GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.
To the Senate and House of Repre.senta•
lives of the Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania
FBLLOW - CITIZENS :—The first and most
important duty that devolves upon the
Legislature, will be to examine into the
financial embarrassments of the State,
and to make suitable provision for the
discharge of her liabilities. The entire
amount of the funded debt of the State
is 839,084.000 40. This debt is reim
bursable as follows :
In the year 1841,
" 1844,
" 1846,
" 1847,
" 1850,
" 1853,
" 1854,
" 1856,
" 1858,
" 1859,
" 1860,
0 1861,
" 186%
" 1863,
1964,
1865,
" 1868'
" 1870,
Loan payable at the expira ,
tion of certain bank char ,
tern,
$ 53,922 60
62,500 00
3,686,342 081
72,535 06
1,000,000 00
2,000,000 00
5,000,000 00
2,783,161 88
7,070,661 44
1,250,000 00
2,648,680 00
120,000 00
2,265,400 00
200,000 00
3,385,076 66
1,829,600 00
2,524,000 00
1,946,215 65
$36,469,998 87
Interest due Ist August,
1842, for which certi•
ficates of stock were
issued redeemable in
1843,
interest due Ist February
1843, redeemable in
1846,
Interest due Ist August,
1843, redeemable in
1846,
866, 625 53
859,084,000 00
Upon this debt the annual interet to be
nail amounts to 131,941,827 23, to wit:
Permanent loan at 6 per cent, $ 1,946,944 33
" loans at 5 per cent. 32,683,189 86
~ loan at 4} per cent.
Relief notes at 1 per cent,
do. at 6 per cent.
Arrears of interest due to our
loan holders in August, 1942,
and February and August,
1843, at 6 per cent. 2,614 601 53
$39,084,000 40
Thrre is also due to Domestic Creditors
on certificates issued by the Auditor Gen
eral, the sum of 206,461 00.
For the interest annually accruing, and
fur the temporary debts and liabilitirs of
the State, provision should be immediate.
ly made. The resources of the State are
abundant, arid all that is required is the
right disposition, and a judicious and
proper selection of the mode in which
these resources are to be rendered avail
able.
The amount of Taxes levied and paid
into the State Treasury, under the exist.
ing tax laws, was as follows : In the year
1841, the amount levied, was $416,794
85—there was paid into the Treasury
during that year, $33,292 77. In 1842
the tax levied was 5659,512 47—the a
mount paid in the same year was $486,•
635 85. In 1843, the amount levied
cannot be ascertained with accuracy, in
consequence of failures on the tart of the
County Commissioners in several coun
ties to make return to the proper ofLe ;
but making an estimate from the best data
that can be obtained, it will not fall short
945,000 00. The tax paid into the
Treasury the past year was 553,911 38.
The assessment for the ensuing year may
be fairly estimated at what it amounted to
the past year, provided the Legislature
repeal the proviso to the 16th section of
the Act of 27th J uly, 1842, entitled "An
Act to provide for the ordinary expenses
of the Clovernment—payment of interest
upon the Slate debt," &c., which limits
the assessment of the increased tax to one
year. Unless provision be immediately
made for continuing the assessment! and
collection of the tax, our financial dill
collies must be increased, and the conse
quences be most disastrous to our State
credit.
It will be seen by the foregoing state
ment, that nearly a million of dollars. aris
ing from taxation remains unpaid ; and
there is no authority vested in the Execu
tive, by law, to enturce its collection. 1
have repeatedly recommended to the Le
gislature, the adoption of seine legal
method of compelling County Cuinmis
sinners, Collectors and Treasurers, to
perform their duties —but, thus tar, nu
legislation has been bad upon the subject.
In the present detective state of the law,
every temptation is held out to Jelin
quents to persevere in setting at naught its
injunctions. Permit ins again to call the
attention of the Legislature to this sub
ject and to express the hope that this evil
will be remeilietl.
The whole receipts from our public im•
pruvements, beyond the payment for re
pairs, and the expenses of their charge
and ma.tagemt•nt, durirg the past fiscal
veer amount to $482,657 34.
