T
nuNTINGD
..7
• A.
WilioLE No. 173..1
TERMS
OF TUB
TITTNTINGDON J0Z:11.11A.7...
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bat, and charge accordingly.
IVIESS.II.GII.
To the Senate and house of Representa .
lives of She Commonwealth of Pennsyl.
vania.
Garert.EstaN:—The money in the Treas
ury of the Commonwealth being inade
quate to discharge the demands upon it,
now due, and that will become due on the
let February next, I concieve it to be my
imperative duty, to call the immediate
attention of the Legislature to this sub
ject. It is taost superfluous to remark,
that the credit, the faith, and honor of the
State, will all be deeply affected, unless.
by the prompt act of the Legislature, this
deficency should be supplied.
It would Le an everlasting stigma up
on the fair fame of Pennsylvania, if, with
her vast resources St: her abundant means
texerform her engagements, she should
permit her creditors, for a single bout', to
knock at the door of an empty Treasury.
Every consideration of duty and of pol
ice, requires at the hands of the Legisla
te-re and the Executive, the most unfal
tering fidelity to the public engagements.
Nothing is gained by postponing the time
of action, for it must evidently 'arrive.
The policy is as unwise as the spirit is
of unworthy statesmen, to surrender Ito
our successors the performance of duties
that justly devolve on ourselves.
I will proceed to lay before you the fi'
tancial cGridition of the Commonwealth ,
so far as it appears to me to be connected
with your deliberation on the subject; pre
premising, that I have derived most of
my fiscal information from those official
documents which are already before you,
lad which are presumed to furnish accu
rate statements of the several matters to
which they respectively relate. 1 have so
recently entered upon the discharge of the
duties et the ofilee, canferred upon me by
the people, that I do not pretend to pos
sess the familiar practical knowledge of
the financial concerns of the Common
wealth, that can only be acquired by an
active official participation in all their de
tailed operations. I have, however, devo-
Sed to the subject, that careful and scrus
ruluus attention due alike to kits impor
tance, and to the just expectation of the
Legislature that no Executive communi
cation will be submitted to it, in the ac
curacy of • which, implicit confideuce
may not be reposed.
In order to present a full and satisfac
tory view of the finances of the Cmnmon
wealth, I will lay before you, in the
first ?place, the entire amount of the pub
lic debt, composed of permanent, tempo
rary, and conditional loans, together with
the estimated . value of the public property
consisting of stocks, canals, rail roads;
4c., viz:
Debts contract'd for public
improyetnents by canals
and rail roads, 8'22,229,003 31
Loans nut releeng, to ca
nals and rail I oads,
Loans for Eastern Peniten
tiary, by act of 21st
March 1831,
Loan to Union Canal Corn
pany, by act of Ist
I l March, 1835,
Temporary loan b 7 art of
16th June; 1836,
temporary lean by act of
14th April, 1838,
Debts due on appropria•
tions to miscellaneous
objects.
Debts due by appropria
tions to internal im
provements.
Debt due U• States, on ac
count of conditional
lean of surplus revenue, 11,867,514 78
dotouot of public debt, 030,174,304 97
IIIBLIC INILOPERTT.
The public works, canals
rail reads, &c., M 5,109.444 92
Bank stock, 2,108,700 00
Turnpike & bridge stock, 2,726,396 58
Canal & navigation stock 528,000 00
Rail road stock, 179,564 59
Money due on unpaten
ted lands
Estimated value of public-------
propel 7, 231,652,306 09
It is right to 7remark in respect to this!
statement, that I have not entered upon
the debt side an item of $230,000, a sum
borrowed from the bank of the U. States,
and an item of $50,000, borrowed from'
the Harrisburg Bank, by my predecessor,
under circumstances explained in his mes
sage, on the assumption of which the Leg
islature Ihas not yet acted. And in re
gard to the estimated value of the public
works, canals, rail roads 4-c. it is doubted
very much whether her actual value is not
far greater than here represented.---1 he,
estimate refers more directly to their cost
than to their present value. It is possible
that some additional liabilities of the li
State might arise, if ' the ,Legislature
should think proper, for the public good,
to dtv. st any corporations created by au
thority of this Commonwealth, of the priv
ileges granted by law, in consideration of
which they have paid bonuses into the pub
lic Treasury. This, however, must be re
garded as a remote contingency Of the
forgoing public debt, the amount of $3,9-1
45,201 65 has been contracted within the
last three rears, exclusive of the items a
bove referred to. and not charged.
