6
THE RECORD STEAL.
low the Publication of the Legisla
tive Proceedings In Made to Do Duty
for Machine Proteges—The Frlght-
Ihl Padding, Enormous Indices and
the Costly, Confusing and Exaspera
ting Results—When the Contract
Price Thills the Cost to the Tnxpayers
Increases What An Honest and
More Intelligent and Useful Per
formance of the Work Would Save.
The printing and distribution of the
Legislative Record Involves a shame
fully reckless waste of the public
money, and, If It does not Include a
straight steal, the facts which the fig
ures divulge show a mighty close ap
proach to it. Its distribution, by issues,
during the sessions, which was intended
to keep the people apprised of what
their servants at Harrisburg are doing
with their time and opportunities, was
tor years a scandal, owing to the dlla
borlness on the part of the publishers,
but even more specifically of the pas
ters' and folders' departments of the
senate and house. The men appointed
to service In these departments are the
working politicians In the districts of
those senators and members who have
the strongest pull during the sessions.
They receive close to $l,OOO per session
as salary, but a large proportion of
them never do any of the work. They
are content to pocket the pay and per
quisites and to appear upon the rec
ords as pasters and folders, but either
bscause they regard It as demeaning,
or because they have something else
to employ their time, or because they
are adverse to toil of any kind, they
refuse to perform the Incident labor
and employ substitutes to perform it,
At from one-fourth to one-half what
they receive from the state. These
Substitutes are generally very cheap
and Incompetent men, often boys, and
aa a result It Is happening constantly
that even when the printing has been
roasonably prompt, the distribution Is
unconscionably delayed, the pasting
and folding rooms being gorged with
stacks of the stuff which should long
hatore have been In the malls. How
aver, as has been stated, there has re
ritly been some little Improvement
this regard, because of the perslst
snt and long continued protests of citl
asns against being served with printed
copies of proceedings a month or two
old and long after, as news, they had
Inst all interest and value.
The total cost of the printing and
flatributlng of the Legislative Record,
aa set forth In the various auditor gen
eral's reports, was, In the years sever
ally named, as follows;
I&$E $22,820
MM 28,675
32,091
MSG 36,161
1* 97 43,580
The llgure for 1897 Is made up by ad
ding the $8,600 paid on account In 1897
and the state treasurer's estimate of
the sum required to complete the pay
ment 111 1898.
'A i eftnvent In this steal
Bi the Index. The reporting of the pro
ceedings and the printing of the Rec
*a la paid for, under contract, at so
dfpeh wr page. Rlfls are received and
the award mde to the lowest bidder. A
maximum price of $lO Is fixed and
the competitors bid so much percentage
oft that price. The president of the
senate and speaker of the house make
the award and get, by the way, $lOO
each for the few hours spent In doing
It. while their clerk gets $5O.
The contract price for 1895 and 1897
was $3.96 per page. This, be It under
stood, is for both reporting and print
ing, $3OO additional being always al
lowed for the compilation of the Index.
Now, the ponderous tomes that con
tain the proceedings of the legisla
tive session of 1897 cover a total of
*;T?2 pages, distributed as follows:
Proceedings 3,733 pages
Report aliens' committee ... 565 pages
Report penitentiary Investi
gating committee 231 pages
Index 2,237 pages
Blank pages 7 £ a £ eB
6,772 pages
Here are almost two-thirds as many
pages of Index as there are In the re
port proper. Add to these the 803
pages of reports and blank pages, and
we have a total of 3,040 pages, or not
far from half of the whole number
which the state paid for as having
been stenographic-ally reported, as well
is printed, whereas not a line in any
if them was reported. Whatever is
the difference between the cost of re
sorting and printing and that of the
printing alone Is, as to these 3,040 pages,
. sheer robbery. The volumes are pad
ted by reports. Index, etc.. to the ex
tent of over 80 per cent of the total
ayment, and this Is exclusive of the
-onstant repetitions and not only use
ess, but confusing superfluities In the
proceedings themselves, and which, it
i safe to say, constitute fully two
thirds of the total bulk. What this
padding costs at $3.96 per page, Inde
pendently of that In the proceedings
,iroper, Is as follows:
58,868.52
Miens' report 2,237.40
Penitentiary report 914.76
Blank pages 27.72
Total f $12,038.40
An Infinitely more Intellgent and sat
isfactory record pf the sessions' pro
ceedings could have been compressed
into about 1,000 to 1,200 pages without
xacrlflclng a word of the "eloquence" of
the senators and members which, It Is
needless to Bay, Is, as a rule, far more
jffuslve than edifying. An Index that
would be really useful for reference
purposes could be put Into 200 pages,
and this Is making a liberal allow
ance. The 2,237 page Index to the 1897
volumes Is, In fact, no Index at all.
