CHAPTER XXIII.

1870-1882.

The Constitution of 1873-The Panic of 1873-State Finances-Strikes and Riots-The Philadelphia Centennial-Conclusion.

THE Constitution of 1776 had been the product of the work of extreme Republicans, and had granted great powers to the people. By 1790 a conservative reaction had set in, and the constitution of that year had made the governor the depository of vast responsibilities. The reverse swing of the pendulum had brought about the moderate Constitution of 1838, which restored popular choice and accountability. The process continued, and an amendment to this instrument in 1850 made judges elective; another, in 1871, performed the same service for the State treasurership.

The evils which now existed seemed to lie in the Legislature. It was generally believed that many members of that body were corrupt, and that the chances and materials for corruption should be diminished: governor and people both seemed safer than the elected representatives.

A Secretary of the Commonwealth had said: "It is notorious that the legislators are bought and sold in the unseemly and disgraceful scramble which occurs at Harrisburg in the annual election for State Treasurer."

A vast evil had also grown up in what was called special legislation. Much of this was meritorious. The demands of localities were different, and special cases were always likely to appear needing special treatment. But the opportunity for "log-rolling" and general corruption in connection with local bills made all simple inconveniences sink into the background in comparison with the temptation to a moral degradation of the legislative body.

So there was a general popular demand for a new constitution. In June, 1871, the Legislature voted to submit the

question to the people. In the fall of the same year they voted five to one to call a convention. In the following April the Legislature made the necessary provisions, and delegates were elected in November. In November, 1872, the convention met in Harrisburg, and adjourned to Philadelphia, electing William M. Meredith president. Its work was ratified by a vote of two hundred and fifty-three thousand for to one hundred and nine thousand against in December, 1873, and went into effect on the first day of January, 1874.

Pennsylvania has no reason to be ashamed of that convention. A system of minority representation, fairly drawn up by ex-Senator Buckalew, gave the Republicans a slight preponderance. Probably no abler body of men ever met in deliberation upon an important State matter within her borders. They were swayed as little by partisanship or selfishness as reasonable people have a right to expect in such cases. The people, to a large extent, set aside the smaller politicians they had been sending to the Legislature and selected serious, thoughtful, and scholarly men. The constitution adopted was one of the best possessed by any State.

To guard against legislative corruption the State Treasurer was made elective by the people; the number of legislators was increased to fifty Senators and two hundred Representatives, on the ground that large numbers were harder to purchase; sessions were made biennial instead of annual as tending to break up the continuous business of lobbyists and managing politicians, and as being sufficient for all necessary legislative purposes; and all special legislation was absolutely prohibited. The Legislature was hedged around by a great mass of prohibitions, while the penalties for bribery were severe and comprehensive.

The office of lieutenant-governor was created, and he, with three other officials, constituted a pardon board, without whose recommendation no pardon could be issued by the governor. The governor was allowed to veto special items in appropriation bills.

A system of minority representation in the case of magistrates and certain other officers was provided. The annual State elections were changed to conform to the date of the national elections, and a system of ballots was devised to prevent cheating.

In the matter of education the antiquated provisions of past constitutions were done away and ample provisions inserted requiring the provision and maintenance of an efficient system of public schools and the annual appropriation of at least one million dollars by the State; prohibiting granting any money to sectarian schools; and making women eligible to school positions.

The new developments of railroads and canals and other corporations required a mass of new legislation, the objects of which were to protect property owners, stockholders, and patrons, and to maintain their proper subservience to the State which created them.

It was premature to secure the adoption of clauses regulating appointments to civil offices by unpartisan competitive tests, or to secure the best results in balloting by secrecy and mechanical device. But nothing better was in that day possible, and the constitution has stood in the way of many a nefarious scheme.

After the close of Geary's administration the debt of the State was reduced more slowly for a few years, and then remained between thirteen and fourteen millions during the rest of the decade. Governor Hartranft advised a reduction of taxation, and the Legislature assented in 1873. Taxes were taken off which had been levied on the gross receipts of railroads, on the net earnings of corporations, and on cattle and farming implements. Thus was revenue reduced over a million of dollars. The new constitution about the same time required an increased appropriation to schools. But quite as influential as either was the commercial crisis of 1873, which seriously reduced the debt-paying power of the Commonwealth. Overproduction was usually assigned as the cause of this misfortune. It began with the failure of the banking house of Jay Cooke & Co. in Phila

delphia. This house had been considered impregnable, and during the war had rendered important services to the government. The difficulties spread until they assumed national proportions. The symptoms accompanying the former crises of 1837 and 1857 were renewed, except that now the national banks, well entrenched behind wise general laws, stood the assault better than the weaker and more dependent institutions of the earlier periods. Commercial houses failed, factories closed, wages were reduced, all classes suffered. Till about 1879 the dark times lasted, and recovery was slow.

As often happened, serious labor troubles followed the crisis. The Molly Maguires was an old Irish organization, which brought its name and methods into the Pennsylvania coal regions. Where there was a mine superintendent or boss objectionable to its members, he was overwhelmed with rudely drawn pictures of coffins and pistols, and serious warnings threatening his life. If these did not drive him from his post, or cause him to abate his objectionable habits, a detail of men from a neighboring branch, to whom he was entirely unknown, and who were often unacquainted with his offence, was appointed to murder him. This was generally successfully accomplished under circumstances which rendered detection almost impossible.

These outrages began during the war, and showed themselves among other ways by resistance to the draft. Loyal men in Carbon and Schuylkill counties were stricken down for their advocacy of the claims of the Union, and a mob of miners broke into the Mauch Chunk jail and released the prisoners. A succession of crimes followed, the order went into politics, and in some instances succeeded in electing the officers of justice, which made punishment for their crimes impossible. The coal regions were terrorized, and murders followed each other in rapid succession.

In 1873, Franklin B. Gowen, the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, undertook the process of reformation. A successful private police had been organized, the objects of terror and hate to the out

laws. Detectives joined the order and ferreted out its secrets. A young Irishman named McParlan spent three years in establishing himself among them. A great strike followed the financial failure of 1873, and the "Mollies" were supreme. Courted by demagogues, with what they deemed an impregnable organization, they proceeded to take vengeance on the agents and property of operators. But gradually item after item of evidence was being lodged with trusted officials; arrests were made, and in 1876 about a score of the order suffered the penalties of the law by the sentence of Judge Pershing in Pottsville. The reign of crime was over.

Many strikes against reduction of wages occurred throughout Pennsylvania during these years of business unrest. In 1877 the railroad employees through the State refused to work. Travel was suspended, and neither freight nor passenger trains were moved for some days. When the attempt was made by the companies the new trainmen were driven from their posts and the cars wrecked. Soldiers were sent to Pittsburg, and an unwise collision with the rioters, in which several were killed, intensified the feeling. The railroad station was burned to the ground, and for days the town was in possession of the inflamed populace.

In Reading the great railroad bridge over the Schuylkill was burned. In Philadelphia, by wise police action and the judicious absence of militia, a conflict was averted. The miners in the coal regions struck in sympathy, and Federal troops were called out. Ultimately, order was restored, though fifty civilians, mostly entirely innocent of wrong, and five soldiers were killed, a million dollars' worth of property was destroyed, and the reduction of wages on a falling market was not averted.

The centennial year was commemorated in Philadelphia by an international exposition, the management of which reflected great credit upon the public-spirited men who gave their abilities to its direction. The State of Pennsylvania appropriated one million dollars to the enterprise, the city of Philadelphia one million five hundred thousand