It is manifest, from this view of the en
tire amount of the debts and resources of
the Commonwealth, that her means are
ample fm all emergencies, although a por
tion of the public property may not be Mt-
mediately unavailable.
The principle purpose of this messa,,o-e
is however, to call your attention to the
present condition of the finances, as ex
hibited ,hy the following statement of mo
nies now due, or becoming due, on the
Isi February uext, and immediately there
alter, viz:
Stock loan per act of 30th
March, 1824, payable
lit January, 1839 41220,000 00
Interest on permanent &
temporary loans 002,220 00
For ordinary repairs on
public!improvetnents 400,000 CO
Balance due of appropria
tions per act of lath A
pril, 1838 242,864 23
$1,465,114 '23
To which perhaps. may be
added the sum borrowed
for repairs of canal on
Juniata Division 330,000 00
$1,845,114 23
The Legislature will also
be required at it its pre
sent session to make
provision to pay the
following loans and de
mands on the Treasury,
due at the times specified
Stock loan, per act 30th
March, 1824, due Ist
May next 380,000 00
Stock loan, per act 7th De
cember, 18,29, and 4th
January, 1831, due Ist
May next Pomo 00
Stock loan, per act 11th
April, 1825, due Ist
Jan. 1840 150,000 00
Temporary loan, per act
16th June, 1836, due in
June, 1839 200,000 00
Temporary loan, per act
14th April, 1838, due
at various times, from
18th June to 31st Oct.
1839 600.000 CO
Temporary loan, per Oil
section act 14th April,
1838, due .belOre Ist
Jan. 1840 205,000 00
Interest on loans due on
or before Ist August,
1839 618,250 00
Salaries of toll collectors
&c., remainder of year 50,000 00
Due fur repairs 77,080 97
Expenses of motive power t 33,563 82
For other expenditures
(including eduration,) 1 , 1 29,027 14
1,G80,000 0
120,000 00
200,000 00
200,000 00
800,000 00
85,573,036 10
Deduct amount of estimate
receipts for
_remaining
part of year 1,044,918 82
1,545,729 86
531,057 01
----
Total deficit:for 1839 83,928,117 34
It will be perceived, that the perma
nent and temporary loans falling due at
the times mentioned in this statement, con
stitute a part of the State debt already ad
verted to, and by providing for their pay.
ment the aggregate amount is not increas
ed•
"ONE COUNTRY, ONE CONSTITUTION, ONE DESTINY."
A. W. BENEDICT PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOD.
HUNTINGDON, PENNSYLVANIA, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 6, 1839,
1 have included the necessary appropri
ation for ordinary repairs, among the de
mands to be provided for en the Ist Feb—
ruary, because it is a fund that should be
at all times in readiness . , and a great por
tion of it will be needed as soon as the
business on the improvements commen
ces in the spring. Provision mast also
be made rot the loan falling due on the
Ist of January, 1840, by the Legisluture
at its present session as by the amended
Constitution the meeting of the next Leg
islature is postponed beyond the day of
payment.
1,000,000 00
I will also state on this subject that at
the solicitation of a number ofgentlemen
deeply interested in the transporting bus
iness on our public improvements, I was
induced a short time ago to make a perso
nal examination of the portion of the canal
and slack water navigation recently repair
ed in Huntingdon county, and am satis
fied that its safety, permanency and use
fulness, all depend on receiving the spee
dy and thorough attention of the Canal
Commissioners. Unless the new works
')e repaired, and in some places recon
structed before the spring freshets, there
is imminent danger that a considerable
portion of them will be swept away.