It Is full of errors. It has countless
repetltlona And these are so embar
rassing that on the rare occasions when
the Record must be referred to, the
seeker after information la likely to
be driven half frantic by the difficul
ties he will encounter In obtaining it.
:S"or Instance. "An act to regulate suits
brought by and against foreign cor
porations doing bußlness In this com
monwealth, to which certificates have
been or may be Issued, etc.," Is in-
S"' .lexed under the word "Issued." Was
-•-liere ever a padding for robbery so
bold or a method of Indexing more com
pletely imbecile? And this Is but a
sample of hundreds of similar In
; stances of the fraud. What Is referred
to above as the aliens' report la the
report of a committee appointed by au
thority of the legislature of 1896 to
ascertain the number of aliens quarter
ed upon the commonwealth In the var
ious public Institutions thereof. As a
printed public document It Is of no
more value than would be a second
tail to a cat. The 565 pages covered by
It contain nothing but the names, sex,
nativity, etc., of the Individual aliens
found to be In the various prisons, hos
pitals, almshouses and other like in
stitutions of the state, each case being
made to consume eight lines, or about
one Inch In the length of a column, as
follows:
John Smith.
Sex—male.
Nativity—Kamschatka.
Number of days treated—Thirteen.
Cost per day—One dollar and thirty
one cents.
Total cost—Sixty-one dollars and flf
ty-one cents.
Any sane private individual having
such a thing to print would put It In
this way:
Jno. Smith, Kamschatka; treated 13
days at $1.31 per day; total, $61.51.
But that would have consumed only
two lines, and would have lessened the
grab of the Legislative Record con
tractor $3 out of every $4.
It Is safe to say that a far more In
telligible record of the proceedings of
the legislature could be reported and
printed, with a comprehensive Index
to the book, for about $lO,OOO, or less
than a third of the cost of the present
publication, which Is most exasperating
to all those who have to consult It be
cause of Its cumbersomeness and other
described faults, and that the sum
named would Include a fair compensa
tion for both the reporter and the
printer.
But suppose only half the present ex
penditure could be cut off, the saving
would still be close to $20,000, and that
Bum would materially help In caring for
the Indigent insane and other wards
of the state, now In large part neglect
ed by reason of this and other machine
corruption and waste In the handling
of the state's moneys.
Regularly every fourth year the con
tract price for reporting and printing
the Record has fallen, owing to the
Introduction of Improved facilities for
printing, such as machine type setting,
etc. In 1883-85 the price was $6.56 per
page; In 1887-89 It was $5.72; In 1891-93
It was $4.90, and In 1895-97 It was $3.96.
The contract for the ensuing four years,
1899-1901, has been awarded to the
same parties who have had It for sev
eral years past, at $3.41. And the
Wilkesbarre Record, a Republican pa
per, has this to say regarding It:
"The contract for printing the Legis
lative Record for the next two sessions
has been awarded to the same party
who had It the last four years. As the
price will be lower than before the
work Is likely to be also worse, pro
vided that be possible, which Is doubt
ed. Parties who have had this con
tract heretofore and failed to comply
with its requirements should have been
ruled out of the competition. But the
officials who award state contracts are
not In the habit of doing business that
way."
