The Board of Elections consists of four commissioners, two Republicans and two Democrats, appointed by the Board of Aldermen for two years, with a salary of $5,000 each. This board determines the election-district boundaries, chooses about 2,000 polling-places, and appoints about 17,000 election officials. Since 1915 the city has allowed school-houses and other public buildings to be used as polling-places, and at the last election nearly 1,000 districts were supplied in this way.
Local Improvement Boards: The city is divided into twenty-five districts, in each of which there is a Local Improvement Board, consisting of the Borough President and the Aldermen of the Aldermanic districts included in the local improvement district.
County Government Within the City: Each county included in the city of New York has a separate county government, independent of the city, with its sheriff, county clerk, district attorney, and its county court in every county but New York. The office of Sheriff in New York County has been one of the highest paid offices in the State, because of its fees. These have amounted to from $80,000 to $100,000 or more a year, and the county and Sheriff have divided them. The county now receives all the fees, and the Sheriff a salary of $12,000 a year; but he cannot be re-elected, and the term of office has been increased from two to four years.
Courts—Supreme Courts: The first judicial department, and the first judicial district of the State are formed by New York and Bronx Counties. Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond form the second. The Special and Trial terms of the Supreme Court try both criminal and civil cases with and without a jury, as in other counties.
County Courts are held in Kings, Queens, Bronx, and Richmond Counties, and each of them except Richmond has a Surrogate’s Court. New York County elects two Surrogates, for a term of fourteen years each, at a salary of $15,000 a year. In place of the County Court, New York County has a City Court, which tries civil suits and is a naturalization court, and a Court of General Sessions, which tries criminal cases. The Court of Special Sessions, with a chief justice and fifteen assistant justices appointed by the Mayor, tries cases of misdemeanors, and offenders sent to them by the City Magistrates. One division of this court is the Children’s Court, with one presiding justice and five associate justices, with a court in each borough. These justices hold office for a term of ten years.
Magistrates’ Courts are held by a large number of magistrates, appointed by the Mayor, and a chief magistrate who has general supervision of them. Municipal Courts are held in various parts of the city to try small civil suits. There are forty-five Municipal Court districts, in each of which there is a judge elected by the people of the district for a term of ten years.
There are separate Night Courts for both men and women, a Domestic Relations Court, which deals with cases of non-support of wives and children, and poor relations, and a Traffic Court, which deals solely with violations of the traffic laws.
To even mention the various institutions in the city of New York which are engaged in improving the health and social welfare of the people would take many pages. There is great need among them of a more clean-cut division of activities, and less overlapping of authority.
The Commissioner of Public Charities, appointed by the Mayor, is responsible for the care of the city’s dependents. In 1915, 350,362 free lodgings were given to dispossessed families and needy men and women. There are 329 institutions receiving money from the city for the care of dependent children, and 22,753 children were in their charge on January 1, 1916. The care which these children have received has been severely criticized. The conflicting authority of the State Board of Charities and the City Board of Inspection of Charitable Institutions, is said to be responsible for this. In the future, the city is to conduct its own inspections. Widows’ pensions are administered for all of Greater New York by one Child Welfare Board of nine members appointed by the Mayor, of whom two must be women. They serve for a term of eight years without salary.