The estimated receipts into the treasu
ry during the present year, with the emep
non of two items, amounting to 8225,t09
are composed ofthe ordinary revenues of
the State alone. li is rendered certain
that the fourth instalment of the surplus
revenue from the general government will
not be received, nor will there be bay k
bonuses, or any other of those accidental
and extraerdivary means of replenishing
the treasury, to depend upon, w Inch have
poured into it about $7,000,000. during
the last threeyears. The State must re
ly henceforthl on her fixed and certain,
but gradually, increasing ordinary reve
nues, unless loans or taxation be deemed
advisable, to discharge all her liabilities
and to compel' all her contemplated im
provements. To do this successfully, ri
gid but enlightened economy should be
consulted in all her ?expenditures, and
those habits of lavish and illjudged appro
priations, engendered by the sudden and
unexpected acquisition of public money,
through means which can seldom if ever a
gain happen, must be pr;:mptly correct.
It is frequently observed in the case of
private individuals, that the sudden t ac
quisition of wealth is fatally injurious to
the prudent habits and sound morals of
the possessor. It is more emphatically
true in the case of govet nment—corrup
tion creeps in unpreceived, through a thou
sand channels, and eats oat the substance
of the people before they are aware of its
stealthy approach .
Habits of improvident profusion grow
fashionable, which are difficult to eradi
cate and those who recommend that they
should be restrained in the slightest de
,gree, are sti e Tnstized as parsimonious and
illiberal. At the havard even of incurr •
in.. this reproach, I world earnestly in
voke your undivided attention to this
branch of our public policy. The enor.
inous and :unprecedented deficit in the
treasury, now to be 6upplicd, is an instrue
tive commentary on its practical results.
If the same policy that has brouuht us into
this condition is presisted in, it must el.
lectually paralyze the , - 2neroles of this
great State. The vublic debts must be
swelled to an inordinate amount, or the
prosecution of our valuable system of pub
lic Improvements must be suspended.
You have already a balance to raise more
than 83,00000 before you can make any
appropriations whatever to the complo
tion or extension of any of the unfinished
puclic improvements in which the State
has already so much unproductive money
invested.
The question is then submitted entirely
to your consideration, to determine what
appropriations to new works shall be made
at the present session. My predecessor
recommends in his annual message, the
appropriation of at lcast the following sums
to the following named works, viz
To the Brie extension'- - -.77N 6500,000 CO
North Btanth canal 000,000 00
Gettysburg rail road 500,000 00
West Branch canal 200,000 00
Wisconisco canal 100,000 00
Allegheny feeder ~100,000 00
The Canal Commissioners in their re
port, recommend the appropriation of the
following sums to the works disignated,
uiz:
To the Erie extension $1,2"0,000 00
North branch 1,200,000 00
Gettysburg rail road 600,000 00
Sinnemahoning ex
tension 300,000 00
Allegheny feeder 500,000 00
Wisconiscacanal 286,000 00
And they recommend also, that the fur•
they sum of $1,25,5,467 77 should be sip
propriated for the "current year, as ne ,
cessary for the permanent repair and pros
prosperity of the improvements." I. beg
leave to refer you to the message and re
port for the explanatory information ac
companying these several recommenda
tions. I am not aware of having in my
power, any communication to make that
would materially aid your deliberations on
this head, except to suggest the propriety ,
and necessity of providing, by some judi
cious prospective legislation, not only for
the payment of the appropriations that
are made at the present session, but . for
the mode of obtaining money hereafter,
when needful, to continue and complete
the works to which such appropriations
are applied. The sums appropriated, have
usually been exhausted before the next
meetiug of the Legislature, and those en
gaged in the construction of our public
works, have been compelled to make sac
rifices to enable them to prosecute their
labors, or to dismiss their workmen, until
funds be provided by law. Many months
elapse before legislative action can be had
on the subject, and before the negotiation
of the necessary loan, when authorized,
the work is frequently abandoned by the
contractor, or his workmen base sought
employment elsewhere, end by the time
the requisite funds are obtained, opera
tions are to be commenced anew; and
thus it may be fairly assumed, that our
peblic improvements have cost perhaps
thirty per cent more than they would have
done, if timely provision to continue their
, prosecution had been made. If the con
, tractor knew beforehand, what amount of
money he might rely upon as forthcoming
when wanted, he could make arrange.
