666 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



ed the appointment of 23, naming them by 

 their titles, and indicating the number of their 

 respective members. One of the committees 

 set down in the list reported being u On Dec- 

 laration of Eights," a portion of the reporting 

 committee dissented from the rest on this one 

 point, and presented a minority report: They 

 averred that the convention had no power of 

 appointing such a committee, as the Declara- 

 tion of Rights was expressly exempted and ex- 

 cluded from the action of the convention by 

 the act of the Legislature which had called 

 the convention into being. 



The majority report was, on motion, taken 

 up for consideration. An earnest debate en- 

 sued, embracing the question whether the 

 convention had the power of subjecting to its 

 examination, for the purpose of revision and 

 amendment, a subject expressly withheld and 

 excluded from its action by the act of the 

 Legislature under the authority of which the 

 convention had assembled. Several among the 

 delegates denied the existence of such power 

 in the convention, mainly upon the reason 

 mentioned before; a number of them, on the 

 contrary, asserted it, upon the assumption 

 that the Legislature had not the power of 

 restricting the action of the convention by 

 the exclusion of the Declaration of Rights. 

 Some said that "the convention is equal, if 

 not superior, to the Legislature." The result 

 of the debate was, that the question on the 

 appointment of a committee " On Declaration 

 of Rights " was decided in the affirmative 

 yeas 106, nays 18. 



Four more committees were, on motion, 

 added to those recommended by the Commit- 

 tee of Fifteen, the number being thus increased 

 to twenty-seven. Their appointment, together 

 with the names of their respective members, 

 was announced by the president on the 25th 

 of November, their titles being as follows : 

 No. 1, " On Legislature," seven members ; 

 No. 2, "On Legislation," fifteen; No. 3, "On 

 Executive Department," nine; No. 4, "On 

 Judiciary," fifteen ; No. 5, " On Suffrage, Elec- 

 tion, and Representation," fifteen; No. 6, 

 " On Impeachment and Removal from Office," 

 five; No. 7, "On Commissions, Offices, Oath 

 of Office, and In compatibility of Office," nine; 

 No. 8, "On Education," nine; No. 9, "On 

 Cities and City Charters," nine ; No. 10, " On 

 Counties, Townships, and Boroughs," nine ; 

 No. 11, " On County, Township, and Borough 

 Officers," nine; No. 12, "On Militia," five; 

 No. 13, " On Public and Municipal Debts and 

 Sinking Funds," nine ; No. 14, " On State In- 

 stitutions and Buildings," seven ; No. 15, " On 

 Religious and Charitable Corporations and So- 

 cieties," seven; No. 16, "On Railroads and 

 Canals," fifteen; No. IT, "On Private Cor- 

 porations, Foreign and Domestic, other than 

 Railroads, Canals, and, Religious and Charitable 

 Corporations and Societies," fifteen; No. 18, 

 "On Declaration of Rights," nine; No. 19, 

 " On Future Amendments," five ; No. 20, " On 



Constitutional Sanctions," nine ; No. 21, " On 

 Schedule," nine; No. 22, "On Revision and 

 Adjustment," five ; No. 23, " On Accounts and 

 Expenditures of the Convention," five; No. 



24, " On Printing and Binding," seven ; No] 



25, " Onlndustrial Interests and Labor," nine; 

 No. 26, "On Agriculture, Mining, Manufac- 

 tures, and Commerce," nine; No. 27, "On 

 Revenue, Taxation, and Finance," nine. . 



Having completed its organization and ap- 

 pointed all of its officers, the resolution for 

 adjournment from the 27th of November, 

 1872, to the first Tuesday of January, 1873, 

 when the convention should meet and continue 

 its sessions at Philadelphia, was taken up, and 

 passed by a vote of 69 to 42. 



The following is a condensed statement of 

 the public receipts and expenditures of 

 State within the year ending November 

 1872, and the aggregate amount of her indebt- 

 edness up to that date : 



Balance in Treasury, November 30, 1871 .... $1,476,808 59 

 Ordinary receipts during the fiscal year end- 

 ing November 30, 1872 7,148,037 45 



Total in Treasury during year ending No- 

 vember 30, 1872 $8,625,44604 



DISBURSEMENTS. 



Ordinary expenses paid dur- 

 ing year ending November 



30,1872 $2,960,631 55 



Loans, etc., redeemed 2,476,326 00 



Interest on loans paid 1,706,032 88 



Total disbursements 7,142,990 43 



Balance in Treasury, November 30, 1872. . . . $1,482,455 61 



PUBLIC DEBT. 



The public debt on Novem- 

 ber 30, 1871, was $28,980,071 73 



Add Cliambersburg certifi- 

 cates 299,748 91 



Add Agricultural College 

 Land Scrip fund, held in 

 trust, as per Act approved 



April 3, 1872 500,000 00 



$29,779,820 



Deduct amount paid by Com- 

 missioners oi the Sinking 

 Fund during the year end- 

 ing November 30, 1872. . . . 2,476,326 



Public debt, Nov. 30, 1872. . . $27,303,494 



Deduct assets in Sinking 



Fund $9,300,000 00 



And cash balance in Treasury 1,482,455 61 



Amount of assets and cash 10,782,455 



Balance of public debt unprovided for $16,521,039 03 



which can be extinguished in ten years by the 

 annual payment of $1,600,000. 



During the last six years, payments on the 

 debt have been made as follows : 



Amount paid in 1867 $1,794.64450 



...1868 2,414,81664 



1869 472.406 18 



1870 1,702,879 05 



1871 2,131.590 17 



1872 2,476,326 00 



Total payments , $10,992,062 54 



Being a little over 29 per cent, on the debt 



due December 1, 1866, which was then $37,- 



704,409.77. 



The education of youth appears to be in a 



most satisfactory condition. Although Penn- 



