Civil Service of the State of New York and the city of Buffalo, and particularly of the acts of the Legislature hereinafter mentioned.

1. That the city of Buffalo is a municipal corporation organized and existing under and in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled "An act to revise the charter of the city of Buffalo," passed April 28, 1870, and the acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto; that at all the times hereafter mentioned said city has had a population of over 50,000 inhabitants, and that Jonathan Scoville is, and at all the times hereinafter mentioned has been, the mayor of the said city.

2. That under and in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled "An act to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the State of New York," passed May 4, 1883, known as chapter 354 of the Laws of 1883, the mayor of said city of Buffalo was authorized to prescribe such regulations for the admission of persons into the Civil Service of said city as might best promote the efficiency thereof and ascertain the fitness of candidates in respect to character, knowledge and ability for the branch of the service into which they seek to enter; and for this purpose he was authorized to employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, and to prescribe their duties and establish regulations for the conduct of the service; and the board of police, being the head of the police department of said city of Buffalo, was given, in respect to those seeking to enter or serving under the said police department, the same kind and measure of authority, which was by said act conferred upon the mayor in regard to certain other officers of said city of Buffalo, which authority was required to be exercised after consultation with the mayor. And it was made the duty of those in the official service of said city to aid and facilitate in all reasonable and proper ways the enforcement of all regulations and the holding of all examinations which might be required under the authority conferred by this section.

3. That under and in pursuance of the authority conferred by said statute, the mayor of the city of Buffalo, on or about January 22, 1884, prescribed and caused to be published certain regulations for the admission of persons into the civil service of the city of Buffalo, a copy of which is hereto annexed and marked Schedule "A" and made a part of this affidavit.

4. That on or about February 21, 1884, the board of police of said city duly prescribed and caused to be published certain rules and regulations concerning the examination of applicants for appointment upon the police force of the city of Buffalo, a copy of which is

hereto annexed and marked Schedule "B" and made a part of this affidavit.

5. That under and in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled "An act to amend chapter 354 of the Laws of 1883, entitled 'An act to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the State of New York,'" passed May 29, 1884, and known as chapter 410 of the Laws of 1884, it became and was the duty of the mayor of the city of Buffalo, and the said mayor was directed and commanded to prescribe such regulations for the admission of persons into the Civil Service of said city as might best promote the efficiency thereof, and ascertain the fitness of candidates in respect to character, knowledge and ability for the branch of the service into which they seek to enter; and for this purpose the said mayor was directed and commanded from time to time to employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, to make examinations and to prescribe their duties and establish regulations for the conduct of persons who might receive appointments in the said service. It was further made the duty of said mayor, within two months after the passage of said act, to cause to be arranged in classes the several clerks and persons employed, or being in the public service of the city, and to include in one or more of said classes all subordinate clerks and officials in said public service, to whom his power under said act extends. It was further provided, that after the termination of three months from the passage of said act, no officer or clerk should be appointed, and no person should be admitted to or promoted in, either of the said classes now existing, or that might thereafter be arranged under said statute, and the rules provided for thereby, until he had passed an examination, or was shown to be exempt from such examination and such regulations. It was further made the duty of all those in the official service of said city to conform to, and comply with, any regulations made pursuant to said act, and to aid and facilitate in all reasonable and proper ways the enforcement of all regulations and holding of all examinations which might be required under the authority conferred by said act.

It was further prescribed in and by said act that where, before the passage thereof, the mayor of any city had prescribed regulations pursuant to the provisions of said chapter of the Laws of 1883, such regulations should be deemed to be established and prescribed, and to be operative as if established, prescribed and approved under the provisions of said chapter 410 of the Laws of 1884, and that the examiners who before the passage of said last mentioned act, had been appointed or designated under the provisions of said chapter 354 of

the Laws of 1883, should be deemed to be appointed under the provisions of said chapter 410 of the Laws of 1884.

6. That under and in pursuance of the several statutes hereinbefore set forth, the mayor of the city of Buffalo, on or about the 26th of January, 1885, duly prescribed and caused to be published, certain amendments to the regulations for the admission of persons into the Civil Service of the city of Buffalo, which were prescribed by him January 22, 1884, a copy of which amendment is hereunto annexed and marked Schedule "C" and made a part of this affidavit.

7. That on or about the 26th day of January, 1885, the mayor of the city of Buffalo, in pursuance of the statutes hereinbefore set forth, duly prescribed and caused to be published certain rules and regulations governing the examination of applicants to appointment to service in the fire department of the city of Buffalo, a copy of which rules and regulations is hereto annexed and marked Schedule "D" and made a part of this affidavit.

8. That thereafter all of the said rules and regulations, hereinbefore referred to, were duly submitted to the New York Civil Service Commission, as required by law, and were duly approved by said New York Civil Service Commission under the seal of said Commission, and that on and prior to the 1st day of March, 1885, and at all times subsequent thereto, all of said rules and regulations herein before set forth were in existence and in force and were binding upon all persons in the official service of the city of Buffalo.