Passing by this Wilkesbarre editor's
criticism of the character of the work
done on the Legislative Record, though
It is even more than justified, It Is
worthy of remark that, though from
1885 to 1891 the contract price fell from
$6.56 to $4.90 per page, the cost of the
reporting and printing kept constantly
Increasing. The lower the price the
higher the cost. In 1893 and 1896 there
was a small drop In the cost, but not at
all In proportion to the drop In the
contract price, but in 1897, by force of
the successful padding already de
tailed, it went up again.
If there is an office In connection with
the state government which, under
Republican machine rule, does not In
volve a theft or criminal profligacy, the
fact hajS not yet been made apparent.
A MACHINE INFAMY.
Exploiting the Schools, Prisons, Hos
pitals and Charities, Etc., for Ilase
Partisan Purposes—Full Details as
to the Methods of Achieving This
Great Outrage—Senator Penrose's
Attempt to Deceive the State as to
the School and Charity Appropria
tions Fully Refhted From the Rec
ords.
At the late Republican convention
that met In Harrlsburg to express Its
contempt for honesty and economy In
the state government the boss sent the
Junior senator to represent him and
sing a siren song Into the ears of the
people which, If It did not deceive them,
might still be used by the heelers for
such clamor as should confuse and
drown the cries of the reformers. Mr.
Penrose made a very valiant, but
manifestly very laborious effort to ful
fill his task. He, of course, Ignored the
detailed, specific and widely published
evidences of the Republican ma
chine's theft and waste of the public
moneys, because it Is Impossible tor
him or anybody else to fairly meet and
successfully refute them. But sweeping
them aside, as with a wave of the hand,
he undertook to account for the con
stantly Increasing cost of machine
rule by ascribing it to a greater liber
ality to the schools, the hospitals and
elemosynary Institutions of the state,
leaving it to be Inferred that Mr.
Quay and the machine were being
criticised and abused, not for any real
wrongdoing, but for their enlarged
liberality In caring for the helpless
wards of the state.
Even if It were true that the differ
ences In the gross annual outlay of the
state were accounted for solely by the
larger appropriations to the schools, the
hospitals, etc., these appropriations are
themselves made to dishonestly and
unlawfully contribute to the main
tenance of the machine, whose astute
chief and ever watchful lieutenants
would consider themselves grossly
derelict In permitting such large sums
to pass through their hands without
gathering on it some profit on the way.
But the'excess of the cost of main
taining the Btate government as be
tween 1883 and 1897 was almoHt three
nnd three-quarter millions of dollars
greater, leaving wholly out of the con
sideration the cost of the schools, the
penitentiaries, the insane and the
charities, as the following figures will
show:
r '
THE COLUMBIAN. BLOOMSBURG. PA.
Payments 1897, lesi interest,
etc. (sec. Rep. treas., p. 23).. 812,768,615
Payments 1883, less loans re
deemed, Interest, premiums
and U. 8. bonds purchased
(see aud. gen. rep., p. 151 .. 4,336,997
Excess of current payments
for 1897 8 8,431,538
Cost of schools, charities, in
sane, penitentiaries, etc., '97 8 7,172,316
Same, 1883 2,440,840
Excess for 1897 8 4,731.475
Excess of total payments In
1897 8 8,431,538
Excess for schoools, etc., In
1897 8 4,731,475
Excess for ordinary expenses
in 1897 $ 3,700,963
And this says nothing of the fact
that the state treasurer In making up
his estimates of expenses for the year
ending Nov. 30, 1898 (which reach a
total of 817,346,823, as against an an
ticipated revenue of 811.561,000), In
cludes, among others, the following
Items:
State tax due counties 81,505,255
School app'n 1897 due 3,439,998
Due TJ. of P. on app'n 1895.... 75,000
Due W. U. on app'n 1895 46,000
Appropriation for new capttol
expected to have been paid In
1897 and appropriated for that
year 275,000
. 5,340,253
The account, fully made up, there
fore, stands about as follows:
Excess payments of 1897 over
1883, exclusive of charities,
schools, penitentiaries, In
sane, Interest, loans, etc 83,700,063
Moneys that were appropriated
to schools, charities, etc., and
should have been paid In 1897,
but remained unpaid at end
85.340,253
Total 89,040,316
This Is a long, long way from veri
fying Mr. Penrose's contentkm that the
only reason why It costs more to run the
state than It used to Is that we now
give so much more to the cause of
education and In benlfleences to the
helpless and suffering. Going to the
official records for the facts com
pletely upsets his slyly conceived dec
larations and Insinuations, as It will
be found to upset every plea made by
the machine apologists In explanation
and extenuation of its crimes.
