PENNSYLVANIA. 



633 



$10,736.98; notaries public, $7,450; the auc- 

 tioneers, $13,765.34; the peddlers, $2,830.38; 

 the patent-medicine men for license, $3,875.91. 



Oft his revenue of upward of seven mill- 

 ions, $1,563,029.20 was absorbed in payment 

 of interest on the State debt, the largest por- 

 tion of the bonds having been raised from 

 gold-bearing fives to six per cents, in currency. 

 The expenditures of the executive, legislative, 

 and judicial departments of the government 

 amounted to $990,987.77. For the common 

 schools, $804,097.89 was expended. The Sol- 

 diers' Orphan Schools consumed $469,308.94 

 more. Charitabb institutions cost $439,307.- 

 13. The expenses of the Constitutional Con- 

 vention were $410,723,80. Public buildings 

 and grounds cost $90,591.23. The cost of the 

 penitentiaries to the State was $73,882, and 

 of the House of Refuge, $55,325. Militia ex- 

 penses were $34,227, and the Williamsport 

 riot cost $24,306 ; $50,334 was expended in 

 pensions and gratuities; $1,551,762 was ap- 

 plied to the pament of the principal of the 

 State debt. 



Wit'i these heavy expenditures the balance 

 in the Treasury on December 1, 1873, was little 

 less than $2,000,000. 



It is expected that in 1874 the receipts from 

 all sources will be $1,500,000 less than the re- 

 ceipts of 1873, while the expenditures will not 

 be diminished. This loss of revenue will be 

 largely due to the repeal of taxes bearing 

 heavily upon the industrial interests of the 

 Commonwealth, and partly to the prostration 

 of business. The receipts of 1875 may be 

 about the same as those of 1874, but the ex- 

 penditures will be greater, owing to the addi- 

 tional outlay necessary for schools, Legislature, 

 and judiciary under the new constitution, 

 which will then be in full force. Notwith- 

 standing this enormous decrease in the re- 

 ceipts and increase in expenditn res, it is believed 

 that by the most rigid economy in every branch 

 of the government and moderate appropria- 

 tions the revenues in the future will be suffi- 

 cient to meet all the demands on the Treasury 

 and leave a balance to reduce the indebted- 

 ness of the State, as required by the constitu- 

 tion. 



In compliance with the constitutional amend- 

 ment of 1857, the Legislature in 1858 created a 

 sinking fund for the payment of the interest 

 on the State debt, and for an annual reduction 

 of the principal in a sum not less than $250,- 

 000 per annum. In addition to the securities 

 designated by the amendment, the revenues 

 arisin? from certain taxes were assigned to 

 this fund. From that time, each succeeding 

 year, the interest on the debt lias been punc- 

 tually paid, and the portion of principal re- 

 deemed instead of amounting to $250,000 has 

 grown to the immense sum of $1,000,000 to 

 $2,000,000 per year. The reason is a simple 

 one; the revenues set apart for the sinking 

 fund, by the natural growth of these special 

 taxes, have become annually much larger, 



while the amount required to be paid on ac- 

 count of interest, by reason of the rapid de- 

 crease of the public debt, has every year be- 

 come smaller, and in this way the annual 

 credits to the sinking fund have swollen to 

 proportions never contemplated by the origi- 

 nal advocates of the measure. 



The cause of education is making decided 

 progress in Pennsylvania. The State is in- 

 creasing the number of schools, enlarging each 

 year the sphere of iustruction, extending the 

 time within which schooling may be obtained 

 and supplying more of the conveniences neces- 

 sary for the comfort and health of scholars and 

 teachers ; still there are many defects in the 

 present system. 



Prominent among these is the lack of proper 

 training and other qualifications of the teachers 

 of the schools. " Of the 15,003 teachers receiv- 

 ing certificates to teach during the year, only 

 374 were found to have a thorough knowledge 

 of reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and 

 grammar, and that practical preparation for 

 their profession which insures success," is the 

 startling declaration made by the Superin- 

 tendent of Common Schools. The necessity of 

 establishing normal schools wherein students 

 are specially qualified and trained for teachers 

 is conspicuously shown in these statistics, and 

 it is a gratification to know that twelve of 

 these institutions have been erected or are in 

 process of erection in various parts of the 

 State. The Governor, in his address to the 

 Legislature, expresses himself in favor of a 

 system of compulsory education. He says: 

 "More thorough examination of the subject 

 strengthens me in the conviction that the 

 State must adopt some mode to compel the 

 attendance of those children whose parents 

 are unwilling or unable to allow their off- 

 spring to avail themselves of the benefits our 

 school system affords. The solution of this im- 

 portant question presents grave difficulties, but 

 I expect to see them all surmounted. Some 

 plan must be devised to snatch these children 

 from the career of idleness and crime to which 

 ignorance will consign them. By far the 

 greater portion of the inmates of our peniten- 

 tiaries never attended schools, or had the ad- 

 vantages of education. Is modern civilization 

 unequal to the task of rescuing the children 

 of the indigent and the criminal frcm such a 

 fate?" 



The Republican State Convention assembled 

 at Harrisburg, on August 13th, to nominate 

 candidates for State Treasurer and a Judge of 

 the Supreme Court. W. R. Mackey was nomi- 

 nated for Treasurer, and Isaac Gordon for 

 Judge of the Supreme Court. The following 

 resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, That ths Republicans of Pennsylvania, 

 in convention assembled, renew their expressions 

 of confidence and devotion to the principles of re- 

 publicanism, and declare 



1. That they heartily indorse and we read^pt the 

 Republican national and State platforms of 1872. 



2. That the national Administration demands 



