PENNSYLVANIA. 



mortgagee pays for him and adds to the rate per 

 cent. 



These instances will suffice to indicate, in some de- 

 gree, the inequality and injustice of these laws. 



As to their administration, the assessors are required 

 to make oath to return the real and personal property 

 at its actual value in cash. They deliberately and 

 openly return the property at one third or one fourth 

 its cash value. Mortgages and money at interest are 

 neither returned by the owner or assessor or by a 

 sort of tacit general understanding, and all, except a 

 small fraction, escape taxation altogether. Such eva- 

 sions of the law are the rule and not the exception. 

 Assessors who attempted to perform their plain, sworn 

 duty, would be visited with stormy indignation. Be- 

 cause the laws are felt to be grossly inequitable, un- 

 equal, and unjust, the people agree together to dis- 

 regard and dis'obey them. Great diversity of practice 

 exists in the different counties as to enforcement of 

 the tax laws, and wide difference of opinion as to their 

 proper interpretation. Persistent effort on the part of 

 the Auditor-General to secure uniformity has not been 

 rewarded with success. With such a heterogeneous 

 mass of ill-assorted, mismatched patches, there is cause 

 for wonder that county officials are enabled to perform 

 their duty at all. 



The following is the first official report of 

 the population of Pennsylvania by counties, 

 according to the Federal census of 1880 : 



The population of the cities having more 

 than 10,000 inhabitants is as follows : Philadel- 

 phia, 846,984; Pittsburg, 156,381; Allegheny, 

 78,681; Scranton, 45,850; Reading, 43,280; 

 Harrisburg, 30,762; Erie, 27,730; Lancaster, 

 25,769; Wilkesbarre, 23,339 ; Altoona, 19,716 ; 

 Williamsport, 18,934; Allentown, 18,063; Ches- 

 ter, 14,996; York, 13,940; Pottsville, 13,255; 

 Norristown, 13,064; Easton, 11,924; Shenan- 

 doah, 10,148. 



The receipts of the State Treasury for the 

 fiscal year ending with November 30th were 

 $6,720,334.17; expenditures, $6,820,119.49. 

 For the year ending November 30, 1881, the 

 estimated revenues are 



The general fund $3,244,000 00 



The sinking fund 2,160,000 00 



$5,404,000 00 



The estimated expenses for the same period 

 are 



From the general fund $4,015,000 00 



From the sinking fund 1,384,988 50 



$5,399,988 50 



This will leave a deficit in the general fund of.. $771,000 50 

 There was at the beginning of the year a deficit 

 in appropriations unpaid of 1,043,000 50 



Deficiency to be provided for in 1881 $1,814,000 50 



During the year 1882 over $10,000,000 of 

 the State loans will become payable by the 

 terms of the acts creating them as follows: 



Six per cents $9.271,850 



Five per cents 1,209,350 



Four and a half per cents 87,000 



$10,568,200 



The whole number of graded schools in the 

 State is 7,037; schools not graded, 11,618. 

 The whole number of pupils on the rolls of 

 the public schools for the year was 937,310, 

 and the average attendance was 77 per cent, 

 of the number. The expenditures for the jear 

 ending with June, not including those of nor- 

 mal or orphan schools, were $7,482,577.75. 

 The value of school property is $25,467,097. 

 The total indebtedness of school districts 

 throughout the State at the close of the last 

 year was $2,648,495.84, while the unexpend- 

 ed balances in their treasuries amounted to 

 $1,425,213.16. There are ten of the normal 

 schools, and there were 2,900 pupils in attend- 

 ance during the year. The value of their 

 property is estimated at $1,366,395.17. In 

 their establishment $400,000 was contributed 

 by private subscription, and up to 1878 the 

 State had contributed $645,000 for grounds, 

 buildings, and apparatus. They have debts 

 amounting to $250,000. The State has for 

 several years appropriated $100,000 annually 

 for these institutions, which sum has been 

 equally divided among the ten. The orphan 

 schools contained 2,580 pupils during the year, 

 and cost $351,431.59 for their support. Chil- 

 dren admitted under existing laws must be- 

 long to one of three classes : 1 . Those whose 

 fathers were either killed or died of disease 

 while in the army. Only one hundred of this 

 class remain. 2. Those whose fathers have 

 died since the close of the war of wounds or 

 disease contracted while in the service. 3. 

 Those whose fathers are living, but are so dis- 

 abled by wounds or disease contracted while 

 in the army that they are unable to support 

 their families; and, in all cases, the children 

 must be under sixteen years of age, and in 

 destitute circumstances. 



The superintendent, in his annual report, 

 says : " In making the usual appropriations for 

 the orphan schools the Legislature of 1878 pro- 

 vided that no more children should be admitted 

 into them after the first day of June, 1882, and 

 that they should be finally closed on the first 

 day of June, 1885. Should this law stand, the 

 system can be made to come to an end in a 



