Mr. J. PRICE WETHERILL. Mr. ChairInan: Now 1 offer this as a substitute for the section:

the Legislature shall continue and maintain the sinking fnnd sufficient to pay the accruing interest on such debt, and annu

The CLERK read as follows:

"When any debt is authorized for the use of any county, city, borough or school district the act by which the debt is created shall provide therein for the levy of an annual tax, which shall be sufficient for the payment of the interest thereon semi-annually, and the principal thereof at he expiration of thirty years, and the extinguishment of the debt at its maturity. The portion of the tax for the payment of the interest shall be kept separate and apart, and held for the payment thereof, and that for the extinguishment of the debt shall be kept separate and apart as a sinking fund, and under law for its regulation shall be invested with the income thereof, and at maturity of the debt applied to its extinguishment."

Mr. BROOMALL. Mr. Chairman: I am entirely in favor of the object of the gentleman from Philadelphia, but I am inclined to think it rather a matter for legislation than for constitutional provision. If we declare that the act creating a debt shall provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest, for thirty years, it seems to me that the manner in which that should be done, the details ought properly to be left to the Legislature. While I am entirely in favor of the object sought to be reached by the gentleman from Philadelphia, I would prefer that the section be adopted as it stands, leaving the Legislature to arrange the details.

The substitute was rejected.

The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the section as amended, which will be read.

The CLERK read as follows:

"Any county, township, school district or municipal corporation incurring any indebtedness shall, at or before the time of so doing, provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest, and also the principal thereof, within thirty years."

The section, as amended, was agreed to. The CHAIRMAN. The next section will be read.

The CLERK read as follows:

SECTION 10. To provide for the payment of the present State debt, and any additional debt contracted as aforesaid,

sum not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The said sinking fund may be increased, from time to time, by assigning to it any part of the taxes or other revenues of State not required for the ordinary and current expenses of government; and, unless in case of war, invasion or insurrection, no part of said sinking fund shall be used or applied otherwise than in extinguishment of the public debt until the amount of such debt is reduced below the sum of five million dollars.

Mr. BOYD. Mr. Chairman: The hour of five having arrived, I move that the committee do now rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again.

The motion was rejected.
The section was agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN.

be read.

The next section will

The CLERK read as follows:

SECTION 11. The moneys of the State, over and above the necessary reserve, which shall be as small as possible consistent with the public demands, shall be used in the payment of the debt of the State, either directly or through the sinking fund; and the moneys of the sinking fund shall never be invested in or loaned upon the security of anything except the bonds of the United States or of this State. The CHAIRMAN. The next section will be read.

The CLERK read as follows:

SECTION 12. All moneys of the State shall, as far as possible, be kept at interest for the benefit of the State or in loans upon the security of the bonds of the United States or of this State; and the Legislature shall provide means for the publication, at least once in every three a statement showing the months, of amount of all such moneys, where the same are deposited or loaned, and on what security.

The section was agreed to.

Mr. LILLY. Mr. Chairman: I offer the following additional section:

"The Legislature, by general law, shall provide that all taxable property shall be valued for assessment at its full market value, and shall provide by law penalties for all non-compliance with this section." The proposed additional section was rejected.

Mr. ALRICKS. Mr. Chairman: I offer the following as a new section:

"A State Revisor shall be selected every three years, whose duty it shall be to examine and revise any and all accounts presented against the Commonwealth, and if any claim is not just or true, he shall report the same to the Auditor General. The said Revisor shall report annually to the Legislature such bills and claims made against the Commonwealth for work, labor, and materials furnished, as are fair accounts, and shall also report why any claims made should not be allowed, and shall report whether all taxes on corporations have been equitably and fairly adjusted."