And the' appropriations for the
schools and the charities, the poor,
prisoners and the Insane, nre all and
in numerous ways made to do duty for
the machine. Of the 15,340,253 due
Nov. 30, 1897, on appropriations made
that year and before, and not paid at
that time. $3,439,998 was, as will be no
ticed, owing to the schools and $120,000
to the charities (see treasurer's report,
page 14,) at the same time that a bal
ance of $5,136,700 was In the treasury.
Here Is confession over the official sig
nature of a leading beneltclary of the
machine that moneys are wrongfully
withheld, and no sane man for a mo
ment dcubts that the purpose of the
withholding Is to accommodate the
fhvaclte banks and Insure the ma
chine Kberal contributions for Its cam
paign funds. There are oemparativrfy
few other moneys that could be with
held In the same way, so that, were
It not for the large appropriations to
the schools and the charities the banks
would have to surrender their deposits
and the machine go to some other
source for means to deceive and cor
rupt the voters.
Then the myrald of officials that ad
minister the affairs of the institutions
under consideration are practically all
expected to shout the praises of the
machine about election time and do
what they can to confound Its enemies.
At the beginning of each legislative
session the governor has 700 or 800 ap
pointments of various kinds to sub
mit to the senate for confirmation. A
large proportion of these are connected
with the educational, charitable, penal
and reformatory Institutions of the
state. All of them must sooner or later
pony up In some way to the machine,
either by money contribution, lip ser
vice or repressing what they know
and feel and would like to tell. Refusal
to do this In any direction is regarded
as threatening the appropriations for
that direction next due. For many of
these places, even where neither sal
ary or perquisites attach, there is al
ways warm competition, and In such
cases the machine steps In and, regard
less of the local situation or the
equities, determines the contest In fa
vor of those who are likelv to prove
most subservient to Its behests.
There are 117 homes, hospitals, asy
lums, aid societies, missions, etc., or
ganized and controlled by the state,
or managed by private corporations
and receiving state aid, to which ap
propriations were made by the last
legislature. These are exclusive of the
deaf and dumb and blind schools, the
Institutions for the training of feeble
minded, etc. In many localities these
Institutions are looked upon as of such
Importance that the men chosen to rep
resent such localities are expected to
make sure of the appropriations for
them at whatever sacrifice. Urged by
their two or three thousand officers,
managers, directors and employes and
depending upon the machine aB the
sole arbiter In the appropriation com
mittees, these poor legislators are often
forced to choose between voting con
scientiously and losing the appropria
tions or voting with the machine and
getting them. Thus even the chari
ties of the state, the sick and the crip
pled are made, unconsciously, to con
tribute to the maintenance of a ras
cally gang at the head of the state's
affairs and their conscienceless robbery
of the taxpayers.
Mr. Wanamaker said In his speech at
Phoenlxvllle, May 27: "Politics con
trols the appointment of trustees of
state Institutions; politics controls the
management of state Institutions.,, The
needs of overcrowded asylums anS un
healthy hospitals count as naught
against the request of the man with the
political pull and who can deliver state
delegates." And he might have added
that the controllers and officers of the
Institutions not under control of the
state, but receiving state aid, for the
most part are but in a degress less the
servitors of the machine.
The appropriations are notoriously
Inadequate for the support of the state
Institutions, notably the Insane asy
lums. The payments for the Insane
were $738,390 In 1896 and $587,544 In 1897.