The current expenses of government,
including the permanent appropriation to
Common Schools and other purposes, linty
' e erimated at about 15750,000,00. The
resources of the State, independent of
taxaton, anti the receipts from the public
improvements, at about 8400,000 00.—
From an examination of all these receipts
and liabilities of the State, supposing the
tax levied underexisting laws, to be pone•
bay oillected and paid over, there
lAuu.l bean abnual deficit of about $150,.
000 00, independent of the balance due
to Domestic Creditors; for the punctual
paym e nt of all which, the State is bound
by every obligation of faith and honor.
After a most careful consideration of the
whole subject, I have been unable to de
vise any other mode of meeting this re
' sponsibility than that of augmented tax
ation.
I took occasion in my annual message
transmitted to the Legislature on the Bth
of January, 1840, to speak upon this sub-
Pet in the following pointed and tine
criivocal words. 1 beg leave to quote
them, because I have reiterated, in every
annual message to the Legislature since,
substantially the same sentiments , and I
desire the people of Pennsylvania and the
whole world, to know, if There be ground
to charge remissness of duty, to whom
the fault is to be justly attributed :
"In expressing my own opinion in favor
of a resort to taxation, I do it with no in
considerable degree of reluctance ; but it
must be obvious to every citizen of the
Commonwealth, that Isis house, his farm,
and his property, are all pledged, beyond
possibility ut release, to the ultimate pay
ment of the State debt, and the interest
thereon accruing, agreeably to the stipula
tion with the loan holders. Nor is this
the worst view of our situation. The
State has been actually compounding, for
years past, from a million to a million and
a half of interest annually ; and the
question is now submitted, whether we
are thus to continue adding, half yearly,
this enormous amount of interest to the
principal of our State debt, and continue
in this pusillanimous course of policy,
from year to year, of shuffling oft the
evil day, and entailing this frightful lega
cy twin posterity. It is a reproach upon
the people of Pennsylvania to suppose
they can be longer kept in the dark, in
regard to the situation in which we find
them. All they want to know, to ensure
a ready compliance with this indispensable
call on their patriotism, is to know the
ne
cessity of the measu re. The experience
of more than ball a century, fortifies me
in the belief that the good sense of the
people of this great Commonwealth, is
rarely appealed to in vain. in assuming
the responsibility of recommending this
measure, I am fully sensible of what has
to be encountered, and awaie of the con
sequences that are to follow ; and it, in
this expression of the honest convictions
of my own mind, and the fearless dis
charge of the duties incumbent on me, I
shall riot be borne out by ruy fellow•citi. •
zens, I shall at least have the consolation
to know that I have done that which I
conscientiously believe to be right, and
which I think will bear the reflection of
after years. The time tot evasion is gone;
public mind has been too long fed with
miserable expedients. The tune fur i,c•
tion is at hand. Oar country expects
every man to do his duty, and he that has
not nerve enough for the crisis, should
give place to thus better fitted t i n• the
emergency. Neither the present Legisla
ture, nor myself, had anything to do with
contracting this debt—it is fixed on us by
those who have gone before us ; arid the
same rule of prudence and sound policy ;
that would govern the conduct of a pri•
vale individual, holds equally good in the
case of the Commonwealth, under this
state of things. The private individual
would tax his industry and his property to
the utmost, to pay off a debt and the inter
est upon it, that was consuming the avails
of his industry and his substance.—so, al
so, it seems to me, should the representa
tives of a wise and judicious people. Tax.
:kilo° would pay the interest —it would
eventually constitute a sinking fund to
pay off the principal of the State debt,
and should be continued till the income of
the public improvements would render
hinge' taxation urnecessary. The crisis
demands the exercise of the most far
reaching sagacity—the calmest judgment
and the most fearless patriotism. I am
sure the legislature will meet it in the
right spirit, to disarm it of its perils.—
Coming, as you do, from till quartets of
the State, and possessing a more intimate
knowledge of the circumstances and wants
of the people than I can, I must cheertully
surrender this important subject to you,
satisged that prudence and justice will
direct your action upon it."
