PENNSYLVANIA. 



629 



are required to be paid into the State treasury and 

 airain returned. The total receipts, if taken as a 

 basis for making appropriations, are therefore mis- 

 leading. The largest of these sums is the return 

 of three fourths of the State tax to the counties. 



There have been no new sources of revenue. On 

 the other hand, there were new charitable and 

 other institutions to be provided for. as well as an 

 increase to some of those already receiving aid. 



A summary of the payments at the Stale treasury 

 during the year shows that $194.860.59 went to the 

 Department of Public Buildings and Grounds. 

 The cost of the alterations to the Executive Mansion, 

 the Lieutenant Governor's room, and the addition to 

 the C'apitol Park Conservatory is included in this 

 account. The cost of public printing was $ 

 071.*-, 1 . against $243.046.17 the previous year. 



Education. The appropriations to the public 

 schools iv.se from $2.000.000 in 1*90 to $5.000.000 

 in is'.il and $5.500,000 since 1893. At the end of 

 the year $3,000.000 remained unpaid. 



The superintendent has appointed a committee 

 for every county in the State, except Philadelphia, 

 to examine applicants for teachers' permanent cer- 

 tificates. These committees serve without compen- 

 sation, and are appointed for three years, although 

 they may be removed at the pleasure of the super- 

 intendent. 



eral townships in the State have adopted a 

 new plan closing the small district schools, and 

 establishing large ones in central localities which 

 are graded like city schools. Pupils from a dis- 

 tance are taken to and from school in omnibu- 

 other conveyances at the expense of their district. 

 It has worked to the satisfaction of the school pa- 

 trons in most of the townships where it has been 

 tried. The school authorities wish to have it 

 adopted through the State. 



The question of the jurisdiction of the State 

 superintendent in the matter of investigating the 

 eligibility of persons elected as county superin- 

 tendents before issuing their commissions came 

 up this year in connection with two who were 

 elected in Dauphin County and at Shenandoah. 

 Numerous protests were sent to him. especially in 

 reference to the superintendent-elect in Dauphin 

 County, who was alleged to be ineligible on several 

 grounds. The superintendent applied to the At- 

 torney-General, who decided that a fair interpreta- 

 tion of the law ^ives to the State superintendent 

 power only to inquire into the competency of the 

 elected county superintendent as to the various 

 matters laid down in the act. He must follow the 

 act of 1865. which gives him no authority to investi- 

 gate the moral qualifications of the superintendent. 

 " I am of the opinion, therefore." he said. " that the 

 question of the lack of moral qualifications of this 

 elected county superintendent, as set forth in the 

 protest, is one that the directors of the county of 

 Dauphin have passed upon, and they constitute the 

 only tribunal to which it can be submitted." The 

 Attorney-General also decided that evidence in re- 

 gard to alleged bribery of the directors to secure 

 the election was inadmissible. It was supposed 

 that the commission of the county superintendent- 

 elect after these decisions in his favor would be 

 issued: but the State superintendent refused it on 

 the ground that he had not had the required expe- 

 rience in teaching. 



State Institutions. The amounts paid for 

 these in 1*!)5 were: Hospitals and asylums for the 

 insane, $600,729 ; penitentiaries. $21.531: reforma- 

 Tories.si40.0iil : soldiers' orphans' schools, si 05. <;<;* : 

 Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, at Erie, $100.*i>i>: 

 charitable institutions, $1,010.253; miscellaneous 

 institutions, $203,783. Increased accommodations 

 are also called for in both the charitable and the 



correctional institutions. The Eastern Penitentiary 



has (i()0 more prisoners than can be kept in accord- 

 ance with law. and the Western Penitentiary is in 

 much the same condition. 



Militia. The amount paid for the National 

 Guard in 18115 was $37 S ,171. A board appointed 

 to consider the advisability of increasing the f..r<- ( . 

 of the National Guard of the State, and to give 

 special consideration to the application of the Gray 

 Tnvincibles, of Philadelphia, to be increased to a 

 battalion by the addition of three compani< - 

 ported in June, recommending that if any increase 

 be made in the Guard it be in the cavalry and ar- 

 tillery arm of the service, and that no increase of 

 infantry companies be authorized. The three com- 

 panies proposed for the Gray Invincibles were col- 

 ored troops. The Governor approved the report. 



Railroads. The fiftieth anniversary of the in- 

 corporation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 

 pany was celebrated in Philadelphia, April 13. 

 The most important feature in connection with the 

 celebration was the exercises at the Academy of 

 Music in the afternoon, when the hall was filled 

 with stockholders and other guests, and the pn si- 

 dent made an address giving the history of the 

 company from its incorporation, in 1846. until the 

 present time. Other addresses were made by Gov. 

 Hastings. Mayor Warwick. Frederick Fraley." Vice- 

 President Brooks, and Joseph II. Choate. A recep- 

 tion was held in the evening. 



The annual report of the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 Company for the year ending June 30 shows: 

 Gross earnings. $65.084.819; operating expenses. 

 $45.064.873 : income from operations. $20,019.945 : 

 dividend on stocks owned, $2.569.74(5: interest on 

 bonds owned, $1.427.865 : miscellaneous income, 

 $845.002 : total income from all other sources. 

 $4.551.614; total net income. $*.! 70.221 : total 

 - income, $24.571.560: surplus, June 30, 

 $23.253.147. The company's passenger revenue 

 amounted to $14.866.280 : including mail and ex- 

 press revenue. $17.7*2.227: total freight revenue. 

 S46.4o2.675. The report treats of 53 companies, 

 the capital stock of which aggregates s-jim.css.ooo. 

 while the funded debt is $1667650.213, making a 

 total capitalization of $366,738,213, covering a 

 mileage of 2,696 miles. The cost of construction, 

 equipment, etc.. to June 30 was $115.567.004. the 

 cost per mile being $218.149. The balance sheet 

 showed assets of $276.9*9.sP9, an increase of 

 $4.686.725 over the previous year. Included in the 

 liabilities is the pront-and-loss account of $23.253.- 

 147. an increase over last year of $49.915. 



It was announced in March that the Lehigh Val- 

 ley had restored the 10 per cent, of salaries taken 

 off in 1893. 



An old proceeding against the Lehigh Valley road 

 was settled in May. A complaint was filed in 

 with the Interstate Commission for alleged discrim- 

 ination in freight rates. The proceedings resulted 

 in a finding by the commission that the rates and 

 charges established by the defendant and then in 

 force over its lines for transportation of coal from 

 the Lehigh anthracite coal region to Perth Amboy 

 were unreasonable and unjust. An injunction to 

 restrain the railroad from violating the commis- 

 sion's order and a decree compelling its enforce- 

 ment were applied for. The decision"in the circuit 

 court in May was in favor of the company. 



All the assets of the Philadelphia and Reading 

 Company and the Philadelphia and Reading Coal 

 and Iron Company, which are in the hands of the 

 receivers of the Reading Company, were sold at 

 auction. Sept. 23. to C. H. Coster, a member of the 

 firm of J. P. Morgan & Co.. of New York. 



Building and Loan Associations. The Bank 

 Commissioner, in a report on these associations, 



