PENNSYLVANIA. 



C31 



unparliamentary and unconstitutional to carry party 

 measures ; and whereas the Speaker would not rec- 

 ognize the minority ; and whereas, when such un- 

 parliamentary and unconstitutional measures were 

 to be adopted, he, the Speaker, would attempt to 

 shirk the responsibility by calling to the chair such 

 a Republican member as would carry out their un- 

 principled measures : therefore, be it 



Resolved, That we stamp with our unqualified 

 condemnation the actions of the Speaker and the 

 members of the Republican party or the House of 

 Representatives in forcing tnrough, out of order, 

 such unparliamentary, unconstitutional, and partisan 

 measures. B. RUSH JACKSON, 



H. B. FISH, 

 D. L. SHERWOOD, 

 Committee on Resolutions. 



During the session of 1877, above 800 bills 

 were introduced in the Pennsylvania Legisla- 

 ture, but scarcely 100 of them passed. 



The finances of the State appear to be in a 

 satisfactory condition. The aggregate receipts 

 at the Treasury from all sources, ordinary and 

 extraordinary, during the fiscal year ending 

 November 30, 1877, amounted to $15,644,500.- 

 06 made up by $5,778,874.29 derived from 

 ordinary sources ; $984,997.62 balance in 

 Treasury on December 1, 1876; $609,544.38 

 received from insurance and transportation 

 companies and Government claims, and $8,- 

 271,083.77 proceeds from the sale of bonds 

 issued for the eight- million loan at 6 per 

 cent, per annum, authorized by the act of 

 March 20, 1877. The same year's payments 

 at the Treasury, including $5,447,258.81 for 

 ordinary disbursements, and $8,035,194.38 

 amount of loans redeemed, were $18,482,453.- 

 19 ; leaving a balance in the Treasury, on De- 

 cember 1, 1877, of $2,162,046.87. 



The estimated ordinary revenue of the State 

 for the year ending November 30, 1878, is $5,- 

 703,300; and the ordinary expenditure, $6,- 

 392,000. 



The most abundant source of public revenue 

 in Pennsylvania is the tax on corporation 

 stocks. In 1877 it yielded $2,086,776.23, which 

 was above $60,000 less than in 1876. This 

 decrease is ascribed to the working of the 

 act passed reducing the tax on corporation 

 stocks, and assessing a tax on their gross re- 

 ceipts. 



The entire nominal debt of the State, on 

 December 1,1877, was $22,913, 814.81, of which 

 $820,754.31 bears no interest. Her assets at 

 the same date consisted of the folio wing items: 

 $1,705,014.87 balance in the sinking fund ; 

 $4,636,413.66 bonds of the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road Company, representing an indebtedness 

 to that amount on January 31, 1878 ; and $3,- 

 200,000 bonds of the Allegheny Valley Rail- 

 road Company ; making together $9,501,427.- 

 98. This being deducted from the above 

 stated sum of $22,913,814.31, the actual State 

 debt unprovided for on December 1, 1877, 

 would be $18,352,386.38. 



The debt of the city of Philadelphia on the 

 1st of June, 1877, was $61,394,861.70. 



The aggregate value of taxable real estate in 



Pennsylvania for 1877 was $1,648,490,669. In 

 1876 it amounted to $1,671,617,691. The de- 

 crease of $23,127,022 within the year is attrib- 

 uted to the general depression in business etill 

 continuing. The yearly amounts just stated do 

 not represent the valuation of the property 

 comprised within the corporate limit- of the 

 city of Scranton, in Luzerne County. By the 

 provisions of a special law, the property of 

 Scranton is not to be included in the returns 

 of the Revenue Commissioners of that county. 

 The value of property exempt from taxation, 

 as reported by the Revenue Commissioners, of 

 40 among the 66 counties in the State, amounts 

 to $91,053,096. From the remaining 26 coun- 

 ties no reports on this species of property were 

 received. 



The entire value of personal property sub- 

 ject to taxation for State purposes amounts to 

 $159,382,242; and the tax assessed on it is 

 $574,817.36. This valuation and assessment 

 were made by the Board of Revenue Com- 

 missioners in 1875, and are to remain the same 

 till their next triennial meeting in 1878. 



The condition and extent of public instruc- 

 tion in Pennsylvania are exhibited in the fol- 

 lowing summary of its school statistics for the 

 year 1877 : The whole number of school dis- 

 tricts in the State is 2,145 ; of schools, 17,783 ; 

 of graded schools, 6,290; of pupils registered, 

 907,412 ; attending schools, 575,597 ; percent- 

 age of attendance upon the whole number re- 

 gistered, 74. The average length of school 

 term, in months, was 6.77 ; and the average cost 

 of tuition per month for each pupil, 89 cents. 

 The entire number of teachers in all the schools 

 was 20,652, at an average monthly salary of 

 $37 and $38 for male, and $30 and $82 for 

 female teachers. The total cost of tuition for 

 the year was $4,817,568.85; of building, pur- 

 chasing, and renting school-houses, $1,276,- 

 578.55 ; of fuel, contingencies, debt, and inter- 

 est paid, $2,889,287.54; sundries, $100,000; 

 making the expenditures of all kinds for school 

 purposes in 1877 $8,588,879.44. The State ap- 

 propriation for schools in the year was $1,- 

 000,000. The estimated value of school prop- 

 erty in the State is $25,460,761.76. 



For the several permanent institutions of 

 charity in the State the sums paid out of tho 

 public treasury, in 1877, amounted to $722,- 

 597.88; of which $105 were for the Penn- 

 sylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at 

 Philadelphia, and $12,000 for a like institution 

 at Pittsburgh ; $51,760 for the Pennsylvania In- 

 stitution for the Blind at Philadelphia besides 

 $3,750 for the Working Home for Blind M-n. 

 and $2,000 for the Industrial Home for Blind 

 Women, in the same city ; $81,84.12 for the 

 Training School for Feeble-minded Children ; 

 $143,000 for the Pennsylvania Hospital for tho 

 Insane at Warren; $99,000 for that at Dan- 

 ville, and $81,750 for the Pennsylvania Bfcte 

 Lunatic Hospital at Harriabarg. 



By an act passed at the session of January, 

 1877, the Legislature authorized the appoint- 



