A. L. Bishop — The State Works of Pennsylvania. 229 



$5,270,397, the deduction made from cost on account of improper 

 charges to construction as mentioned above, we get $29,741,622 as 

 representing the total expenditures incident to the operations of 

 the works. The interest payments on account of loans contracted 

 between 1826 and 1858 solely for the construction of the wbrks 

 amounted to $43,675,034. The latter, it will be seen, exceeded the 

 gross revenue, apart from the sum received for the sale of the 

 Avorks, by over $10,000,000. Moreover the figure for revenue, 

 including the receipts of sales, exceeded the total interest payments 

 by only $111,519. 



The total outgo to the state on account of the internal improve- 

 ments, including cost, expenditures, and interest, up to the time of 

 their sale was $101,611,234. Deducting the gross income to the 

 treasury during the same period plus the amount received from 

 their sale, viz. — $43,786,553, it appears that the total financial loss 

 to the state on account of the public works was $57,824,681, to say 

 nothing of a debt of $40,000,000* which remained unpaid at the 

 time of the sale, and which was incurred largely for the construc- 

 tion of transi^ortation improvements.f 



Chapter V*. — Cokrupt Practises connected with the Building 

 AND Operation of the Public Works. 



It has already been shown that the Act of April 9th, 1827, marks 

 the commencement of the policy of expanding the state works ; also 

 that this legislation was the dii-ect result of log-rolling. This form 

 of corruption thus imprinted upon the improvement system early 

 in its iiistory was not easily removed. It continued to be prac- 

 ticed from time to time until, owing to financial embarrassment, 

 the building of more works was made impossible. JSTor was this the 

 only corrupt influence to pervade the public works. Others soon 

 appeared in connection with their building and operation and 

 extended into nearly every field it was possible to reach. Before 

 entering upon a consideration of the latter, however, it seems neces- 

 sary to mention a particular instance of corrupt, legislation which 

 differed materially from the ordinary. The case in question is 



* At the end of the fiscal year 1843, the state debt was $.39,240,461.40 (see 

 p. 222). Between 1844 and 18.58 it remained at approximately $40,000,000. 



•j- See Report of the Auditor General in Exec. Does., 1844, p. 40. As 

 already indicated in a footnote, p. 222, the debt contracted solely for the 

 public works on January 6th, 1842, amounted to $33,359,313. 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XIII. 17 " Nov., 1907. 