The appropriations were $920,320 foe-1897
and $717,700 for 1898, but of the former
(200,000 was for a deficiency In the ap
propriations for; 1896, and 683,900 In 1897,
and a like amount In 1898 was for an
extension of the reservoir and new
buildings for the Harrlsburg Institu
tion. The committee on lunacy of the
board of public charities has been for
several years Insisting that a new
asylum for the Indigent Insane be
built for management under homeo
pathic auspices, that a hospital speci
ally devoted to the treatment of
epilepsy be erected and that the chron
ics "who do not require active medi
cal treatment, nursing and special
care" should be taken from the hos
pitals and put In an asylum by them
selves. They further recommend that
legislation be enacted to Induce and
encourage counties, municipalities, etc.,
to build Institutions for the care of
their own Insane by the ofTer of a
fixed sum, say 81 per week, paid out
of the state treasury, for each patient
supported therein. Wisconsin has
pursued this plan with highly satis
factory results for 16 years, the per
capita cost per patient being 81.75 per
week, or less than it costs In Penn
sylvania. Notwithsatndlng the fact
that all the Insane hospitals are seri
ously and even dangerously overcrowd
ed, hundreds of beds having to be made
up at nights In the corridors and taken
down In the morning, the legislature
has persistently ignored all these rec
ommendations, excepting when In 1896
they passed an act looking to county
care for patients, which was so loaded
down with provisos and Impossible re
quirements as to be wholly Inoperative.
It was owing to the extravagant ap
propriations for party and factional
purposes that, as Mr. Wanamaker said
In his Phoenixville speech: "At the last
session of the legislature the appro
priations committee was obliged to re
fuse actual maintenance for many of
the most deserving hospitals of the
state. Yet this same committee, under
orders, passed for Senator Coyle, of
Schuylkill, a Quay lieutenant, an ap
propriation of 810,000 for the main
tenance of the American Hospital as
sociation, of Mahanoy township, which
was an Imaginary Institution of Sena
tor Coyle's, without capital, without a
building, or without even a site upon
which to build one. This fraud was
fortunately discovered by Governor
Hastings, who vetoed the nefarious
scheme."
And yet as showing how even the
state beard of charities Itself Is com
pelled to pose as apologists for the
machine, the secretary cf the board
said In his report Jan. 1, 1897 (see report,
page 8): "At the session of the legis
lature gf 1895 we earnestly urged that
provision be made for both the Insane
and criminal classes. Bills for these
purposes were presented to the legis
lature, but unfortunately, owing to the
financial depression of the treasury,
failed to become laws." And vet it
Is notorious that In multlplylng j useless
ofllces and expenses the legislature of
1895 outdid all Its predecessors and
was not a whit less culpable than that
of 1897.
Following up this subject Mr. Wan
amaker says (again the Phoenlxvllle
speech Is quoted from):
"I am Informed by an ex-member of
Hie appropriations committee that du
ring a recent session of the legislature
the appropriations oommlttee, after
months of work and the unmerciful
slashing of meritorious bills; had suc
ceeded 0 making the total amount of
appropriations fall within the estimated
revenues. Upon the last night that
bills could be reported from the com
mittee and be passed before adjourn
ment orders came from Senator Quay
that more than *500,000 of bills for pow
erful and rlcß Institutions must s(e
passed. These bills had all been con
sidered by the committee on their mer
its and negatived. Upon orders from
the 'old man' they were reconsidered
and reported favorably within an hour.
A prominent Philadelphia business man
dared not contribute to the Business
Men's League, because he was a di
rector In the Philadelphia Museum,
and he WSB notified that he must not
oppose Quay or his institution would
lose an appropriation that upon Its
merits alone It Is entitled to receive."
It Is not generally understood, but
should be, that the state does not sup
port the penitentiaries and reformato
ries. The state provides the buildings
and pays the salaries, but the counties
pay for maintenance. Of the state ap
propriations to the penitentiaries for
1896, $50,000 of the $52,000 went for sala
ries In the Eastern and $60,000 of the
$65,000 In the Western. These well paid
officials are, of course, another contin
gent of the machine's active election
eering forces.