Mr. Chairman, I desire to say a word upon this section. I have it from the best authority that hundreds of thousands of dollars are annually paid beyond what the Commonwealth ought to pay; and I have it from the same authority, that it is the opinion of those who have had experience in that mattter, that if we had some person, whose duty it would be to revise these accounts and call the attention of the Auditor General to the fact, that although they are prima facie fair, yet there are matters in them that ought not to be allowed, in all probability these items would be stricken out, or that, at all events, they would not be paid. I received the impression from a gentleman who has had great experiences in connection with and an intimate knowledge of the Auditor General's office, that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid on the prima facie evidence of the account when the money was not really owing.

Let not gentleman say that I propose to appoint some person to keep an eye on the Auditor General. I apprehend that that objection will not avail, because, really, the Auditor General has a very large amount of duties to perform. He has charge of the settlement of accounts with the different corporations throughout the Commonwealth, and that of itself would engage the attention of an officer for a large portion of the year. I think it is in the interest of the Commonwealth that we should have some other person whose duty it should be to examine with care those accounts which are presented against the Commonwealth, and to report them to the Legislature, so that their attention might be directed to the subject and unjust accounts, although they might appear on their face prima facie to be cor

rect, should not be paid. I regard this as a matter of very great moment, and I trust the amendment will receive favorable consideration.

Mr. BROOMALL. This is a matter for legislation; and, surely, it does not belong in this article, because it is the creation of a new office.

The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment of the gentleman from Dauphin, (Mr. Alricks,) to add the section proposed by him.

The amendment was rejected.

The article, as reported, having been gone through with, the committee rose, and the President having resumed the Chair, the chairman (Mr. Lamberton) reported that the committee of the whole, having had under consideration the article reported by the Committee on Revenue, Taxation and Finance, had directed him to report the same with amendments. The amendments were read.

The article as proposed to be amended by the committee of the whole is as follows:

SECTION 1. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws; but the Legislature may by general laws exempt from taxation (except from the special assessments herein provided,) public property used for public purposes, actual places of religious worship, places of burial not used or held for private or corporate profit and institutions of purely public charity.

SECTION 2. All laws heretofore passed or hereafter to be passed exempting property from taxation, other than the property above enumerated, shall be void.

SECTION 3. The Legislature may by general laws, uniform as to the class and kind of improvements to be made, vest in the corporate authorities of cities, boroughs and townships the power to make, renow and maintain local improvements by special assessments or taxation of contiguous property or of property specially benefited thereby, without exception on account of use or ownership.

SECTION 4. The property and business of manufacturing corporations shall not be taxed in any other manner or at any other rate than like property and business of individuals.

SECTION 5. No debt shall be created by or on behalf of the State, except to sup

ply casual deficiencies of revenue, or to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war, or to pay existing debt; and the debt created to supply deficiencies in revenue shall never exceed in the aggregate, at any one time, one million dollars.

SECTION 6. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money, by or on behalf of the State, shall specify the purpose for which the money is intended, and the money so borrowed shall be used for the purpose specified, and no other.

SECTION 7. Neither the State nor any county, city, borough, township or other municipality shall loan its credit or appropriate money to, or assume the debt of, or become a shareholder or joint owner in or with any private corporation, or any person or company whatever. SECTION 8. No county, township, school district or municipal corporation shall become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to an amount (excluding indebtedness existing at the adoption of this Constitution) in the aggregate exceeding two per centum on the value of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last assessment for county taxes, prior to the incurring such indebtedness; and all contracts by which indebtedness beyond such limits would be incurred by any municipal corporation shall be void.

SECTION 9. Any county, township, school district or municipal corporation incurring any indebtedness shall, at or before the time of so doing, provide for the collection of an annual tax, sufficient to pay the interest, and also the principal thereof, within thirty years.

SECTION 10. To provide for the payment of the present State debt, and any

additional debt contracted as aforesaid, the Legislature shall continue and maintain the sinking fund sufficient to pay the accruing interest on such debt, and annually to reduce the principal thereof by a sum not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The said sinking fund may be increased from time to time by assigning to it any part of the taxes or oth. er revenues of State not required for the ordinary and current expenses of government; and, unless in case of war, invasion or insurrection, no part of the said sinking fund shall be used or applied otherwise than in extinguishment of the public debt, until the amount of such debt is reduced below the sum of five millon dollars.

