Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-01-19

rate. These supervisors should be IL
censed roadkeepers and not political
accidents. Unless a man knows how
to repair road and is willing to put
his knowledge to use, he ought never
to receive appointment and pay from
the State.
We also need State-aided roads.
| These may perhaps best be worked out
on the county unit plan. The county,
with power to collect from each po-
| litich subdivision its quota of road
| taxes, should receive an equal sum
from the Commonwealth The money
thus secured should be expended pro
rata by the county upon the roads of
/ the several townships. The routes
should be as far as possible those con-
Meeting county seats, and the plans
| and perhaps all, surely part, of the
supervision of construction be ap-
proved and supplied by the State.
Roads should cost less than in the
! past. The people should know all the
while what Is being done and what eX-
pense is involved. A good highway is
not only a public necessity but an ac-
tually attainable good for our people.
The State has now many miles of
| privately owned roads. These are
maintained; some we'll, some badly, by
the fees exacted from the users. These
should be acquired and made a part of
the public road system of the State.
once a blessing, now an irritation,
should continue to exist in Pennsyl-
vania.
So vital is this matter and so i'm
| minent is the demand that l urge you
to reduce your appropriations in other
directions as far as possible. in order
| to give the highways the largest pos
sible appropriations
Civil Service
The public service should be as effi-
cient and economical as private serv-
ice. ! believe in and would approve
sane and practical State civil service.
Education
Under the school code our schools
have made commendable progress.
With few exceptions the provisions of
that code are so essentially wise that
they should not be changed. Your
State Board of Education, to whom the
law delegates the duty of suggesting
such school legislation as should be
enacted, will in due time advise you
concerning the laws, if any, that would
increase the efficiency of our schools.
I commend their findings to you. AS
the number of pupils to be educated
increases the appropriations should in
crease. More attention must be given
to vocational education. We have the
largest number of farmers of any
State in the Union. Surely agriculture
should command greater attention in
our schools. I favor the creation of
many rural high schools in which both
boys and girls may be taught how to
earn on the farm and in the home an
honest livelihood. An education that
does not increase the size of the loaf
on the family table is scarcely worth
the attention of our people. All edu-
cation, no matter how liberal and cul-
tural, should be so impaired as to
make it usable. The facilities for
training teachers should be improved,
| better supervision provided and higher
| education encouraged. But the en-
phasis of the States concern should
| rest upon the schools of the many
! the great common school so dear to
| our people and so essential to their
welfare. We need a greatly enlarged
permanent school fund. Universal edu-
cation is the best safeguard of our lib
critics and money devoted to right edu-
cation is the States best investment
Woman Suffrage
! The resolution passed by the last
! Legislature submitting an amendment
to the Constitution providing for wom-
an suffrage should be re-enacted and
the voters allowed to determine for
! themselves whether or not women
shall vote in Pennsylvania.
Appropriations to Charity
| Pennsylvania leads all States in it's
| support of dependents. Its record
should be maintained. But there is
! neither sense nor justice in unstudied
| appropriations to our many charitable
institutions and agencies. These con-
| Stitute important and wholly worthy
objects of public concern and support.
! The Legislature should know from
! competent authority their real needs
and should follow such knowledge in
making its appropriations Moreover.
| the bounty of the State should never
exceed the assured income of the State.
1T should not again occur that the OBJ
| legation of lessening this bounty should
| be placed upon the Executive.
| 1t may be that some wiser and surer
method can be devised to insure these
funds doing the greatest good and
reaching directly the institutions and
| agencies whose service is best or most
needed. Surely the supervision of the
/ State should follow absolutely its gifts.
The State can afford to be generous
only when it is just
Labor and It's Claims.
/ The people who toll are among the
! choice assets of our Commonwealth.
| For their protection, their comfort,
their advancement, their happiness, we
are all securely pledged. l shall well
| come any laws that promote these es-
sentially wise ends. We must enact a
fair and certain Workmen's Compen-
sation Act. Its provisions should Sc
cure reasonable compensation to those
who in their daily toll suffer from acci-
dent or disease. 1t should assuredly
make for the prevention of accidents.
This compensation should be guaran-
/ teed. The funds for its prompt pay
ment should be counted among the
| costs of production. In scope 1t should
not include labor upon the farm nor
| domestic service. Great care should be
exercised to see that the law be drawn
! in strict compliance with constitutional
! limitations, The present Liability Act
| needs amendment to the end that it
| may be in full accord with the above
| proposed act and that both alike may
| guarantee to our workers the certain
and speedy relief they merit and
| should have.
Our Child Labor Laws are made
quate and unsatisfactory. No child
under sixteen should be allowed to
work. He should be in school. The
small sum he earns prior to sixteen at
the cost of his physical and mental de-
velopment is pittance compared with
the loss he and the Commonwealth
sustain under the present law. Such
penny wise" and pound foolish" laws
are unworthy this great State. When
a child is not at work under law he