I 'KXNSYLVANI A. 



619 



additions have In > n made to them during the 

 w buildim/s Imvr been erected 



i llrspital. nil ihr Ohio I: 



l.\v I itt-I.urg. Several other 

 charitable institution more or 1. 



iVoin thr State, among which an- lh 

 In tlio can- and instruction of tin- deaf ami 

 dumb, tlio lilind, and tin- feeble-minded. All 

 an' reported as doing \vi-ll in tin- work for 

 which they were designed. 



The Stall- penitentiaries an- likewise crowded 

 with inmates, and tlio nood i> d-lt of more ex- 

 oommodationa and a better system of 

 management in tin- various prisons, both State 

 unity. Accordingly an act passed the 

 (icneral Assembly, in April last, providing for 

 j'po'mtment of five commissioners " to in- 

 quire into the various systems of prison disci- 

 pline, as practised in other States and coun- 

 One of the gentlemen appointed on this 

 commission has vi.-ited Europe, and the others 

 h:i\v been engaged in making observations in 

 this country, but no report of their labors has 

 as yet been submitted to the Legislature. 



The Department of Transportation, created 

 during the war for the purpose of disinterring 

 the bodies of deceased Pennsylvania soldiers 

 on distant battle-fields and transporting them 

 to the homes of their friends or relatives, 

 1 to exist on the 30th of November, and 

 all the papers and business of the department 

 were transferred to the office of the adjutant- 

 general. For the last year of its existence the 

 expenses of this department were $32,539.40, 

 and claims to the amount of $4,500 remain un- 

 settled. The work on the Gettysburg Ceme- 

 tery has made considerable progress, though 

 some delay has been experienced on account of 

 the difficulty in obtaining suitable marble for 

 statuary. 



An act of the last Legislature established a 

 t'on-e of police in the mining districts of Schuyl- 

 kill and Northumberland Counties for the bet- 

 ter protection of the inhabitants and their 

 property. Before this measure was adopted 

 numerous crimes and outrages were committed 

 in those sections of the State with impunity. 

 Murders and robberies were of frequent occur- 

 rence, and the civil authorities found it impossi- 

 ble to bring the perpetrators to justice, or to 

 prevent future offences of the kind. Conse- 

 quently a general feeling of insecurity and 

 terror prevailed, and large amounts of capital 

 were withdrawn from investment in the locali- 

 ties int'ested with this spirit of lawlessness. Di- 

 rectly after the passage of the above-men- 

 tioned law the Governor appointed a marshal 

 of police with an efficient body of subordinates, 

 and the lawless combinations have been dis- 

 d, and quiet restored in the mining dis- 

 trict-;. Complaints were made of disturbances 

 in the oil regions similar to those which pre- 

 vailed among the mines before the establish- 

 ment of this police force, and it is now pro- 

 ! to amend the law so as to extend its 

 operations over those parts also. 



. i-ion was also made by the last Legisla- 

 tor the revision of tl, ( - eh 11 , 



No comple;. 



lVnn-\ haiiiu has ever Men made. ' 

 sioneis fr tin- purpose were appointed in 

 and were engaged on the work t.. 

 but did not wholly complete the code. A 

 pletion of their work is now propo- 

 \\itli a thorough codification of the .-': 

 which have -been adopted since that period. 

 Two years are allowed for this work, ami 

 according fco the original resolution the commis- 

 sioners are not to include in their labors any re- 

 vision of the work actually performed by the 

 commissioners of 1830. lion. David Derrick- 

 son, W. Maclay Hall, Esq., and Wayne McVeigh, 

 Esq., are the commissioners apj ointed to 

 vise, collate, and digest all such public acts and 

 statutes of the civil code of this State as are 

 general and permanent in their nature." The 

 benefits expected to be derived from the work 

 which these gentlemen have taken in band 

 are : 



1. The correction of redundancies, omis- 

 sions, repetitions, and inconsistencies in the 

 existing statutes. 



2. The framing of general laws to take 

 the place of a great mass of local statutes which 

 have continually embarrassed the legislation of 

 the State. 



3. The conferring upon the courts many 

 powers now exercised by the Legislature, 

 thereby relieving that body of -a great part 

 of the special legislation which has occupied 

 much of its attention heretofore. 



Several bills are already prepared by the 

 commissioners for the action of the Legislature, 

 and they request such an amendment of the 

 joint resolution of last session as to allow them 

 to make a revision of the Digest of 1830, and 

 te give them three years in which to finish 

 their work. 



The State election of Pennsylvania for 1867 

 was held on the second Tuesday in October, for 

 the choice of a Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, to hold office for fifteen years from the 

 first Monday in December. Nominations were 

 made by the two political parties in June. 

 The Democratic Convention met in the Repre- 

 sentatives,' Hall of the capitol at Harrisburg on 

 the llth, and organized by choosing Charles 

 E. Boyle for permanent president. George W. 

 Sharswood, of Philadelphia, was nominated by 

 the convention for the office of Judge of the 

 Supreme Court. The principles of the party, 

 as represented in the political campaign then 

 inaugurated, were set forth in the following 

 resolutions: 



1. That wo steadfastly adhere to the principles of 

 civil government established by the founders of the 

 Union ; and in the present conflict of legislative usur- 

 pation with constitutional law, we esteem a wise, 

 uprijjht, and fearless .judiciary the great bulwark ot 

 public liberty and individual right. 



2. The union of the States perpetual, and the Fed- 

 eral Government supreme within its constitutional 

 limits. 



