No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 159 



The CHAIR: Tlie next thing in order is Unfinished Business. 



MR. McHENRY: Mr. Chairman, I move jou that we reconsider 

 the vote by which we passed the report of the Legislative Com- 

 mittee at our last session, and when in order, I will give you my 

 reasons for making this motion. 



The CHAIR: You have heard the motion; are there any remarks? 



MR. McHENRY: My reason for making this motion — it is only 

 my own idea; perhaps no one else will agree with me, but my idea 

 is that we made a mistake when we approved the proposition that 

 all license fees be retained in the counties in which they are col- 

 lected. I think under the existing conditions, that it was a mis- 

 take. I have not the figures to give you, but I will say, generally, 

 that almost nine-tenths of the license fees are paid from counties 

 in which the large cities are located, and are not our agricultural 

 counties as a rule, and it takes that much money out of the State 

 Treasury to which we must look for appropriations for schools, and 

 for the improvement of our roads, and so on, and is scattered all 

 over the other counties and all over the State. It may be a little 

 selfish, perhaps it is; I don't know, but it may be so regarded, for 

 Philadelphia, Pittsburg and those large cities, to throw their money 

 into the State Treasury, as is usually done. 



In my own county, license fees do not amount to very much, for 

 it is almost altogether an agricultural county, and I venture the 

 assertion that what is true there, is true in two-thirds of the coun- 

 ties in the State, if not three-fourths, and these are my reasons for 

 making this motion; I merely want to know what the feeling of the 

 members is. 



There being no further discussion, the question was put by the 

 Chair and agreed to. 



MR. McHENRY: Mr. Chairman, I now move you to strike out 

 the words ''and the license fees." I move to amend that report 

 by striking out those words. 



A member called for the reading of that portion of the report 

 as adopted. The Secretary read as follows: "We further recom- 

 mend the enactment of the law w^hereby the personal taxes should 

 be retained in the counties in which they are assessed, thereby re- 

 lieving our overburdened taxation." 



'^to 



MR. HERR: I second the motion on the amendment. As I under- 

 stand, the motion to reconsider prevailed, and the question before 

 us now is on the adoption of the amendment. 



MR. CLARK: Mr. Chairman, in reference to the personal tax, 

 about all our personal tax is retained in the county. I do not 

 think we send any tax out of the county except the State tax. 

 Do not let us go on record and do anything here that is not right. 

 It seems to me that the only tax we send out of the county is the 

 State tax. Now the query with me is, whether the matter of the 

 State tax is included as a personal tax. If you concede that that 

 is a personal tax, of course that would include it; that is what I 

 want to know. 



