Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-10-02

enactEent seems 70 have been intend
ed 10 take from the State and give to
the company the ten thousand dollars
bonus paid into the State Treasury
annually by the New York and Erie
Railroad Company under the fifth
section of the act of 26th March,
1S46. Soon after the adjournment
my attention was directed to the sub
ject, and to guard against loss, 1
caused the Attorney General to give
notice to the New York and Erie Rail-
road Company that the State would
look to that corporation for the pay
ment of the annual bonus as hereto
fore, notwithstanding the passage of
the supplement referred to. Iregard
the latter as having been enacted and
approved through inadvertence in
the hurry Of closing session, and,
as hasty and inconsiderate legisla-
ton, at variance with the settled pol
icy of the State, and highly preju-
dicial to the public interests, and 1
therefore earnestly repeat the recon-
mendations in my last annual mes
sage for the immediate repeal of this
obnoxious law, or at least of that part
of it which relates to the bonus. The
State having long since abandoned
the policy of paying money out of her
treasury for the construction of rail-
roads, there is neither equality or
justice in allowing this enactment to
remain in force"
A repeating bill was introduced in
1872. The remarks of Senator War
fel, of Lancaster, to be found In the
Legislative Record of that year, pages
$50 to S63, gives a complete exposi-
ton of the fraud, its purposes and
projectors.
In this speech Mr.. Warfel gave the
history of the bonus of ten thousand
dollars from the Erie Railway, and
its attempted diversion from the
State Treasury to that of the Mil
ford and Matamoras Railroad Com
pany, setting forth how that one Will
liam H. Dimmick, a member of the
House of Representatives from Pike
county, owner Of 5S3 shares of the
Milford and Matamoras Railroad
Company, while seventeen shares only
were divided among six other stock
holders, to bring the company under
the law and entitle it to charter, on
April I'd, 1870, five days before the
adjournment, read in his place the
obnoxious supplement, with the snake
concealed so ingeniously away down
in the fourth and last section, and
had it railroaded through the House
under suspension of the rules how
that the journal of the Senate show
ed the bill to have been reported
without amendment, and that no
record of its having been amended or
passed the Senate could, but that an
entry in the House Journal made it
appear to have been returned from
the Senate with amendment, which
was concurred in. The Senate had
no record of such amendment, nor
could he ascertain what the amend
ment was. The Senator continuing,
spoke as follows:
But there are those who allege,
in Justice Io the legislature, that this
bill never did pass, in the shape in
which it is now found, but that the
fourth section was attached after the
others had been agreed to by both
Houses, and the journal of the House
fixed up accordingly. Be this as 1t
may, / have no means of proving or
disproving such allegations. l know
only this, there is a mosl singular
want of everything that might show
the bill to have been properly con
sidered 1t is well known that copies
of all bills are preserved by both
Houses, but this is an exception. j
have carefully examined the files on
both sides, and had others to assist
me, who were more familiar with the
arrangement of the papers, but we
have been unable to find anything in
relation to this bill. though the num-
bers preceding and succeeding are
there and everything else that we
had occasion to look for The tracks
are well covered. The parties who
managed this brilliant financial
scheme knew what they were doing,
and they left no documentary tell
tales behind, to rise up and plague
them afterward."
Then after quoting the obnoxious
section he continues:
There is the little joker-part of
an act entitled simply "A supplement
to the Milford and Matamoras Rail
road Company. And in this connec-
ton l want to call the attention of
the Senate to section s, article NJ, of
the constitution of Pennsylvania,
which provides that no bill shall be
passed by the Legislature containing
more than one subject, which shall
be clearly expressed in the title, ex-
cept appropriation bills.
"Just how far this title, namely,
A supplement to the Milford and
Matamoras Railroad Company, clear
ly expresses the object of the act,
others can determine and govern
their notions of rights vesting under
the bill accordingly.
But, sir, there is further history
in relation to this matter The bill
after its supposed passage was hur-
ried to the Secretary's office, and
there the champion of the measure
represented that his wife was danger
ously i'll; that he had to get home
that night; that it was very impor-
tant for him to get the supplement
signed at once, so that he might pay
the enrolment tax, and take certified
copies home with him. The bill was
registered and he was directed to take
it to the Secretary of the Common
wealth ior examination, but instead
of doing so, he took it directly to the