I used strung terms in speaking to the
Legislature on this subject at that time,
because it was an hour of darkness, un
certainty and alarm. The explosion of
the banks, the paralysis of the business
energies of the country, and the murmur
ings of those whose ambition seeks no
higher aim than that of finding fault,
were all calculated to deter even honest
569,505 50
873,988 00
873,988 00
200,000 00
1,467,628 68
171,636 00
men from faithfully performing their duty.
So far as I was concerned, I was resol
ved that both my opinions and my course,
should be openly avowed and fully under
stood. Four years have now elapsed ;
time has been given to the excited to be
come calm, to the timid to become sell
possessed, and for factious partizans to see
the error of their way. 1 look back with
pleasure on my course, because, as I had
no dolt)! from the beginning, I have been
iumplianily sustained by the honest yet)•
marry of Pennsylvania. They have
bor ne , nithion t cloning, every burthen
mat was necessary to tuatnrain Ille honor of
the State, anti they ate ready to endure yet
greater sacrifices, If they be necessary, for
the same cause.
It has of late been fashionable, in cer
tain tiarters, to denounce Pennsylvania,
and cite her as an example in point, to
sanction the reproach which has been at
tempted to be cast upon the American
people, of seeking to carry into practical
,operation the scheme of repudiaang their
public debts. ':'hose who have circulated
and believed thii calumny, betrayed a de.
gree of ignorance, both of the character of
our people and of the course of her legit•
lion which is truely surprising. On eve
ry occasion, the liability of the State has
been frankly avowed, both by her Exece•
live and Legislative Depitrtments ; and
although the recommendations of the Ex
ecutive, to make provision for the pay•
meta of her interest, have not been slop•
tell to the fullest extent, yet the Legisla
ture has passed laws imposing a tax, a•
mounting the last year to little less than a
million of dollars, and this has been Sc.
seeded to by the people, without a mur
mur from any source entitled to a mo•
ment's consideration. The failure to pay
the interest has not resulted from a want
of disposition to do so, on the part of the
citizens of Pennsylvania, but from the
general disasters which have overwhelmed
and crippled her, in common with almost
every other government in the commer
cial world. We are regaining oar ener
gies, and recovering from the embarrass
ments by which we have unfortunately
been surrounded. A very few years will
enable us to retrieve all we have lost, and
to wipe from our escutchion every blot with
which unexpected misfortune has tarnish
ed it. Whatever the interested or evil
disposed may have inserted to the contra
ry, there is not an honest citizen of Penn
sylvania who does not feel the proud con
sciousness that her faith and intrgrity
can be held up to the world unsullied.
The valuation of the real and personal
property owned by the citizens of the
State, ascertained by reference to the val
uation as taxed for county purposes,
amounts to about four hundred and sixty
millions of dollars. The average rate of
this valuation is no doubt, considerably
below the actual value of the property of
the State.
Among the receipts at the Treasury during the
last year, there were from tolls, exclusive of
motive power, $755,155 39
Auction duties, 59,661 78
Tax on collateral inheritance. 22,337 05
Dividends on Bridge, Turnpike, and
Navigation Stocks,
Escheats,
$957,325 51
To which add State Tax received, 553,911 38
$1,411,236 89
This income, derived from the above
sources, was specially appropriated to the
payment of the interest on our public
debt ; and on the faith of the State's ad
herence to its solemn engagements, those
from whom the money was obtained,
were doubtless induced to make the loan.
But, by the resolution passed the 7th
April, 1842, and the acts passed 27th
July, 1842, and Bth April, 1843, those
!brads were applied to other and inherent
purposes, from what was deemed by the
Legislature, an imperative necessity, ins
duced by the monetary embarrassments
to which I have already adverted.