SECTION 11. The moneys of the State, over and above the necessary reserve, which shall be as small as possible, consistent with the public demands, shall be used in the payment of the debt of the State, either directly or through the sinking fund; and the moneys of the sinking fund shall never be invested in or loaned upon the security of anything except the bonds of the United States or of this State.

SECTION 12. All moneys of the State shall, as far as possible, be kept at interest for the benefit of the State, or in loans upon the security of the bonds of the United States or of this State; and the Legislature shall provide means for the publication, at least once in every three months, of a statement showing the amount of all such moneys, where the same are deposited or loaned, and on what security.

On motion of Mr. Landis, the Convention, at five o'clock and fifteen minutes P. M., adjourned..

20-VOL. III.

THURSDAY, April 17, 1873. The Convention met at ten o'clock A. M.

Prayer by Rev. J. W. Curry.

The Journal of yestereay's proceedings was read.

Mr. WRIGHT. I desire the Journal to be corrected in one respect. My name was put down yesterday, on the call of the yeas and nays, as voting for the motion to adjourn. I never intended to give such a vote, and it was done entirely through misapprehension. I desire the change to be made. I voted "nay."

The PRESIDENT. The Journal will be so corrected. The Chair will state that in the resolution passed the day before adjournment yesterday, directing an

each day at one o'clock, to meet again at three o'clock, there was an accidental error in the use of the term "adjournment." There can be no adjournment except to another day, and the proper entry is "that the House took a recess." The Chair has therefore taken the liberty of having the Journal modified by using the word "recess," instead of "adjournment," because if we call it an adjournment we must begin by reading the Journal when we come together again, and receiving memorials, &c., which was not the intention of the House. If the House dissents from this view it will express that dissent. The motion of Mr. M'Clean, yesterday,' is also entered as a motion to take a recess. Will the House agree to these corrections?

["Aye."]

RESIGNATION OF A MEMBER.

Mr. LAMBERTON. I present a communication, which I send to the desk to be read.

The CLERK read as follows:

LANCASTER, April 15, 1873. Hon. WILLIAM M. MEREDITH,

Pres't of Constitutional Convention : MY DEAR SIR:-Permit me through you to tender to the Constitutional Convention my resignation.

The many professsional and private engagements which demand my attention

during the months of April and May, and which I cannot postpone without great loss and inconvenience to others, have necessitated this course.

It is with much regret that I sever my connection with this Convention, assembled in response to a call from the people to execute the work of reform.

So far the action of the Convention meets with my hearty approval, and if in the end all is realized that a good beginning justifies anticipating, the people of the State will congratulate each other that they placed a great work in such trustworthy hands, and all who contribute to the result will have just cause to feel proud.

I have the honor to be

Yours respectfully,

SAMUEL H. REYNOLDS. Mr. LAMBERTON. 1 move that the res

ignation be accepted, and that it be referred to the delegates at large chosen upon the ticket upon which Mr. Reynolds was elected, to fill the vacancy.

The motion was agreed to.

PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS.

Mr. DALLAS presented two memorials of citizens of Philadelphia, praying for an acknowledgment of Almighty God and the Christian religion in the Constitution of the State, which were laid on the table.

Mr. GIBSON presented a memorial of citizens of York county, with the same prayer, which was laid on the table.

Mr. Jos. BAILY presented a memorial of citizens of Perry county, with the same prayer, which was laid on the table.

Mr. T. H. B. PATTERSON presented two memorials of citizens of Allegheny county, with the same prayer, which were laid on the table.

Mr. M'ALLISTER presented two memorials of citizens of Juniata county, with the same prayer, which were laid on the table.

Mr. ROOKE presented a memorial of citizens of Union county, with the same prayer, which was laid on the table.

Mr. CORBETT presented a memorial of citizens of Clarion county, with the same prayer, which was laid on the table.