242 A. L. Bishop — The State Works of Pennsylvania. 



15. That provisions were charged to the commonwealth at a 

 figure much in advance of the prices current in the markets, 



16. That for months one of the supervisors charged the state 

 for the services of three yoke of oxen at $12 per day, exclusive 

 of the driver, although it was shown that he had but two yoke; 

 that for weeks in succession hut one yoke of oxen was engaged on the 

 works; that $6.25 a day was charged by the same person for a 

 two-horse team and driver, which were employed for the greater 

 part of the time in his private use, 



17. That a large amount of whiskey was charged to the common- 

 wealth. 



18. That blank check-rolls furnished by the state for the 

 keeping of accounts were often mutilated. Headings and cer- 

 tificates were cut off and others attached by wafers leaving it 

 uncertain in what condition the papers were when sworn to, and, in 

 the words of the auditor general, "whether teams at $6 or $8 were 

 not substituted for hands at 95 cents per day, or whether one individ- 

 ual may not have signed for others." 



19. That allowances were made by the canal commissioners for 

 damages, the claims for which had already been settled in full 

 and releases executed therefor and filed in the auditor general's 

 ofiice.* 



20. That the expenditures for wood alone in the engines on 

 the state railways rose from $19,217.50 and $26,174.78 in 1850 and 

 1851 respectively to $107,255.28 and $108,643.17 during the two 

 following years, with no explanation for the increased expenditure.! 



Before concluding, it seems in order briefly to quote the opinions 

 of certain persons intimately acquainted with the management of 

 the public works regarding some general aspects of the questions 

 discussed in this chapter. A select 'committee of the senate, in 

 reporting upon various matters concerning the state improvements 

 in 1854, summarized the case regarding corruption as follows: — 



"The officials and agents of the system, whose name is legion, 

 extend to all parts of the commonwealth, — a vast engine of polit- 



* See J. H. Hep., 1838-39, II, part II, pp. 11-14. Here is recorded the case 

 of J. Andrew Sluilze, who on January 2d, 1835, received $700 as damages 

 and on September 17th, 1838, he was again allowed $1,500 for practically the 

 same damages for which the $700 was "a full indemnification." This was 

 brought out in an investigation made by a committee appointed by the Hotise 

 of Representatives to inquire into the conduct of the canal commissioners. 



f The conclusion arrived at by a commission appointed to examine the 

 affairs of the main line was that the frauds practiced in 1852 and 1853 were 

 excessive, although the investigation failed to bring to light the perpetrators 

 of the acts. 