It is thus shown that about three and a
half per cent. at the interest could' have
been paid the past year but for this subse.
quint legislation ; and that the above sum
of $857,325 51, together with a tax of
less than three mills au the assessed val.
ue of the real and personal estate of the
citizens of the Commonwealth, would
pay the interest of the public debt, beyond
all doubt, and place Pennsylvania on that
proud eminence which the true character
of her people, and the resources which
she possesses, designed her to occupy.
But to satisfy the people of the propriety
of this increase of the tax, assurance
should be given that it would be applied
to the peyment of the interest on the
State debt, to the exclusion of every oths
er object.
There has been one objection made
against taxation under the present state
lof things, which appears to be founded in
justice, and that is, the manifest unfair
ness and inequality in the rates of assess•
menu in the dilferent counties. I annex
to this message a table showit►g the assess
ments in the various counties in this
Co mmonwealth, an examination of which
will at once disclose the evils that ought
to be remedied.
Most of our laws on the subject of (axes
and revenue, require revision and amend
ment. Those relating to collateral in
heritances, retailers and dealers in mer
chandize, auctions and auctioneer•, and
brokers require revision and modification
to prevent evasion. Indeed there is
good reason to believe the revenue from
these sources might be doubled. The
county rates and levies are not augment
ed by them; nor does the State tax de..
riveti therefrom, bear any fair proportion
to that exacted from the land holder. The
inequality and injustice of the matter be•
come manifest when the proceeds derived
from each are considered.
The tax necessary for the payment of
the interest on our State debt, it has long
been apparent to me, should be apportion
ed among the several counties of the
State, and a liberal discount or draw
back allowed for prompt collections
and payment into the Treasury. The
members of the Legislature, coming, as
they do, from the several counties, and
each watchful of the rights and interests
of his immediate constituents, would cer
tainly compose aboard every way compe
tent to make that apportionment. A more
unequal one than that which now exists,
cannot be readily devised. I am aware
that each and every object and mode of
taxation is more or less objectionable- —but
that should not absolve us from our duty.
I have submitted to the Legislature, my
views again and again, on this subject;
and that it has at times differed with me,
is no cause of complaint—that difference
of opinion having proceeded from a con
scientious discharge of duty. But if the
suggestions here made, do not seem right
and proper, permit me to express the
earnest hope that the Legislature will de
vise some other mode, less objectionable,
and that it will not seperate until full and
ample provison be made for the punctual
payment of the Interest on our public
debt, semi-annually, as it becomes due,
and thus smooth the way for those who
may come after us in the administration
of the Government.
Before quitting the subject of taxation,
it may be well to take a relative view of
the taxes received at the Treasury, for the
last three years, and the amount annually
paid out to the several counties, fcr the
purposes of education. The taxes re•
ceived in
1841, amounted to $ 33.292 77
1842, .. 485,635 85
1843, .. 353,911 38
The moneys paid out for the purposes
of education, during the same years,
amounted, in 1841, to $365,760 04
1842, 315,372 43
1843, 408,694 36
51,089,832 83
So that it appears more money has actu
ally been paid out by the Commonwealth,
for educating her people, than the amount
of State tax paid into the Treasury.
It will be entirely practicable to make
provision fur the payment of the semi
annual interest, on and after the first of
August next. And to provide fur every
possible contingency, the State Treasu
rer might be authorized to borrow, if ne
cessary, a sufficient sum to make up any ,
deficiency, and the taxes and other re
ceipts of the State, applicable to the dis
charge of interest, be pledged specifically
for the re-payment.of such loan, and ap
plied as soon as received.
• The arrears of interest due in 1842,
and in February and August, 1843, have
been funded, in conformity with the acts
of Assembly upon that subject. This was
the most that could be done for our credi
tors under the circumstances, and it,
herrafter provision be made fOr the 'punc
tual discharge of the interest, it will I
believe, be as much as could reasonably
be expected by the holders of our loans.
