Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-03
Pee;tic4 ;n
Pe~~oqeoo~io
BY the Ex-Committecman

The last of the inaugurations of
officials chosen at the State election
of 1918, will take place next Tues
day, at the State Capitol, when
James +. Woodward, of McKeesport,
will be sworn in as Secretary OF
Internal Affairs. Mr.. Woodward,
who is a Republican, served in the
House of Representatives for several
terms and was three times, Chairman
of the House Appropriations Com
mittee.
| Under the Constitution, the Sec
retary of Internal Affairs takes Of
flee on the first Tuesday of May, fol-
lowing his election. Mr.. Woodward
| has not yet announced any appoint
ments or his plans for the new bu-
reaus, either created by acts recently
approved or pending in the Legis-
! lature, and designed to enlarge the
scope of the branch of government
of which he will be the chief for
four years.
Mr.. Woodward will succeed Paul
w. Houck, of Shenandoah, appointed
June 2S, 1917, to fill the unexpired
term of his father, DR.. Henry Houck,
who died in office while serving his
third term. He will be the ninth
man to be secretary of the depart
ment under the Constitution of 1873,
which gave it the present title and
the duties and authority of one of
the Oldest branches of the govern
ment of Pennsylvania. Originally,
the department was known as that
of the Surveyor General, the first
man commissioned to that place,
being Silas Crispen, in 1851. The
various titles under which the meE
in charge of the lands and other
interior matters of the Province and
| Commonwealth, have been Com
missioner of Property, Survey Cen
eral, Secretary of the Land Office,
Keeper of the Great Seal, Master of
Rolls, Register General of Wills, Re-
ceiver General, Comptroller General,
Escheator General and then Survey
or General, as the official was known
when the Constitution changed the
title to Secretary of Internal Affairs.
Capitol Hill is getting ready for
the windup of the Legislature and
specializing on two very important
points for the average man on the
Hill" One is, what will be the eff
feet of the administration bills pre-
sented to reorganize about q third
of the apartments of the State Gov
eminent, and the other is how many
people will be here next year. The
State authorities have let it be known
that there will be no changes in the
departments until after the Legis-
1g fti hn u fNI &c h 70
been digested. The opinion prevails
that there will be many changes
then. More applications have been
| filed for places in the departments
than exist, and it will be some task
to figure them out.
The Departments of Agriculture,
| Insurance, Banking, Public Grounds
and Buildings and several others are
covered by bills for reorganiZations,
and there is scarcely a branch of
any consequence that is not affected
| by pending legislation, - although
some of them will be unscathed
when the bills cease grinding.
The Department of Labor and
! Industry is now in Il building by it
self, having three floors of the Key
stone building. The Departments of
instruction and Mines are getting
ready to move.
The fourth or fifth bill for the
! increasing of salaries of teachers of
| the schools of PENNSYLVANIA is
scheduled to make its appearance in
| the Legislature in the next ten days
and will likely be made a substitute
| for measures now before the two
| Houses. The Woodruff bill, which
passed the House Il few days ago,
after being much amended, is likely
to either be dropped or have some
of the features of the Catlin bill ap-
piled to it, while a considerable seq
ment of lawmakers will endeavor to
have the new bills adopted on the
ground that it makes definite pro-
visions and is more workable than
others. The new bill is not an ad-
ministration measure, but it is said
J to have been tacitly approved in
some places.
The plan of the bill would be
to give an increase of twenty per
! cent to the teachers and various per-
sons in school service, including in
struction, special subjects and ad-
ministration. Where districts can
afford it, the State would guarantee
an advance of at least 500 a year,
per teacher The increase would be
divided between the State and the
! district, and $6,00O,000 is to be eX-
pressly appropriated for the States
share for two years. This would do
away with a scale of pay mentioned
in the various bills and put it on
definite basis for all. There is
also talk of a provision that if the
$6,000,000 will not reach, the general
school appropriation can be drawn
upon.
One of the provisions would be
a requirement for a detailed state
ment of salaries to be filed by August
1, annually with the Department OF
Public instruction, which would dis
burse the funds.