has been undertaken by the Commonwealth for many years. It means much for the practical welfare of the whole people. It ought to be pushed forward thoroughly and energetically. Owing to the lack of knowledge upon the part of contractors, township and county officials of the kinds of material necessary, methods of construction, and plans of proceeding, personal attention by a representative of the Department is in most cases required. A larger force would seem to be demanded in this Department in order that the accomplishment of its objects may not be retarded.

The State now owns 544,958 acres of land for Forestry Reservation purposes, and is under contract to purchase 154,863 acres more, making a total of 699,821 acres. While it is continually adding to its purchases for this purpose, it is by a strange anomaly also continually making sales of lands at a merely nominal price under old acts which have never been repealed, relating to the disposition of unseated lands. This legislation came into existence in the early days of the Province and State when land was plenteous and inhabitants were few and was intended to encourage settlements by offering inducements to all comers. That condition of things has long passed away and the legislation has been taken advantage of in order to get possession of valuable tracts of mineral lands and other property without an equivalent consideration. I recommend that legislation be at once enacted that the Board of Property dispose of no lands belonging to the State until they have been first examined by the Commissioner of Forestry to ascertain whether they are adapted for forestry purposes, and if found to be so fitted that they be retained for these purposes, and that when lands are sold by the Board of Property they be sold at public sale to the highest bidder. The Forestry lands constitute a large domain and since they have been purchased means ought to be taken for their preservation and proper utilization. The only use to which they have heretofore been put, apart from the cultivation of the trees, has been an occasional lease for mining minerals and the tuberculosis camp at Mont Alto, where twenty-two patients are given the opportunity for outdoor life with, I am informed, marked success. The efforts for the preservation of the Forests, the Game and the Fish, all of which the State has undertaken, seem to look to the accomplishment of ends closely related, and it is well worthy of consideration whether better results could not be secured by a combination of them. The fish propagate in the streams, the streams traverse the forests, the game for its life needs both stream and forest, and all of them require the employment of watchmen and wardens.

I

The greatest injury to the forest lands arises through fire. recommend as one means of diminishing the loss which comes from this cause that the railroad corporations of the State and those hav

ing railroad lines passing through it be required, under fixed penalty and the payment of resultant damages, to put out all fires within one hundred feet of their tracks, except in municipalities. No doubt, under its police power, the State could prevent the use of fire as a danger and, if so, such an act which would be in effect permitting the use of fire upon condition would probably be held to be constitutional. The spread of forest fires is very much increased by the fact that the lumbermen and others when cutting down the trees leave the strippings and waste lying upon the ground. These become dry and form a mass of light material, over which the flames sweep. I recommend the passage of a law requiring all persons and corporations who may hereafter, for any reason, fell forest timber, to remove from the woods, when they take away the lumber, all other parts of the trees, and imposing a sufficient penalty in the event of failure to comply. It is submitted, for your consideration, whether it would not be wise to determine what sum should be expended each year in the purchase of forest lands, so that the Commission may be relieved from this serious responsibility.

During the past year, three hundred and seventy-seven books and pamphlets relating to Pennsylvania and its literature during the period of the development of her institutions have been added to the State Library. Under the direction of the present trained Librarian, the work of the library has been systematized and improved, and its. benefits to the community correspondingly increased. This library ought in time to be a repository of all the printed material and manuscripts relating to the literature, the laws, the history and the politi cal progress of the Commonwealth. For the completion of its sets of laws, and in order to keep up with the publication of law reports, so that at the capital of the State there may be a sufficient opportunity for the study of legislation and decision, a somewhat larger appropriation appears to be necessary. The Department of Public Records, provided for at the last session, in connection with the library, has been organized and is doing efficient work. The archives upon which the foundations of our history rest, and which up to the present time have lain about the cellars and out of the way places, being gradually stolen, lost and destroyed, have been gathered together and are now being repaired and permanently secured in volumes chronologically arranged and open to the investigations of scholars. Twenty-two such volumes have already been completed. The information contained in them is much sought by persons all over the country interested in hereditary societies and in research, and much of the time of the attendants is occupied in answering inquiries and supplying information. I suggest that the Librarian be directed to charge a

fee of two dollars for each certificate given and the sums received be paid into the State Treasury for the use of the Commonwealth. In this way the department will, to a certain extent, be made self supporting.