There is now due from the State to cer
tain banks the sum of 81,467,628 68, on
account of the issue of notes under the
act of 4th May, 1841, which bear an in.
terest of one per cent. By virtue of the
act of Assembly passed the Bth day of
April last, entitled “An act to provide for
the payment of Domestic Creditors,"&c.
these notes are to I►e cancelled at the rate
of one hundred thousand dollars per
month. The funded debt of the State
bears an interest at the rate of five and
six per cent. payable semi-annually. If
this cancellation be continued at the same
rate, it is very certain this interest cannot
be paid, as a very large proportion of
taxes and tolls will be paid in funds of
this description. It is therefore, for the
Legislature to determine which of these
measures it is the policy of the state to
pursue.
19,161 29
1,010 00
The revenues derived from the public
works (luring the past fiscal year, although
not realizing the estimates which were
limited at the commencement of the year.
have yielded a very handsome profit to the
Commonwealth over the expenditures re
quired fix• their maintenance. The report
of the Canal Commissioners, which will
be laid before you and to which your par.
ticular attentiou is invited, exhibits in de
tail the receipts and expenditures upon
the several lines of canal and railroad.
By that document, it appears, that, from
the early closing of the canal by ice in the
latter part of 1842, and its late opening
from the same cause in the following
spring, the navigable season of 1843 was
rendered about eight weeks shorter than
that of the previous year. A combination,
likewise, took place among the boatmen
on the Delmore Divisint► which lasted
for several weeks, putting a stop to trans
portation, and causing a toss of revenue
to the Commonwealth of not less than
$30,000. Notwithstanding these im•
pediments, added to that experienced
from high floods on the Juniata in Septem •
her last, the tolls amount to $1,017,841
12, being an increase over the receipts of
1842 of $77,627 43. An abstract of the
receipts and expenditures on the several
lines exhibits the following result:
EXPENDITUEES. RECEIPTS.
Main Lino $254,036 82 $857,212 94
Delaware Division, 22,553 92 92,265 41
Susquehanna, North
and West Branches, 59,226 80 62,206 41
Beaver, Shenango and
French Creek, 15,410 82 6,156 71
$522,228 36 $1,017,841 12
Deduct Expenditures, 522,228 36
Excess of receipts over expen
ditures, $405,612 76
Deduct drawback on flour and pork, 22,436 80
Add increase of stock on Columbia
Railroad, 9,481 38
Clear profit of al the works
for 1943, $982,657 34
The increase and decrease of tolls on the darer
ent lines, es compared with 1942, were as follows:
DECREASE. lacnsasr.
Main Lino, $94,263 46
Delaware Division, $2,193 67
Susquehanna North and
West Branches
Beaver, Shenango and
French Creek,
Increase in 1843,
And, on the seine lines, the excess .of receipts
over the expenditures and all liabilities, is as follows:
Mein Line, $419,220 70
Del aware Division, 69,711 49
Susquehanna, North and West
branches, 2,979 26
Beaver, Shenango and French
Creek, excess of expenditures
over receipts,
Total excess of receipts over ex•
penditurcs,
From these statements it appears that,
with the exception of the small excess on
Susquehanna and North and West
Branch Divisions, the proWs upon the
year's business, have been 'term(' from
the Main line and the Delaware Division.
The last named division has yielded a
profit of five per cent. above the cost of its
construction, which, for the loss of 'Tye
noes sustained rein the combination a
mong the boatmen before referred to, and
interruption from breaches, would have
been increased to over seven per cent.
The Columbia and Philadelphia Rail
road exhibits a very gratifying result.—
The clear profit of the road over expendi
ture and liabilities the past year amount
to $202,966 65—equal to about 5 per cent.
on the original cost of the t ailway and the
motive power department.
In pursuance of the provisions of the
act of 7th March, 1843, a charter was is
sued on the 16th day of June last, to
The Erie Coal Company." The com
pany is vigorously prosecuting the work,
and gives fair promise of its early com
pletion. That portion of the division from
the Ohio River to the town of New Cas
tle, according to the terms of the charter,
remains in possession of the Common
wealth, until the completion of the whole
line. A large portion of the expenditures
on it during the year, was caused by re
pairs to the works since transferred.
