The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1861-01-16

estate has been but two aud half mills OIL
the dollar, while from 1874 10 1857 il was
! three mills-that for the past two years and
six mouths the State has received no part
OF the tax on tonnage due from the Penn
sylvania railroad company-and that since
July 1859, the interest on the bonds held
10y the Stale against the Sunbury and Erie
railroad company has remained due and
unpaid, il is certainly cause for hearty con-
graduation, that, without aid from these
| important sources of revenue, so great a
reduction of the public debt has been ac-
mPlished in COM paratively short a
! period. The funded and floating debt,
which at that time amounted 10 upwards OF
two millions OF dollars, has been almost en-
SI20 72l 7S-and of this sum over ninety
nine thousand dollars consists of relief notes
most OF which are undoubtedly either lost
or destroyed, and will, therefore, never be
presented for paymen The claims against
the State, sccruing from the construction
aud maintenance OF her canals and rail-
roads, are now reduced 10 mere nominal
sum; aud, in the future, after providing for
the ordinary expenses of government, her
revenues and her energies may be exclu.
sively applied 10 the payment of The inier-
est, and the discharge OF The principal OF
her public debt.
The people of this Commonwealth have
hitherto met, with prompiness, the demands
made npon them, from time TO time, for
the ways and means of repIenishlng the
Public Treasury and now, that they see
that the onerous debt with which they have
been so long burdened, is each year Ger
lsnly and rapidly disappearpg-that the
amount required 10 meet the interest is an
nually being diminished-that consequently
a still greater sum can each year be devoted
to the reduction OF :he principal of the debt
without resorlIng 10 additional sources of
revenue and that, with proper husband.
ing of the resources OF the State, the day is
not Tar distant when direct taxation in
Pennsylvania will cease alIogether-ihe
paymeRt of such taxes as may for the Time
be required TO meet the public necessities,
" Ill continue TO be met with cheerfu
aud alacrity. But they will uuquesiiona-
bly, hold those 10 whose care they have en-
trusted the financial interests of the State
10 rigid accountability. That there should
at this particular juncture. when the bnsi
ness aud monetary affairs OF the country
are so greatly depressed be the striclesl
economy in public expenditures, is so mau-
iiesi, that ii can scarcely be necessary 10
call attention 10 so plain duty. II is equ
ally clear that any Legislation which would
tend greatly 10 lessen The revenues of the
Commonwealth, would, al this time, be Pc
culsrly unwi.e and luexpedient The exi
gencIes of The iuiure no man can foreleil-
the pros pect before US is becloGded with
doubt aud uncertainty-it is therefore, no
more than The part OF wisdom 10 guard,
sources of revenue, aud to thus be prepared
for ever possible contingency.
Since Jdly, 1858, the Pennsylvania rail-
road company has refused 10 pay the tax on
tonnage required to be paid by the act in
cooperating The company, and lis various
supplements; aud there is now due 10 The
State, on shat account, exclusive OF interest,
the sum of S67i, ,296 %. Including the in
terest, the sum how due is about 500 OO0
Before my last annual message was com
municaed 10 the Legislature, case had
been tried in the court of common pleas of
DauphIn county, between the Common
wealth and the railroad company, involv-
ing the question of the conslilulonaIiiy OF
this tax, which was decided in favor of The
Stale, aud tie imposition of The tax pro
noCnced constitutional. In January last,
another suit was tried between the sane
parties, in the same court, involving he
same question, with like result In De-
cember las, a judgment was Obtained in
the district court OF Philadelphia. upon one
of the semi annual settlements, fer 81 10 600
So that Judgment has Seen obtained for
1866, 900 of The debt, being the whole
amount which became due prior 10 1860
The tax which accrued during the past
year, amounts to S30s, 1929 O3. The first
settlement for the year is before the Dau-
phin county court, on an appeal taken by
he company; and the second, or last, sell
lement was made bot few days since, by !
lie accountant department OF the Common
" ealth.
Alter The recovery, in the common pleas |
Of Dauphin county, the cases were removed
by writs of error, taken on behalf of :he de- |
Iendants, TO the Supreme Court of this State
where they were argued in June last, and
in October that tribunal sustained the deci-- /
ion OF the court of common rleas, and /
held the lax 10 be clearly constitutional +; |
lhus uniting with the law making power in
the right of the Stale TO tax cor
poration under a law to which it owes ls |