618 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



His family yielded to his wish by taking him 

 to the desired spot, where he arrived ia the 

 evening, only to die on the following morning 

 at seven. 



PENNSYLVANIA. The Legislature of 

 Pennsylvania met on the first Tuesday of Jan- 

 uary, and continued in session upward of three 

 months. A resolution approving of the course 

 of President Johnson in his exercise of the veto 

 power was indefinitely postponed in the Lower 

 House by a party vote of 51 Republicans to 33 

 Democrats. The resolution was in the follow- 

 ing words : 



Resolved, That the House of Kepresentatives of 

 Pennsylvania acknowledge with gratitude the course 

 of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, 

 in discouraging every attemptj whether by the Eadi- 

 cals at the North or the secessionists at the South, to 

 overthrow the liberties of the people and the Consti- 

 tution of the nation, and that iris firm and judicious 

 exercise of the veto power and his faithful adherence 

 to the true principles of republican government mark 

 him alike as a statesman and patriot. 



Among the measures adopted by the Legis- 

 lature, was one for the more strict supervision 

 of places and persons concerned in the traffic in 

 intoxicating liquors. According to the pro- 

 visions of this law, no bar is allowed to be 

 open for the sale of liquors between twelve 

 o'clock at night and sunrise ; no liquor can be 

 lawfully sold or given to minors without a 

 written order from their parents, or to any 

 habitual drunkard or intoxicated person ; and, 

 any dealer selling or giving spirituous drinks to 

 any person contrary to the request of the wife, 

 husband, parent, or child of such person, is 

 liable to a forfeiture of his license. Any sheriff, 

 constable, or policeman, is empowered to close 

 up and keep closed any place where this act is 

 violated, and to arrest the offending parties. 



A bill was also passed requiring the railroads 

 of the State to carry all passengers without re- 

 gard to their race or color. 



The State Treasury contained at the begin- 

 ning of the last fiscal year, December 1, 1866, 

 an unexpended balance of $1,741,033.27; 

 the ordinary receipts for the year were 

 $5,423,330.07, and the ordinary expenditures 

 $4,583,696.99; and on the 30th of November, 

 a surplus of $4,661,836.46 remained in the 

 Treasury, of "which $2,937,978.55 was reported 

 by the Treasurer as applicable to the payment 

 of overdue loans. The last Legislature author- 

 ized a loan of $23,000,000, the whole of which 

 was promptly taken up by citizens of the 

 State. The entire debt of the Commonwealth 

 amounts at present to $34,766,431.22 ; while 

 the assets in the Treasury, available in the 

 future for its liquidation, are sufficient to reduce 

 it to $21, 642,573.31, which sum, therefore, rep- 

 resents the excess of the liabilities of the 

 State over itsassets at this time. 



The amount of money expended for the sup- 

 port of public schools in the State during the 

 year was $5,160,750.17, of which only $355,000 

 was appropriated by the State itself. The 

 number of schools maintained by these re- 



sources is 13,435, furnishing instruction to 

 789,389 pupils, under the care of 16,523 

 teachers. There has been an increase of 

 graded schools during the year, the number of 

 that class being now 2,147. While the whole 

 number of teachers has increased by 368, 

 there has been a decrease of 117 in the number 

 of females employed in the public schools. 

 The present ratio of male teachers to female is 

 about six to eight ; the average salary of males 

 is $35.87 per month, that of females $27.51 per 

 month. Reports were received at the School 

 Department from fourteen colleges and thirty- 

 two academies. An act of the Legislature of 1857 

 provided for the division of the State into 

 twelve normal school districts, with an efficient 

 school in each. Four of these normal schools 

 have been organized, and are working with 

 success, and during the past year they have 

 been attended by 2,185 students. The Super- 

 intendent of Public Schools gives it as his 

 opinion that a much larger appropriation should 

 be made by the State for the cause of education, 

 and that the term required each year should be 

 ten months instead of four, as at present. 



There are thirty-nine schools and homes 

 supported by the State, for the care and in- 

 struction of soldiers' orphans. During the 

 year ending November 30, 1867, these institu- 

 tions had under their charge 2,931 pupils, 

 maintained at an average cost of $148.43 pet- 

 year for each pupil. As none are admitted 

 above the age of sixteen years, there will be a 

 yearly decrease in the number of these wards 

 of the Commonwealth. 



The grant of land made to the several States 

 by act of Congress in 1862, for the benefit of 

 colleges devoted specially to a systematic edu- 

 cation in agriculture and the mechanic arts, was 

 accepted, so far as this State was concerned 

 therein, by the last Legislature, and appropria- 

 ted to the benefit of the Agricultural College 

 of Pennsylvania, which thereby became subject 

 to the supervision and guardianship of the 

 State. Commissioners were appointed to sell 

 the scrip, which represented property in 

 700,000 acres of land, and to apply one-tenth 

 of the proceeds to the purchase of sites for the 

 model farms: $439,186 have been realized 

 from the sales, and a good degree of progress 

 has been made in the organization of the Insti- 

 tution to make it meet precisely the require- 

 ments of the act of Congress. Thorough courses 

 of instruction have been laid out in general 

 science, agriculture, mechanical and civil engi- 

 neering, metallurgy and mining, ancient and 

 modern languages, and military tactics. A fac- 

 ulty has been employed, consisting of six pro- 

 fessors and two instructors in the college proper 

 and three instructors in the preparatory gram- 

 mar-school. 



There are two large asylums for the insane in 

 the State : the Pennsylvania State Lunatic 

 Hospital at Harrisburg, and the Western Penn- 

 sylvania Hospital at Pittsburg, both of which 

 are said to be overcrowded, although extensive 



