744 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



be painted is inserted between the two brushes, 

 and the machine is carried along, the brushes 

 being caused tr revolve by the passage of the 

 wire between them. The surplus paint is re- 

 moved by scrapers attached to the trough, and 

 the painting can be done as rapidly as a man 

 can walk along beside the fence, holding the 

 apparatus in position. 



PENNSYLVANIA. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Robert E. Pattison, Democrat; 

 Lieutenant-Go vernor, Chauncey F. Black ; Sec- 

 retary of State, William S. Stenger ; Treasurer, 

 Matthew S. Quay ; Auditor-General, Jerome B. 

 Niles ; Secretary of Internal Affairs, J. Simp- 

 son Africa; Attorney-General, Louis 0. Gas- 

 sidy; Adjutant-General, Pressly N. Guthrie; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, E. E. 

 Higbee; Insurance Commissioner, J. M. Fors- 

 ter. Supreme Court: Chief- Justice, Ulysses 

 Mercur; Justices, Isaac G. Gordon, Edward 

 M. Paxson, John Trunkey, James P. Sterrett, 

 Henry Greenland Silas M. Clark. 



Finances. The report of the State Treasurer 

 shows that the receipts during the year from 

 the ordinary sources were as follow : Corpora- 

 tions, including payments for sale of main line 

 and canal systems, $4,792,979.56; interest in- 

 come, $149,000; licenses of all kinds, $947,- 

 361.20; collateral inheritance-tax, $662,976.61 ; 

 personal property, $674,624.14; miscellaneous, 

 $293,769.62, making in all, $7,520,711.13, 

 which, with the balance on hand Dec. 1, 1885, 

 $1,784,041.86, amount to $9,304,752.99. 



The following were the payments: Depart- 

 ment expenses (including $506,329.10 for ju- 

 diciary, and $132,749.61 for public printing 

 and supplies), $1,128,764.50; redemption of 

 loan, interest on loan, premiums, and purchase 

 of United States bonds, $2,835,544 ; charitable 

 and penal institutions, $1,745,972.74; common 

 schools, $1,150,248.13; National Guard, $283,- 

 456.57; miscellaneous items, $59,309.48, mak- 

 ing the aggregate amount for the year $7,203,- 

 295.42. The receipts for the year were $659,- 

 003 less, and the payments were $1,311,962.11 

 less than those of the preceding year. 



The indebtedness of the State four years ago 

 was $20,225,083.28. On Nov. 30, 1886, it was 

 $17,258,982.28. The reduction in four years 

 has been $2,966,101. Deducting from the total 

 indebtedness of November last, the bonds and 

 money held by the Commonwealth in the sink- 

 ing-fund, amounting to $10,180,746.46, there 

 remains an actual debt of $7,078,235.82, as 

 against an actual debt four years ago of $12,- 

 232,099.46. This reduction has been made by 

 the cancellation of State loans and purchase of 

 United States bonds to the amount of $5,153,- 

 863.64, averaging over a million and a quarter 

 a year. Meanwhile, all the ordinary expenses 

 of the government have been met, and the 

 Treasurer reports a cash balance in the treas- 

 ury, Dec. 1, 1886, of $2,101,457.57. 



The amount in the sinking-fund is sufficient 

 to meet the principal of the indebtedness of 



the State maturing up to the year 1912, a period 

 of twenty-five years. After the year 1894, 

 there will only be outstanding $6,861,000 of 

 debt other than the Agricultural College loan 

 of $500,000, payable in the year 1922. During 

 the past year, $713,700 of the indebtedness has 

 been redeemed and canceled, and the sum of 

 $1,544,709.98 has been transferred from the 

 general fund to the sinking-fund. 



The benefits of the act of June 5, 1883, pro- 

 viding for the investment of the sinking-fund 

 balances, will readily be appreciated when it 

 is considered that since its passage, a period of 

 three and one half years, purchases of 4-per- 

 cent. United States bonds, representing a value 

 of $5,305,814.38, have been made for the sink- 

 ing-fund. 



The income of the sinking-fund last year, 

 from this investment, amounted to $149,000, 

 an amount sufficient to pay the entire annual 

 expenses of the Executive, State, Auditor-Gen- 

 eral's, Treasury, Secretary of Internal Affairs, 

 and Adjutant-General's Departments, or nearly 

 two thirds of the minimum annual reduction 

 of the principal of the State debt required by 

 the Constitution. 



It was thought that the receipts, under the 

 act of June 30, 1885, providing for the revenues 

 of the State by taxation, would be largely in 

 excess of those of prior years. The valuation 

 of property subject to the tax of three mills 

 under this act amounted to $390,749,556.19, 

 and yielded $1,172,248.64, subject to credit for 

 the amount of the compensation of examiners 

 and collectors. That the full measure of legis- 

 lative expectation has not been realized is due 

 to imperfect assessments, refusals of a large 

 number of citizens to report true valuations of 

 their property subject to tax, and to the failure 

 of some county treasurers to make returns of 

 their collections in time for their appearance 

 in last year's accounts. Notwithstanding these 

 facts, and the additional fact that the tax-rate 

 under this act is one mill less than the rate un- 

 der former acts, the amount realized during 

 the past year was $500, 000 in excess of the an- 

 nual average of the previous six years. This 

 law does not designate any subjects of taxation 

 not covered by the acts of 1844 and 1846, and 

 subsequent legislation. It only provides a more 

 exact and stringent method for the assessment 

 and collection of taxes. Of the taxes raised 

 throughout the Commonwealth for all purposes, 

 both local and general, real estate contributes 

 four fifths, while its assessed value is only about 

 one sixteenth greater than that of personal 

 property. 



Banks. There are eighty-one banks regularly 

 incorporated by the State, of which more than 

 sixty were chartered by special acts of the Leg- 

 islature. The annual returns of many of them 

 to the Auditor-General show a small amount 

 of available assets as compared with their lia- 

 bilities to depositors. Nearly one fifth of them 

 pay no dividends to stockholders. 



Of the two hundred and sixty-six private 