More than half of the cost of main
taining the Indigent Inßane patient is
paid by the counties, and from a third
tc a half of the total Income of the in
sane hospitals from all sources goes
for salaries. Here, again, the machine
finds profit and support. In the fur
nishing of supplies It is the same thing,
and It Is notorious that the cost of feed
ing the patients Is much In excess of
what It should and would be under
honest management. In his Philadel
phia speech, June 27, Dr. Swallow
said: "Though the average charity In
mate of our asylums gets service,
clothing and food that epsts less than
50 cents a day, the expense to the state
is greater than though they were board
ed at a first-class hotel." This, like
nearly all of the reverend doctor's alle
gations. Is a haphazard statement,
demonstrating the Impractical charac
ter of the man and the unwisdom of
depending upon his "statistics," and
yet It Is approximately true.
The weekly per capita cost for main
tenance of patients In the five state
hospitals for insane for 1896 Is set down
In the official report of the committee
on lunacy of the board of charities (see
report 1896, page 24) as follows:
Harrlsburg $3.75
Danville 3.60
Norrlstown 3.15 3-5
Warren 3.61
Dlxmont 3.89
Average $3.60 3-5
It has already been stated that the
rost of the Insane to the state of Wis
tonsin, where they are cared for In the
founties, etc., Is $1.76, and "the quality
Df care is excellent," says our board of
public charities, and the board further
says (See report 1896, page 5): "In
Pennsylvania there now Is some excel
lent county and municipal care of the
msane, at far less per capita cost than
that charged In the state hospitals."*
A board of charities, whose officials
tvould give less of their time to moving
about the state doing the work of the
machine ana the party which It con
V _ "A PERFECT FOOD —as Wholesome aa ft la Dellcioaa." JV
8 if BREAKFAST COCOSf
W Mfl | fcf '] Trade-Mark on Every Package. K
X WALTER BAKER & CO. LTD., K ,
ALEXANDER BROTHERS & CO.
DEALERS IN
Cigars, Tobacco, Candies, Fruits and Nuts
SOLE AGENTS FOR
Henry Mail lard's Fine Candies. Fresh Every Week.
GOODS SIFECI.A.LTTR.
SOLE AGENTS FOR
F. F. Adams & Co's Fine Cut Chewing Tobacco
Sole agents for the following brands of Cigars-
Henry Clay, Londros, Normal, Indian Princess, Samson, Silver Ash
% Bloomsburg Pa.
IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF
CARPET, MATTING,
or Gil. CJLOTH,
YOU WILL FIND A NICE LINE AT
W. ML BBOWIK'S
x,
2nd Door above Court House.
A large lot of Window Curtains in stock.
trots, would see to It that naked main
tenance of at least as good a quality
as Is now furnished, was Drovlded
wherever money Is specifically appro
priated by the state for maintenance,
at considerably less cost.
The education*!, penal, correctional
and charitable Institutions of the state,
whether supported In whole or only In
part by the state, are, as will fully ap
pear from the foregoing revelations, vir
tually all Industriously exploited for the
support of the Republican machine. Ev
tmg daUar of maAeg voted to them in
one way Ik as Other, directly or Indirect
ly, pays tribute to it. A great liber
ality Is Ihdshently and deflantly util
ised to assist the basest of political as
pirations. The mere money outgo Is
not nearly BO large as Senator Pen
rose tried to make the people believe,
and Is far from covering the difference
between the cost of honest government
and the cost of Republican machine
government, but it Is a great sum
nevertheless, fully suffl 'ent to Inspire
successful revolution a. -Inst the ma
chine and the men who are responsible
for Its cruel and wicked maladminis
tration.
ROBBERY By IPHtIOWIT.
A Gross Injnstloe Perpetrated by.' the
Republican Party Upon the Demo
cratic Citizens of Pennsylvania.
How One Republican Has a Greater
Representation Than Five Demo
crats--Ignoring the Constitution to
Serve Party Knds—CandidateGobln's
Share In the Crime and the Spoil.
The present constitution of Pennsyl
vania was enacted In 1873, and went
Into operation on Jan. 1, 1874. Section
18 of Article 2 Is as follows: "The gen
eral assembly, at Is first session after
the adoption of this constitution, and
Immediately after each United States
decennial census, shall apportion the
state Into senatorial and representative
districts," etc., etc.
A like provision Is made with refer
ence to the Judiciary of the state, and
common fairness suggests that the con
gressional districts should be apportion
ed Just as frequently and at the same
times.
