632 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Pennsylvania holds a high rank as an agri- 

 cultural State. According to the Federal cen- 

 sus of 1870, it ranked after Illinois, New York, 

 and Ohio, in the extent of improved land in 

 farms and the total value of all farm produc- 

 tions ; next to New York and Ohio in the cash 

 value of farms ; and next to New York in the 

 value of farming implements and machinery. 

 The total number of farms was 174,041, and 

 the average size 103 acres. There were 10,028 

 containing from 3 to 10 acres, 15,905 from 10 

 to 20, 48^151 from 20 to 50, 61,268 from 50 to 

 100, 38,273 from 100 to 500, 76 from 500 to 

 1,000, and V6 having over 1,000 acres. There 

 were 11,515,965 acres of improved land in 

 farms, 5,740,864 woodland, and 737,371 other 

 unimproved land. 



As a dairy State it ranked next to New York 

 in the number of milch-cows and the quantity 

 of butter produced ; but in the quantity of milk 

 sold it came after New York, Ohio, and Michi- 

 gan, and it ranked tenth in the production of 

 farm and eighth in factory cheese. The most 

 important dairy counties were Berks, Brad- 

 ford, Bucks, Chester, Crawford, Erie, Lancas- 

 ter, Montgomery, Susquehanna, and York, in 

 all of which the number of milch-cows ranged 

 from 20,000 to 35,000, and the amount of but- 

 ter produced from 1,500,000 to 3,700,000 pounds. 



Under the amended constitution of 1873, 

 which went into force January 1, 1874, the 

 General Assembly consists of 60 Senators, 

 elected for four years, and 200 Representatives, 

 chosen for two years. Regular sessions are 

 held biennially, beginning on the first Tuesday 

 of January in odd years. Extra sessions may 

 be convened by the Governor, but annual ad- 

 journed sessions are prohibited after 1878. In 

 case of a vacancy in the office of United States 

 Senator from this State when the Legislature 

 is not in session, the Governor is required to 

 convene that body on notice not exceeding sixty 

 days. Members of the Legislature receive 

 $1,000 for each regular session not exceeding 

 one hundred days, and $10 a day for time, not 

 exceeding fifty days at any session, necessarily 

 spent after the hundred days ; also, twenty cents 

 a mile for going to and from the capital. There 

 are strict constitutional limitations on special 

 legislation. The Executive Department consists 

 of a Governor, annual salary $10,000 ; Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, who is president of the Senate, 

 $3,000; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 

 $4,000; Attorney-General, $3,500; Auditor- 

 General, $3,000; State Treasurer, $5,000 ; Sec- 

 retary of Internal Affairs, $3,000 ; and Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, $2,500. The 

 Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary 

 of Internal Affairs, are elected by the people 

 for four years, the Auditor-General for three, 

 and the Treasurer for two years. The Attor- 

 ney-General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 

 and Superintendent, are appointed for four 

 years by the Governor, with the consent of 

 two-thirds of the Senators. The Governor is 

 ineligible to the office for the next succeeding 



term. He may grant commutations of sentence 

 and pardons only upon the written recommen- 

 dation of the Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary 

 of the Commonwealth, Attorney-General, and 

 Secretary of Internal Affairs, or any three of 

 them, after full hearing upon due public notice 

 and in open session. In addition to the ordi- 

 nary veto powers, he may exercise a partial 

 veto on appropriation bills. The Secretary of 

 the Commonwealth keeps a record of all official 

 acts and proceedings of the Governor. The 

 Secretary of Internal Affairs succeeds to the 

 duties of the Surveyor-General, which title is 

 now abolished. His department embraces a 

 Bureau of Industrial Statistics, and he is re- 

 quired to discharge such duties relating to cor- 

 porations, and to the charitable institutions, 

 the agricultural, manufacturing, mining, min- 

 eral, timber, and other material or business in- 

 terests of the State, as may be prescribed by 

 law. He must report annually to the General 

 Assembly. The judicial power is vested in a 

 Supreme Court, Courts of Common Pleas, of 

 Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery, 

 of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Orphans' 

 Courts, and Magistrates' Courts. The Supreme 

 Court consists of seven judges, who are elected 

 by the people for twenty-one years, but are not 

 eligible for reelection, and receive an annual 

 salary of $7,000 each. The judge having the 

 shortest term to serve becomes Chief-Justice. 

 This court has original jurisdiction only in 

 cases of injunction where a corporation is a 

 party defendant, of habeas corpus, of manda- 

 mus to courts of inferior jurisdiction, and of 

 quo warranto as to all officers of the Common- 

 wealth whose jurisdiction extends over the 

 State. Annual sessions of the Supreme Court 

 are held in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Sunbury, 

 and Pittsburg. The judges of the Supreme 

 Court, as well as those of the Common Pleas, 

 are justices of Oyer and Terminer and General 

 Jail Delivery in the several counties. The State 

 is divided into forty-three judicial districts, in 

 each of which one or more Common Pleas 

 judges are elected for ten years. Judges of 

 the Courts of Common Pleas are also judges 

 of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer, of Quar-' 

 ter Sessions of the Peace, of General Jail De- 

 livery, and of Orphans' Courts, where separate 

 tribunals of this kind have not been established. 

 They also act as justices of the peace in crimi- 

 nal matters in their respective districts. There 

 are special courts in Philadelphia and Pitts- 

 burg. The State is divided into two districts 

 for holding United States Courts. In the east- 

 ern district courts are held in Philadelphia, in 

 the western in Pittsburg, Williamsport, and 

 Erie. The right of voting is given to every 

 male citizen, not under twenty-one years of 

 age, who has been a citizen of the United States 

 at least one month, and a resident of the State 

 one year, and of the election district two months 

 next preceding the election; if twenty-two 

 years of age or upward, he must have paid 

 within two years a State or county tax assessed 



