PENNSYLVANIA. 



681 



supervision, and with the unfettered power to 

 appoint the other principal executive officers, 

 except those two (the chief financial and chief 

 law officer) whose duties immediately affect the 

 matter of public expenditures, and with the 

 power of removal, subject, however, to the ap- 

 proval of the Governor. 2. The determination 

 in each year of the sum of money requisite to 

 be expended for all objects and purposes, and 

 what part thereof is to be raised by taxation 

 and the levying of the latter sum. The appro- 

 priation, at the same time, of the whole sum 

 to be expended to the several objects and pur- 

 poses. The prohibition of any expenditure be- 

 yond the sums appropriated by making all con- 

 tracts or engagements in excess thereof void. 

 3. A further enforcement of the maxim " Pay 

 as you go," by a prohibition against borrowing 

 money or incurring debt, except under certain 

 specified conditions not likely to arise often. 



The Pennsylvania Commission, in their re- 

 port, say in relation to the code : " If time and 

 experience should develop defects, they c.m 

 easily be supplied by future legislation, and 

 we feel assured that the benefits resulting 

 from the adoption of the system we propose 

 will amply compensate for any mistake or omis- 

 sion in mere matters of detail, which are of 

 minor importance." 



The following remarks of Governor Hart- 

 ranft on this important subject of future legis- 

 lation are too applicable to be overlooked : 



Admitting fully all that the Commission say as to 

 the difficulty and delicacy of repealing all the legisla- 

 tion upon the statute-books referring to municipali- 

 ties, I am still of the opinion that no permanent reform 

 can be justly expected while these loopholes ofeseape 

 from the provisions of a general plan exist ; and I 

 deem it of primary importance, at any risk, that this 

 accumulation of special legislation should be swept 

 away and the rights vested thereunder be put, if 

 possible, without manifest and lasting injustice, in 

 the way of merging into the general system. There 

 is much force in the objection of the minority report, 

 that " the bill proposed does not specifically repeal 

 any law," and that u it is hut one more added to the 

 numerous acts governing our cities" ; and it is very 

 doubtful whether section twenty-seven of the sched- 

 ule of the bill, which provides that "the Councils 

 of existing cities shall, within one year from the ap- 

 proval of this act, designate by ordinance such of the 

 special acts of Assembly, or parts thereof in force, 

 and not inconsistent herewith, as they severally de- 

 sire to retain in their respective cities, and all acts 

 not so designated shall be, and the same are hereby 

 repealed from and after the approval of said ordi- 

 nance," wi 11 lead to any practical results. It is barely 

 possible that what the Commission hesitated to 

 undertake will be satisfactorily performed by the 

 cities' Councils. But even this objection, of what- 

 ever force it may be, ought not to deter you from the 

 passage of the act. If, in the practical operation of 

 the act, obnoxious special legislation should still 

 survive or be revived, it is something which experi- 

 ence alone, perhaps, can prove ; and it will be still 

 in the power of the Legislature, when its pernicious 

 influence shall have been clearly demonstrated, to 

 repeal it, or bring it into harmony with the improved 

 system. 



I regret, also, the supposed necessity of retaining 

 and extending the classification of cities ; the rea^ 

 sons in support thereof seem to me rather sepcious 

 than sound. From an examination of the provi- 



sions of the bill. I think but little difficulty or in- 

 convenience will be found in adapting its machin- 

 ery uniformly to all classes of cities. The creation 

 of several classes, containing but a single city each, 

 subjects the system and the tax-payers to the dan- 

 gers of the most injurious special legislation. To 

 avoid the evils of such legisJation, the Commission 

 propose an amendment to the Constitution that the 

 General Assembly shall pass no laws relating to the 

 affairs of any class which embraces but one city, 

 " unless upon application made by joint resolution 

 of the Councils thereof, passed by the votes of two 

 thirds of all the members elected to each branch, re- 

 corded by yeas and nays, approved by the Mayor." 

 But if it be thought necessary to make a distinction 

 between large and small cities, the trouble of pass- 

 ing such an amendment will be obviated, and every 



con- 

 taining one hundred thousand inhabitants or over to 

 constitute one class, and all with a population of less 

 than one hundred thousand the other. 



In conclusion, I hope the bill will be early brought 

 forward for discussion and finally passed substan- 

 tially as it is ; if not for the government of all the 

 cities of the Commonwealth , at least for all cities con- 

 taining one hundred thousand inhabitants or over, 

 or those which now constitute the first and second 

 classes. As applied to those cities, I think the lead- 

 ing principles of the bill, before referred to, will 

 meet the general and unqualified endorsement of the 

 citizens and tax -payers, and its machinery and opera- 

 tion be greatly better than the present organization. 

 The management of smaller cities is generally more 

 economical and judicious than the administration of 

 larger ones, and perhaps the only change needed in 

 the code of 1874, to adapt it perfectly to their gov- 

 ernment, is the absolute prohibition of the power to 

 borrow money for any purpose whatever, in order 

 that councilmen may not be tempted to get a cheap 

 reputation for economy, at the expense of prosperity, 

 by willfully levying a tax rate manifestly too small 

 to cover the necessary expenditures then appropri- 

 ated, without reference thereto, leaving every year 

 a large deficit in the shape of a floating debt, to be 

 finally added to the bonded indebtedness. 



The evils which this bill is intended to correct 

 can not long continue without the most deplorable 

 consequences, and the million and a quarter citizens 

 of the cities of the Commonwealth are looking anx- 

 iously to the Legislature for relief from the abuses 

 and dangers which they are unable themselves to 

 reform or escape under the present system of muni- 

 cipal government. 



The penal, reformatory, and eleemosynary- 

 institutions of the State are in a satisfactory 

 condition. The Eastern and Western Peniten- 

 tiaries are, however, overcrowded, and will 

 continue to be until the completion of the new 

 Western and Middle constructions. In the 

 Eastern institution there are 1,180 convicts, 

 with only 680 cells. 



The yield of early fruit in the State was be- 

 low the average; the yield of the crops was 

 above the average, with the exception of bar- 

 ley. The rate of farm wages for 1877 and 1878 

 was as follows : 