How the Republican party In Pensyl
vanla has treated the mandatory pro
visions of the constitution above
quoted Is shown in the fact that the
last apportionments were enacted as
follows:
Senatorial, 1874; representative, 1887;
congressional, 1887.
For 24 years, therfore. they have
been perslstenly refusing to do, with
reference to tjie senatorial apportion
ment. what the fundamental law com
mands: for ten years they have been
similarly derelict with reference to the
representative apportionment, and for
a like number of years they have al
lowed a congressional apportionment o
stand, which, by a fair rendering of
people's will, should at that time have
been set aside.
The reason Is plain. They derive a
large advantage In representation from
their remissness. Not only do they
shut out the Democrats from their fair
share of senators and members, but
they also checkmate that element of
their own party that chafes at "boss-
Ism" and the Innumerable evils that
always attach to It.
To Illustrate the gross Injustice of
these procedures to the Democratic
party: In the senate of 1897 there were
44 Republicans and 6 Democrats. In
1896 the Republicans reached their high
water mark as to majorities In the vote
for president. In that year there were
cast for MclCinley 728,300 votes, and for
Bryan 433,228 votes. By dividing the
number of senators for each party Into
the party vote It will be found that
oastorxa;
Bears the The Kind You Have Always Bought
there are:
One Republican senator for each 16,-
653 Republican votes.
One Democratic senator for each 73,-
204 Democratic votes.
Make a like calculation as to the
members of the lower house of the
state legislature, which had 171 Re
publicans to 33 Democrats, and the fol
lowing will be the result:
One Republican member for every
4,259 Republican votes.
One Democratic member for every
15.12S Democratic votes.
The American system makes every
cltlsen politically equal, and the lawa
are supposed, and In fact, are consti
tutionally ordered to be made to en
force that rule: yet here we have a
method of electing senators In Pennsyl
vania that makes one Republican as
good as four and a half Democrats—
that Is, that gives one Republican as
large a voice In this matter as four
and a half Democrats.
As to the congressional representation,
the Injustice Is even greater. Including
the two elected at large, Pennsylvania
has 30 members of the national honse
of representatives. Of these 27 were
elected as Republicans and hut three
as Democrats. Here we have:
One Republican member for every
26,933 Republican votes.
One Democrat for every 144,409 votes.
Which makes every Republican vote
count. In this regard, as much as Ave
and a half Democratic votes.
As showing the gross Injustice of the
present senatorial apportionment, many
speclAc Instances might be cited. Let
one suffice. According to the census
of 1890 Luzerne had a population of
201,203, and Lackawana a population of
142,108, making a total of 343,291. The
senatorial districts In these two coun
ties, under the act of 1874, which Is
still operative, overlap, part of the Lu
zerne district extending Into Lacka
wanna. Together, they have two sen
ators, or one senator for 171,646 of pop
ulation.
The county of Lebanon has but
48,131 population, yet she has a senator
by herself.
That senator for the last 12 years wo#
General Gobln, now the Republican
candidate for lieutenant governor on
the machine ticket; and General Gobln
is one of the men who have exercised
the most potent InAuence In perpetuat
ing this great wrong by openly oppos
ing or secretly conniving against any
new apportionment.
Every legislator who has done this,
or been in any way an obstructor of
apportionment legislation has been
guilty of perjury, for all take oath to
obey the constitution which perempt
orily demands It.
Are the Democrats not JustlAed in ar
raigning the Republican party for this
among Its myriad of other great wrongs
and persistent Ignoring of the plain
letter of tho constitution?
You Should Know
What Hood's Sarsaparilla has power
to do for those who have impure and
impoverished blood. It makes the
blood rich and pure, and cures scrofula,
salt rheum, dyspepsia, catarrh, rheu
matism, nervousness. If you are
troubled with any ailment caused or
promoted by impure blood, take
Hcod's Sarsaparilla at once.
Hood's Pills are prompt and effi
cient, easy to take, easy to operate.
If the small boy doesn't give liis
mother the slip, it may be that she
gives him the slipper.
CASTOHIA.
Bears the /> Tto Kind You Haw Always Boogfk