ments accordingly, to his own and the
public advantage. The work would pro
gress with greater facility, and of souse.
(pence enable contractors to do it cheaper
and more expeditiously, than heretofore,
The public faith would at all times be re
garded as sacred, and the contractors, (a
class of men who have certainly had some
cause to complain,) would be essentially
benefited by the adoption of this policy,
' and also the numerous laborers and arti
zans, by whose invaluable services our
great improvements have been construc
ted, would be in a good degree secured
from the suffering and destitution too of
ten inflicted upon them by the failures of
of the contractors on our public works.
In order to remedy this state of things
in future, 1 beg leave to recommend to the
Legislature the enactment of a law au
thorising the Governor, with the sanction
i of the Commissioners of the internal ii
i provement fund and Canal Commission
ers, or under such other checks as may be
deemed advisable, to borrow such sums of
money PS may be found necessiry to car
ry on the several lines of improvements
until the meeting of the next Le,pslature,
whenever the appropriations to the same
may happen to become exhausted. Re
quiting of course, that the money so ob
tained be placed in the treasury of the
commonwealth, disbursed and accounted
for in the manner provided by law.
It would be expedient that the sum
which might be so obtained, should be
limited to a reasonable amount, and that
the rate of interest and terms of the
loan, should be strictly defined. It seems
to me that the adoption of any other prin
ciples of action in relation to the prosecu
tion of our system of internal improve
i meats, cannot be prudent and salutary,
`The measures themselves must fluctuate
often, the works progress tardily, and the
expense of their construction be much in
creased. Nor can I omit suggesting fur
thee to you the obviously sound policy of
looking in your legislative action to the
speedy completion of the main lines of
improvement between the eastern and
western extremeties of the Common
wealth, the Erie extension to the lake, and
the North Branch canal, leading into the
flourishing western counties of the State
la New York, The instant these works
are finished, the trade upon them must be
augmented in a manifold degree. The
state has already large sums invested in
them, from which she will realize no re
turns of consequence till they are finish
ed. Other works of undoubted utility,
leading directly into these principal high
ways to market, will next deserve atten
tion; but in what respect the Gettysburg
rail road claims to rank in the first, el
even in the second of these classes, is
more than I can discover. It is well
worth the serious consideration of the
Legislature, whether in time present em
barrassed condition of the finances of the
State, that work ought not be abandoned,
till sonic more auspicious season for re
suming it arrives. On no part of our
system of improvements has public opin
ion been more emphatically pronounced.
If completed, its advantage to Pennsyl.
vania is questionable, if indeed it be
not absolute useless— , its commencement
was injudicious—the cost of its construc
tion is enormous, and, should it be aban- I
y 3,; 86,009 00
dolled, the only disadvantage will be the
loss of a very large sum of money nuw
irretrievably consumed by it, which will
be vastly increased it the state perseveres
in the prosecution of the work. I res
pectfully submit this subject to the ca,i
dor and good sense of the legislature, be
lieving that ifs further prosecution at pre
sent is not warranted by either prudence
or patriotism.
