in NYT on September 22, 1920
9. Elect Republican State Senator in NYT on February 4, 1920
10. Malcolm, James (1920). The New York Red Book. Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 215 – via Google Books.

Sources

• New York Legislative Documents (143rd Session) (1920; Vol. I, No. 1 to 5)
• SENATE DEMOCRATS SPLIT OVER LEADER in NYT on January 7, 1920
• TWO CHAIRMANSHIPS FOR NEW YORK CITY in NYT on January 13, 1920