614 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



On July 18th a mass convention of the De- 

 mocracy of Central and Eastern Pennsylvania 

 was held at Reading. About thirty counties 

 were represented by delegations numbering 

 from one hundred to fifteen hundred, and amid 

 much enthusiasm the following, among other 

 resolutions, were adopted : 



Resolved, by the Democracy of Eastern and Central 

 Pennsylvania, in mass convent-ion assembled, That the 

 contest upon which we ar& now entering is simply 

 whether the Federal Union, under the Constitution, 

 as adopted and construed by its illustrious authors, 

 with the reserved rights of the States unimpaired, 

 shall continue to be our form of government, or 

 whether we shall hare forced upon us, by Congres- 

 sional usurpation and revolutionary action a central 

 consolidated government, bound by no constitutional 

 restraints, and in which the liberties of the people 

 would be at the mercy of a bare majority of Con- 

 gress, controlled by a self-constituted and irrespon- 

 sible central directory. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party are now, as 

 ever, the only true Union party of the land; that we 

 point with pride to the unselfish tmi untiring efforts 

 made by all Democrats and ConseiTatives in and out 

 of Congress, to preserve the Union before the war 

 commenced, by conciliation and compromise, the 

 only means by which it was formed, and without 

 which it will never be more than a name; that the 

 refusal of the Republican party to yield their parti- 

 san prejudices for the sake of peace and union was 

 the immediate cause of the war, and posterity will 

 hold them responsible. 



Resolved, That we hold all departments of the gov- 

 ernment to its official and solemn declaration that 

 the war was not prosecuted for any purpose of con- 

 quest or subjugation, but to maintain the supremacv 

 of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union with 

 all the dienity, equality, and rights of the several 

 States unimpaired ; that the war having ended by 

 the surrender of the rebel armies, the people of the 

 South are subject only to such penalties as the Con- 

 stitution of our common country, and the laws passed 

 in pursuance of it, may prescribe, and are entitled to 

 all the rights which that constitution insures to all 

 the people of all the States. 



Resolved, That we are opposed to negro suffrage, 

 believing that the white man of America are able to 

 govern themselves without the aid of an inferior race, 

 and that we disapprove of the amendment to tho 

 Constitution, it being nothing but the offer of a re- 

 ward to the States for grant! ag negro suffrage, and 

 the threat of a punishment in case of refusal. 



The financial condition of the State indi- 

 cates its growing prosperity &nd immense re- 

 sources. The total receipts into the treasury 

 during the fiscal year ending Nove?nber 30th, 

 including the balance of the previous year of 

 $2,373,668.14, were $8,203.336.68. The pay- 

 ments of the year were $6,462,303.41. 



The public debt at the same date amounted 

 to $35,622,052, and the assets in the treasury 

 were $13,086,033.27. 



Liabilities in excess of assets, Novem- 

 ber 30,_1861 $28,143,060.33 



Liabilities in excess of assets, Novem- 

 ber 30, 1866 22,536,018.89 



Improvement in treasury since 1861. . . $5,612,041.47 



The extraordinary expenditures during the 

 war, and since its close, in payments growing 

 out of it by authority of acts of Assembly, 

 have amounted to upward of five millions of 

 dollars, which, added to the actual payment of 



the indebtedness of the State, and money in 

 the treasury for that purpose, shows the rev- 

 enues, above the ordinary expenditures, to 

 have amounted to $10,612,000, which would 

 all have been applied to the payment of the debt 

 of the Commonwealth in the last six years. 



A wise economy in expenditure will insure 

 the entire payment of the public debt within 

 the period of fifteen years. 



The cause of public education is attracting 

 increased attention. The common-school sys- 

 tem of the State has been less efficient than 

 that of many other States, and less ably sus- 

 tained than the means of the people would 

 warrant; but it has succeeded well amid many 

 difficulties, and is becoming more and more 

 popular with the people. The State grants 

 liberal aid by annual appropriations; county 

 superintendents have exercised a salutary su- 

 pervision over teachers and school-houses, ele- 

 vating qualifications of the former, and increas- 

 ing the comfort and suitableness of the lat- 

 ter. There are three normal schools, whioh 

 have been well sustained, in fact filled to their 

 utmost capacity. A fourth was established in 

 September. To each of these schools the State 

 appropriated $15,000, in instalments of $5,000. 

 The following statistics give the result of the 

 administration of the system in the whole State, 

 including the county and city of Philadelphia : 



Whole number of schools in 1866 13,146 



Whole number of teachers 16,141 



Whole number of pupils 725,312 



Average attendance of pupils 478,066 



Total cost of tuition $2,748,795.08 



Total cost of fuel and contingencies in 



1866 $639,385.98 



Total cost of system in the whole State, 

 including taxes levied and State appro- 

 priation in 1866 $4,195,258.57 



The amount appropriated by the State for the 

 support of the schools was $354,435. The law 

 does not allow children to enter the schools 

 until they have arrived at the ages of six 

 years, and each school must be opened four 

 months in the year. 



That this period is considered too short ia 

 emphatically shown by the following extract 

 from the annual report of the State superin- 

 tendent: "A large proportion of the children 

 of the Commonwealth receive all the scholas- 

 tic education they have at the common schools. 

 If then they can have but four months' school in 

 a year, and they attend the whole of that time 

 each year, between the ages of six and twenty 

 one years, they will enjoy the privileges of the 

 school but sixty months, and these months ex- 

 tend over fifteen years. In other words, they 

 will attend school five years in fifteen, pro- 

 vided they attend the whole four months each 

 year. In this way, a child attends school four 

 months, and then remains at home eight, dur- 

 ing which time he forgets fully one-third ot 

 what he learned in the four, so that so far as 

 progress is concerned, he has but about two 

 find two-thirds months' schooling In the year. 

 This estimate is based upon the understand- 