BeingYdecidedly in favor myself of a
judicious and comprehensive system of
public improvements, reaching all practi
cable points, and accommodating all sec
tions of the commonwealth alike, I should
be happy to co-operate with the Legisla
ture in completing it at the earliest possi
ble day, and would rejoice to become in
strumental in carrying such system into
speedy operation; but, finding the 'freasu
ry in a situation that seems to forbid all
hope of engaging in that undertaking uu
til our fiscal concerns are restored to a
sound and healthy state, I respectfully
suggest to the Legislature the imptilicy
of aptily:ng the funds of the Common
wealth, at the present time, to any other
works than the main lines and their im
mediate tributaries.
It cannot be long before the increasing
ordinary reveille arising from the tolls of
the canals and rail roadsiof the Common
wealth, will defray all the expenses ne
cessary to keep them in repair and pay the
interest of the money expended in their
construction. Then will the state, for
all particular purposes, be free from debt
and be fully able to undertake without
fear of embarrassment, the extension and
completion °flier noble improvement sys
tem until it touches every county within
her extensive limits and returns to their
citizens the entire sum of their contribu
tions, to the system in its commencement
and progressive ;advance towards their
own homes. I cannot close this brief ref.
erence to our system of public improve
ments without inviting the attention
.of
the legislature to two subjects, which
though not immediately connected with
the leading object of this communication
are yet so essentially necessary to the full
fruition of the benefits to be derived from
our main lines of canals and rail roads be
tween the eastern and western sections of
of the Commonwealth, as to awaken the !
earliest solicitude of every true Pennsyls
uanian. I allude to the removal of the
obstructions to steamboat navigation in
the Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi rivers I
from Pittsburg to the Gulf of Mexico, and
from Pittsburg up the Allegheny as far
as the same may be found practicable by
the survey authorized under discretion of
the General Governments and to the con
struction of a continuous rail road from
the cit,- of Pittsburg through or near the
Capitols of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to
some point on the Mississippi river at or
near St Louis.
By the completion of those important
undertakings, a great amount of business
would be at once thrown upon our im
provements. The merchandise of vari
ous kinds from the eastern States, and
the agricultural and mineral productions
of the rich and flourishing southern and
western states, that wou ld pass through
Pennsylvania, must be far beyond any
present computation. The rapidly in•
creasing trade of the lakes too, which is
fast outstripping the hopes of the most
sanguine, would descend the Allegheny
river and contribute largely to swell the
business of our canals and rail roads.
The tolls on our main lines would be so
much increased as to amply sustain the
less profitable portions of our system,
• without rendering it necessary to make
the slightest addition to the State debt, or
to any of the burthens imposed on the
people. The trade of the growing and
prosperous cities of Philndelphia and
Pittsburg would be immensely multiplied,
and the southern and western states
themselves, now feeling the want of such
mediums of communication to an unpar
alleled t xtent, would receive an impulse
of no ordinary influence upon their pos
terity and greatness. A glance at the
map of the Union, will convince every
man of the importance of thess improve
ments to Pennsylvania as well as to the
vast regions of country of unsurpassed
fertility and mineral wealth, which would
find the canals and rail roads of this state
their direct highways to market. In or
der to carry into effect the views herein
expressed, I respectfully recommend the
propriety of adopting the proper steps to
enlist the General Government in the
project of clearing out the obstructions to
the navigation of the Ohio and Mississip
pi rivers by steamboats from Pittsburg,
whizh is a port of entry, to the Gulf of
Mexico; and also from Pittsburg up the
Allegheny to such point as may be fixed
in the survey, authorised by act of Con
gress, as the termination of steamboat
navigation. The prosecution of such
works as these, by the National Govern
ment, falls directly and properly within
its legitimate power, according to the
strictest interpretation of the censtitu-
[ Ver. IV, Na, 17.
tion. And I would also recommend the
adoption of measures, either by appoin
ting a committee of the Legislature or by
I such other efficient mode as may be
thought expedient to secure the joint and
united action of the several states inter
ested in the project of constructing a con
tinuous rail-road communication between
Pittsburg and St. Louis. This may be
effected by a joint incorporation of a com
pany, or of several companies, with au
thority for the purpose, or by the states
through which the road would pass, un
dertaking it themselves upon terms mutt'.