$1,075,840 00
It is evident Irmo the foregoing ab
stracts, and from a review of the details,
contained in the Canal Commissioners'
report, that the Main line and Delaware
Division, can, at all ti.nes, be made sour
ces of profitable revenue to the Common
wealth, by the exercise of a proper vigi
lance over the disbursements. Much has
been done towards introducing a system
of strict economy, and dispensing with
officers, agents and laborers, whose servi
ces tend only to swell the amount of ex
penditures. if the system thus begun, be
carried out and perfected, all doubt must
vanish as to the value of the two portions
of the public works when considered as
means of revenue.
To the more general introduction of
section boats, in consequence of the Stale
having purchased trucks for their convey
ance over the two railroads, may be traced
the principal cause of the increase of tolls
and tonnage on the Main line. The ex
periment has been fully tested to the sat
isfaction of the most sanguine friends of
the system of individual competition in
the carrying trade. These boots, during
the past year have prevented combina
tions, reduced the price of freight, increa
sed the amount of tolls and tonnage, and
given to our Main line a character for
cheapness in transportation, which must
make it the principal avenue to a market
between the waters of the West and the
Eastern Atlantic cities. A system of
transportation which, in its incipient state,
have been productive of such great bene
fits, and which are so closely identified
with the prosperity of the improvements
of the Commonwealth, is entitled to the
glistering care of the Legislature. In 1843,
the amount of tolls paid by section boats
was $114,227 47; of which 216,651 85
was for the use of the State trucks. To
give efficiency to the system ; to inset the
demands consequent upon the continued ,
increase in the number of section boats ; '
!and to prevent vexatious delays at the
railroad slips, an increase in the number
of trains of trucks has become absolutely
necessary. As these additional trains
will be required at the opening of the
spring business, the expectation is enter
tained that an early appropriation will be
made to that object. Such an appropria
tion will give an impetus to the spring
bade, by giving assurance of promptness
in the delivery of produce, goods, and
merchandise ; to further increase section
boats ; place the system upon it permanent
basis; and insure to the Commonwealth
all the advantages which must necessarily
result from this improved mode of trans
portation over our disjointed lines of canal
and railroad. I would further recom
mend that the appropriation be made
direct, and not made payable out of the
tolls for the use of trucks, so as to enable
the Canal Commissioners to make the
purchase on more economical terms than
can otherwise be done, and to free the
rate of toil, and the method of keeping the
accounts, from the present complexity.
will refer you to my message, return
ing, without the Executive sanction, a bill
entitled An Act to authorize the Gov
ernor to incorporate the Pennsylvania
Canal and Railroad Company from Phila
delphia to Pittsburg," for my views in re
lation to the impolicy of selling or trans
ferring the public improvements to private
companies. I deem it however proper to
add, that, although my own judgment on
this subject is perfectly clear, yet, if a
second Legislature deem it advisable to
concur with the former in providing for
this sale or transfer, I do not know that I
will consider the duty incumbent on me
of offering further resistance to this pro
ject ; provided sufficient safeguards be
established to protect the public against
frauds and colusions in the sale, and to
ensure a proper regard for the public in
• (crests, on the part of those into whose
I hands they are subsequently to be trans
• fer. ed.
$473,175 96
13,906 08
536 28 16,636 03
$77,627 43
No report has been made by the Com •
missioners named in the act entitled An
Act to authorize the Governor •to ineor•
pante the Delaware Canal Coinpany,"
passed 13th April last ; no am I in posses
siun of any official information in relatith it
to the same. Amik
491,011 45
09 the subject of the Banks 1 have lit
tle to recommend. My views in relation
to the system have heretofore been very
fully expressed, and do not now need reit•
eration. Most If nut all the solvent in
stitutions have now resumed specie pays
'nerds ; and, taught by past experience,
it is hoped they will so regulate their bu
siness, and circumscribe their liabilities
within the bounds of prudence,. that we
shall not see a recurrence of the pecuniary
embarrassments which have fur some
years past distressed the community,—
The gradual restoration of public and pri
vate confidence, will enable the solvent
institutions of the State to furnish a cur
rency as fast as required by the wants of
the country, which be redeemable in
specie on demand. :
9,264 11
$482,857 34
• And DO bank charters will expire during
the remainder of the present executive
term, there will be no necessity for enac
ting laws- fur their renewal at present.—
The practice of renewing acts of incorpt
ration fon. before the expiration of the
existing c harters, is manifestly wrongs,
even where it may be considered proper to
continue them. Under present circum
stances, I think it would not be right to
embarrass th e administration obqk my
successor, by prematurely legisla
ting on subjects that will belong to that
period of the administration of the govern
ment. The situation of the country and
its business certainly does not require the
granting of any bank charters.- Believing
that the evils of banking are corrected by
the good sense of the community, I COl's•
gratulate the Legislatuse upon the pros
pect of being relieved from the immediate
consideration of die subject for the pres.