9. That prior to the said 1st day of March, 1885, the mayor of the city of Buffalo, under and in pursuance of said statutes, and of the rules and regulations herein before set forth, did appoint suitable and proper persons to conduct inquiries and make examinations into the fitness of candidates in respect to character, knowledge and ability for the Civil Service of the city of Buffalo, and did prescribe their duties; that such persons had proceeded to hold and had held examinations of candidates for offices, and the said laws and regulations were in full force and operation in said city of Buffalo, and that said persons so appointed are still examiners acting under and in pursuance of said statutes, and the said rules and regulations.

10. That under and in pursuance of the charter of the city of Buffalo, it was the duty of the mayor of said city, before the 1st day of March, 1885, to deliver to the comptroller a full and detailed estimate of the expenses and the amount of money required in his department for the ensuing fiscal year; and that on or before the first day of April, in said year, it was the duty of the comptroller of said city of Buffalo to present to the common council of said city an estimate of the

amount necessary to be raised by general tax to carry on the city government and to meet all the expenses and liabilities of the city for the fiscal year, specifying in detail and under separate and appropriate heads, the amount estimated for each department or each office or other purpose.

That it was further provided in and by said charter, that after the expiration of one week from the présentation of such estimate, the common council shall proceed to consider the same, and by a vote of two-thirds of all the members may alter or amend the same, and shall, on or before the first day of May, finally pass upon it; that the estimate as made by the comptroller, or as altered or amended by the common council, may be adopted by a majority vote, and, if altered or amended, shall, upon its adoption, be entered at large upon the journal, and that the sum total of the adopted estimate shall be raised by a general tax.

It is further provided in and by said charter that the expenditures for each department, office or other purpose during the fiscal year shall be kept within the estimate made for it; that, for this purpose, each department, office or other purpose shall be credited with the amount included in the estimate for it, and shall be debited for the salaries and the certain and fixed sums to be paid out of it, and the other expenditures shall not exceed the balance remaining of the estimate; that contracts made in any form or manner for an amount exceeding such balance shall not be binding on the city beyond such balance; that, when liabilities to the amount of such balance shall have been credited, all contracts made in any form or money for further expenditures or liabilities shall not be binding on the city of Buffalo.

11. That under and in pursuance of the provisions of said charter, Jonathan Scoville, the mayor of the city of Buffalo, prior to the 1st day of March, 1885, did deliver to the comptroller a full detailed estimate of the expenses and the amount of money required in this department for the ensuing fiscal year, which estimate was as follows: (A copy of the estimates was then set forth).

And that on March 30, 1885, the comptroller of the city of Buffalo duly presented to the common council of said city his estimate of the amount necessary to be raised by general tax to carry on the city government and to meet all expenses and liabilities of the city for the ensuing fiscal year, specifying in detail the amount estimated for each department or office or other purpose, and that in the said estimate the comptroller included the estimates submitted to him by the mayor as hereinbefore stated in the form hereinafter set forth, and that in his

communication to the said common council accompanying the several estimates, the said comptroller also inserted the following:

"The attention of your honorable body is directed to the following items:

"In the Mayor's Department.

"For salaries and expenses of executing the Civil Service Law $1,250."

Deponent further alleges, that the said item was inserted by the mayor in his estimates of his department and was so submitted to the comptroller, solely for the purpose of convenience, and because no express provision was made by law, as to the manner in which an estimate of the expense of executing the Civil Service Law, should be presented to the common council; but that the said expense is not merely one of the incidental expenses of the mayor's department, but is a necessary expense of the whole city's government of the city of Buffalo, without which examinations for office under the statutes and rules and regulations herein before set forth can not be held, and appointments to office can not be made, and the government of the city of Buffalo can not actually be carried on; that of the other items included by the mayor and the comptroller in the estimate for the mayor's department, the items for the salary of mayor, or mayor's clerk, for the rent of the telephone, and for services of Merritt Brooks, amounting in all to $7,275, represent obligations fixed by the charter of the city of Buffalo, and on contracts actually made in pursuance of law, and which are binding on the city of Buffalo, and which must necessarily be paid by the city of Buffalo, and which can not be legally or properly paid out of any other funds than those appropriated for the mayor's department; and that the other items included by the mayor and the comptroller on their estimates for the mayor's department, being for printing and advertising, for stationery, postage stamps, cards and contingencies, and for copies of revised reported city charter, amounting in all to $780.50, represent necessary expenses of the mayor's department without which the business of said department can not practically be carried on, and which can not be met or paid for out of any other funds than those appropriated for the mayor's department.

Here followed a statement of the proceedings of the aldermen, showing that they had, in committee of the whole, refused to allow anything of this item, with facts in detail to show reason to believe that the aldermen would, as threatened, make no provision on the subject; that if the item was struck out and no provision made, it would be impossible for the mayor to execute the law, although he was