620 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Drepared, was $28,930,071.73. Of this, $28,- 

 866,145.16 was funded debt, and the remainder, 

 $113,926.57, unfunded. The total amount of 

 assets remaining in the hands of the Commis- 

 sioners of the Sinking Fund, November 30th, 

 was $9,400,000. Add to this, the cash balance 

 in the Treasury at the close of the fiscal year, 

 $1,476,808.59, and the balance of public debt 

 unprovided for is shown to be $18,103,263.14. 

 The debt has been reduced, during the year, $2,- 

 131,590.17; and the average reduction during 

 the last five years has been $1,744,867.75. The 

 receipts into the Treasury during the year 

 amounted to $8,500,888.44, of which sum 

 $708,710.67 were from the United States Gov- 

 ernment on ac.count of Pennsylvania war- 

 claims; and the disbursements amounted to 

 $7,024,079.85. The balance in the Treasury 

 at the beginning of the fiscal year was $1,302,- 

 942.82. The State issued certificates of loan, 

 amounting to $299,748.91 for relief of citi- 

 zens of Ghambersburg and vicinity, etc., which 

 bear six per cent, interest, payable at the 

 Treasury semiannually. The amount of loans 

 now overdue is $2,502,695.16, which can be 

 paid as rapidly as presented to the Commis- 

 sioners of the Sinking Fund. There are $3,- 

 879,400 of the debt payable in 1872, and de- 

 mandable in 1877, which can be paid within 

 the five years previous to their maturity, at 

 an annual average of $775,880. The present 

 condition of the war-claims against the na- 

 tional Government is as foilows : 



Amount of claims filed $3,172,218 19 



Allowed and collected 2,910,469 11 



Balance at present in suspense $261,749 08 



Further claims to be made 100,00000 



Total suspended and outstanding claims yet 

 to be collected $361,749 03 



One-sixth part of the revenue of the State 

 was from taxes on corporation stocks. The 

 receipts from this source, during the last four 

 years, have annually exceeded a million dollars. 

 The receipts from the tax on personal property 

 amounted, in 1871, to $499,862.24, while the 

 revenue yielded by foreign insurance com- 

 panies alone was $332,933.60. The valuation 

 of taxable personal property in the State was 

 $171,686,918; amount of assessment, $620,620.- 

 08. 



The Legislature was in session nearly two 

 months beyond the usual limit of one hundred 

 days. It adjourned finally on the 29th of May. 

 The bills passed were generally only of local 

 interest, affecting local affairs. Much time 

 was consumed in discussing a proposed elec- 

 tion law for Philadelphia, providing that return 

 judges, two in each ward, one chosen by the 

 majority, and one by the minority of the Board 

 of Aldermen, shall receive duplicate returns 

 of elections, count them in the presence of the 

 judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and 

 sign the certificates. This was finally rejected. 

 Many days were also occupied with a contest 

 over the appropriation bills. A joint resolution 

 was passed opposing land-grants to railroads 



by the General Government. The Governor 

 vetoed a large number of bills, the most im- 

 portant of which provided for the relief of the 

 Mechanics' National Bank and Girard National 

 Bank, both of Philadelphia, from taxation. 

 The effect of the passage of this bill would 

 be to take from the State Treasury $55,000. 



The fall election was for Auditor-General 

 and Surveyor-General of the State, members 

 of the Legislature, and county officers. The 

 Eepublican Convention for the nomination of 

 State officers was held on May 17th, at Harris- 

 burg. Colonel David Stanton, of Beaver, was 

 nominated for Auditor-General, and Colonel 

 Kobert B. Beath, of Schuylkill, Surveyor-Gen- 

 eral. The following are the principal features 

 of the platform which was adopted : 



The ^Republicans of Pennsylvania, assembled in 

 convention, declared that 



1. They demand of the Legislature the immediate 

 passage of an act calling a State convention to revise 

 and amend the constitution, for the purpose, among 

 other things, of abolishing and prohibiting special 

 legislation ; securing the election cf all State officers 

 by the people ; establishing a judicial system that 

 will make justice prompt and sure, and providing 

 for the passage of general laws that shall so encourage 

 industrial enterprise that Pennsylvania shall be en- 

 abled to take her just place in the front rank of all 

 the States. 



2. They demand of Congress that the credit of the 

 nation shall be faithfully maintained ; home > industry 

 encouraged and protected ; an adequate civil-service 

 system established for regulating appointments to 

 office ; taxes reduced to the lowest possible limit con- 

 sistent with the steady but not too rapid extinction 

 of the national debt : the honor of the republic sus- 

 tained at home and abroad ; the rights of every man 

 protected in all the States ; and every man, entitled 

 thereto, secured in the polling of one vote, and no 

 more, at each election. 



3. They declare their unalterable attachment to 

 the principle of protection to home industry in the 

 levying of tariff duties, in accordance with the wise 

 policy which has existed from the foundation of the 

 Government to this time. 



4. They commend the policy of retrenchment and 

 wholesome enforcement of the laws, which has pre- 

 vailed since the election of General Grant to the 

 presidency, and which has resulted, in the first two 

 years of his administration, in reducing the national 

 debt over $200,000,000, and in curtailing the taxes 

 to the extent of $80,000,000 annually. They com- 

 mend, also, the similar policy which has prevailed 

 under Eepublican rule in Pennsylvania, resulting 

 in paying off the war-debt of $3,500,000 ; reducing 

 the State debt from $40,000,000 to $30,000,000 ; and 

 in abolishing the State tax on real estate. It is to 

 the fact, that both the State and nation have been in 

 Eepublican hands, we owe the accomplishment of 

 such gratifying results ; and it is to the continuance 

 of that party in power the people must alone look 

 for the continuance of this policy. The return of 

 the Democrats to power in either State or nation, 

 must inevitably be attended with a return to ex- 

 travagance in expenditures, to the impairment of 

 State and national credit, and to the abandonment 

 of that protection to free labor under which our in- 

 dustry has thriven and our people been made pros- 

 perous. 



5. That, in the judgment of this convention, the 

 time has come when the State tax on personal estate 

 may be safely abolished, and the other taxes, im- 

 posed by State laws, may also prudently be reduced 

 without injury to the credit of the Commonwealth. 



9. That the administration of President Grant 