ent session, at least.
The report of the Superintendent of
Common Schools, will exhibit their condi
tion in detail. Every thing calculated
to . advance the interest of this most
portant of all our institutions, cannot be
too strongly commended to your attention.
The vital interest of religion, murality.
and civil liberty itself,. are dependent
upon the cherishing aid and enlightened
support imparted to our Common Schools ,
and higher Seminaries of learning. Here
must be implanted the seeds of virtue, of
intelligence, and of all that confers dis
tinction upon our citizens.
The report of the Adjutant General
will be laid before you. I took occasion.
in my annual message of 1840, to say that
"our militia system is a tax, to a consid
erable amount, upon the State Treasury.
which might be considerable lessened if
the Adjutant General were charged with
the duty of personally superintending the
system in its details, and properly cam—
pensated therefor." In every annual
message since, I have urged the
impor
tance of some attention to this subject.—
. The office of Adjutant General lets teen
tilled for several years by a gentleman of x i '
great practical knowledge amid experittice,
who has devoted much tone and attention
to the discharge of its duties ; and it has
been a matter of regret that his sugges
tions have not had the weight with the
Legislature, to which they were so justly
entitled. By the legislation of the last
few years, one description of persons after
another has been exempted from the pay
ment of fines, until the amount received
at the Treasury, during the past year,
falls short of the expenses the sum of ,
$42,448 59. This state of things is so pals
pably wrong, that nothing more is required 1 1
than to bring the facts to your notice, to •
! ensure an early correction of the evil.
Pennsylvania has a force of upwards art
thirty-live thousand volunteers, that
compare with any troops in this or any
lother country. I cannot too earnestly
recommend them to the fostering care of
the Legislature.
Under the act of 24th March last, enti
tled "An Act to create permanently the
office of State Printer," Isaac G. M'Kin
ley and nutter and Bigler have claimed
to be State Printers; the former to do the
English, and the latter to do the German
printing, of the Commonwealth. The
language of the Act of Assembly seemed
to me to render the validity of this
doubtful, and I caused the ques
tion to be submitted to the Attorney Gen
eral, whose opinion on the subject is here-
with transmitted to the Legislature. I
concurred with him, and accordingly de
chord to approve the bonds 'mitered,
informing the parties interested that the
whole matter would be submitted to the.
early attention of the Legislature. Had
the parties interested reason to complain
of the course pursued by the Executive,
they might have applied to the Supreme
.1
Court, during its session in Harrisburg for
a writ of mandamus, directing the Gov.
ernor to approve their bonds, which was a
mere ministerial duty, unless lie could
show some legal reason for his refusal. I
was at all times ready to have met this is
sue before that tribunal, and have at no
, time entertained a doubt of the result, or
propriety of my course. '1
In addition to the legal argument presen
, ted by the Attorney General, which I re
gard as unanswerable, there are some
other circumstances connected with that
election, which 'oaken it peculiarly neces
sary that they should be brought to your
most serious consideration. The election
was postponed from time to time, from the
27th day of March, the third day after the
passage of the law, and on which, actor•
Jing to its provisions, it should have taken
place, to the 15th day of April, on which,
according to the certificate presented to
me, it was made. During this interval of
time, and before the day on which the
election was consummated,! haVe Osten in-