Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-07

Swill be necessarily dependent upon
your action in the premises.
Appropriations
THE amount of money appropri-
ated by the Assembly is always
greatly in excess of the revenues of
| the Commonwealth. At the last
session an earnest effort was made
by the chairmen of the appropria-
tions committees of the House and
Senate in cooperation with the Gov
ernor to put an end to this wholly
reprehensible procedure. Notwith-
standing the many conferences held.
the careful attention given the mat
ter and the full cooperation of all
executive officers the appropriations.
!, as heretofore, were far in excess of
the available funds. The Common
wealth cannot incur indebtedness
without the consent of the people
| by proper and constituted proceed
ure. The Governor is given the
thankless task of reducing these ap-
preparations, by vetoing in whole or
in part many items that possess
merit and some that areN purely
meritless. The Governor should not
be obliged to bear the criticism that
properly belongs elsewhere. The
thirty days following the adjourn
|
ceaseless worry and concern. Up
wards of 700 bills are laid before
him. They carry appropriations of
many millions of money for which
the assembly provided no funds.
Reductions to bring the expendi-
! lures, within the resources are i'm
perative. 1t is situation no gov
ernor should be obliged to meet. I
earnestly appeal to you to correct
/ this condition and to keep the ap-
preparations we'll within the predict
able income of the Commonwealth
THE State Board of Charities and
Correction, after q careful study of
the comparative needs of the many
institutions under it's care and super
vision, recommends the sum which
in its experienced Judgment. the
Assembly should appropriate to each
institution. Their counsel should
| be needed. The number of these
charitable and correctional institu-
tions is constantly increasing. The
demands upon the treasury mount
| steadily. Some new method of state
aid should be adopted and a larger
share of the support of these insti-
tutions should fall upon the local
| communities 1t is my judgment
that a gradual reduction of state
SuppOIt, WISELY anu CON-
ering a period of ten years, would
greatly stimulate local interest and
reveal the weakness of those insti-
tutions that have no compelling rea-
| son to be.
Regulation and Suppression of
Social Evils
The lessons of the late war
ought not be lost. Much has been
learned in the stern service of Army
and Navy that may we'll be made
permanent in the procedure of
people in times of peace. The man
power and the woman power of the
country is its most precious asset.
Nenereal diseases. once the curse of
society and still it's deadly menace,
should be suppressed by joint legis-
lative action on the part of the
nation and the state. These diseases
are associated with sin and shame
and crime-all deadly enemies to
society. Their effects pass from the
guilty to the innocent. They make
men and women sterile. They de-
stroy young and unborn infants.
They are a potent cause of blind
ness. They furnish inmates for the
insane asylums. They sow a har-
vest of idiocy and eble-minded-
ness. They destroy individuals,
homes. communities and defeat
armies.
The National Government has al
ready taken steps to control these
vices. The State Government by
| the enactment of proper laws con-
corning health education and health
protection can do a great service in
conserving our greatest asset and in
making our Commonwealth clean
and wholesome and morally sane.
THE enactment in 1917 of an
Act to regulate and suppress the
opium habit was a great step in
advance. The rigid enforcement of
this law by making adequate appro-
priations for that purpose is ear
nestly commended.
THE amendment to the Gonstitu-
ton of the United States prohibiting
the manufacture, sale and use of
alcoholic beverages should be rati-
fed Immediately. No lesson of the
near past is so definite as this. If
we could not make good soldiers in
camp and cantonment until we had
banished rum from camps and can
tonments. surely we cannot make
good citizens Until we have banished
rum from the country. / most ear
nestly hope that the Assembly will
heed the lesson of the hour and put
Pennsylvania in the light-bearing
states by a prompt and effective rati-
fication.
The attempt to legalize and regu-
late other forfhs of crime-inducing
practices have at all points been
stoutly resisted, and 1t is sny earnest
conviction1that the Assembly at no
point is justified in dignifying any
form of evil by legislation tending
to curb, regulate or modify it's eff
fects. There is only one safe course
outlaw all things that are evil in
| intent or implication and thus make
all legislative acts instruments of
education and moral uplift to our
people.
Public Education
Under the provisions of the School
Code of 1911 the public schools of
Pennsylvania are greatly improved
and a procedure set up that will
steadily enhance the service of the.
schools for many years. Experience
in its enforcement has developed
S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-
CunTV n NAVE