ally assented to by all. It would afford
me pleasure to transmit to the legislatures
of these states such resolutions or infor
mation as will tend to firing about this de
sirable result. It may not be amiss to
add that the bold and sagacious policy of
our southern and _northern neighbors, to
secure the trade of the South and West,
is well calculated to admonish Pennsyl •
vania to be on the alert. When the
countless advantagesl to which I have
barely adverted, may be firmly and se—
curely grasped without the slightest ex
pense or inconvenience to the people, let
them not be surrendered by legislative
procrastination. The day fur action has
already arrived.
In reference to the made of obtaining
funds to supply the present wants of the
Treasury, 1 sin in possession of no further
information than is already before you, in
the report of the State Treasurer and in
the message of my predecessor. No oth
er alternative seems to be presented, than
taxation or loans:—of the two, the latter
appears least objectionable, because pro
ductive of least hardship to the people, is
less expensive, and can be carried into
effeet with greater facility. That the
credit and resources et the State are am
ple to extricate her, in the present crisis.
from embarrassment, is a fact which no
intelligent citizen can doubt. It is in no
spirit of self-sufficiency or empty gratu
lation, that every citizen of Pennsylva
nia justly looks upon this Commonwealth
as second to none of the sister States, in
the industry, frugality, and integrity of
her citizens—in the extent, quality, and
the accessability of the boundless resour
ces which nature has scattered through
j out her borders with a prodigal hand—in
her coal fields, her iron ore, her agricul-
I tural productions--wand in her stupendous
system of internal improvements, con
, nectiug together her remotest extremeties,
j unlocking her richest resources, and
marked, in its conception, by the compre
hensive reach of mind which entitles its
projectors and founders to rank with the
first statesmen of the age. The cre.lit ef
Pennsylvania, resting on this foundation,
can be shaken by no convulsion that does
not overturn the Government itself, and
dissolve society into its original elements.
Pecuniary embarrassments, it is true, may
arise from ill-judged measures, extrava
gant expenditures, or short-sighted policy;
but they must, of necessity, be of tempo
rary duration. Time soon detects falla
cies, exposes errors, regulates derange
ments, and corrects misgovernment. One
failure to comply with her engagements,
on the part of the State, becomes the pa
rent of future precautions against like oc
currences, and serves but to show the
faithful fidelity of the people to their obli
gations, because it is stamped with the
seal of universal condemnation or regret.
It is with no orriinary feelings of state
pride and satisfaction, that I express my
then confidence in the abundant means
now possessed by the Commonwealtv, to
pay her public debt by the sale of the
public improvements, in the construction
of which that debt was mainly contrac
, ted, if such measure was deemed neces
sary or wise; and also my conviction e
qually firm and gratifying, in the increas
value of her means to meet all future lia
bilities, created by the entire completion
of the system of improvements, it. in the
achievement of this great undertaking, we
, follow the dictates of prudence and ex
perience. Nothing but the improvident
or corrupt mismanagement of her rulers,
can mar the bright prospect that is open
, ing on the destinies of Pennsylvania.
Having recently passed through a peri'
od of unexampled excitement and agita ,
tion, the people of this great Common
: wealth arc anxious for repose, Sooial
• commotion', produced by political, pecu
niary, or any other causes, are destruc
t tive to the best interests sod substantial
welfare of the community. They cripple
business of all kinds, retard public M-
I provements, deprive the laboring portion
of our fellow-citizens of their means of
, support, and tend directly to unsettle tho
foundation of our republican institutions.
Let us hope that this condition of thir!,:s
is at an end.—that, henceforth, a spirit of
undeviating regard for the public weal,
, and of unswerving respect for the laws
, of the State, may be cherished, both by
her rulers and by her people. Public epin
ion, the unfailing corrective of all abases
in a free Government, calls loud ev •
ery department of °Ur', to dirt