When the new Capitol is completed, the building now occupied by the Executive will be abandoned by him. Its erection in 1893, cost $500,000, one-ninth of the contemplated cost of the Capitol. It is commodious and in many ways artistically constructed, and it presents a good appearance. To remove it would seem to me to be wasteful and unwise. I recommend that it be utilized for the library and that the sphere of the Librarian be enlarged and that he be authorized and directed to collect and preserve in it objects illustrating the Fauna, Flora, Entomology, Mineralogy, Archaeology and Arts of the State. Such a collection would have great educational as well as practical value, and be a subject of interest to citizens and strangers visiting the Capital. Whenever national or international expositions are held, the State at great outlay makes sudden efforts to gather for the purpose the objects which illustrate her progress. Here would be a supply of such material, not hastily and crudely brought together, but selected with care, thought and deliberation.

The work of the Dairy and Food Division of the Department of Agriculture is of great importance in its relations to the community in every point of view. If deleterious substances may be introduced into the human system in the guise of food, or the supply of nutriment to men, women and children be diminished in order that greater profit may result to the manufacturer and merchant, the spirit of commercialism threatens, not only the welfare, but the existence of the race. On the other hand, the dread of such results may stimulate hasty judgments, unjust to the individual so charged and inju rious in its effects upon the necessary production and sale of food supplies. The Commissioner has made an earnest effort to avoid the dangers which lie upon each side of this problem, and at the same time has enforced the laws upon this subject with a zeal and earnestness, it is safe to say, unequalled anywhere else in the country, and never before equalled in the Commonwealth. The results are gratifying, not alone as an exhibition of attention to duty, begun under abuse and continued under most difficult circumstances, but the investigations of the Division show that recently there has been a marked improvement in the character of food supplies sold in the State. If this has been accomplished, it is an achievement, the im portance of which cannot be overestimated. The receipts for fines and licenses collected by this Division during the last four years are as follows:

As at present constituted, the expenses of the Division are in the main paid from the sums collected for fines and licenses. This is a system which ought not to exist in connection with the work of any of the departments, no matter how efficiently and honestly they may be conducted. The Legislature ought to provide by appropriation whatever may be necessary to meet the needs of the Division, and all collections should be paid into the State Treasury for the use of the Commonwealth.

The details of the work of the departments to which no special reference is here made, will be found in the respective reports, and upon the whole is being performed in a way to reflect credit upon the Commonwealth, and justify satisfaction if not elation on the part of her citizens.

The Valley Forge Commission has up to the present time purchased in all 391 499-1000 acres of ground, and secured both the outer and inner lines of intrenchments of which the latter have remained pretty much as they were at the time of the encampment of Washington's Army. The acquisition of these lands and the establishment there of a park to be forever maintained and cared for by the State, where all the people of the nation may come to gather inspiration from the fortitude of the fathers, were very commendable and show a proper appreciation of a priceless possession. Much has been there accomplished by the Commission at comparatively little expense. Avenues have been laid out and views improved, so that nowhere in the country can be found surroundings more attractive to visitors. The number of persons from at home and abroad who go there is continually and rapidly increasing. There have hitherto been no salaried positions in connection with the Commission, but it would be well to consider whether the time has not arrived when provision should be made for the permanent care of the park.

During the last session of the Legislature there were a number of bills passed for the erection of monuments in various parts of the State and upon battlefields outside of it, to signalize and preserve the recollection of important events. To commemorate the achievements of those men who in the past have rendered important military and civic service to the State and conferred honor upon her is commendable since it shows her gratitude, and beneficial since it presents an example and arouses a spirit which in time of need may save her from danger and disaster. If such appropria2 Sen. Jour.

tions are to be continued, there ought to be a wise selection of subjects so that attention may be drawn to that in her career which is most honorable. Among the men of Pennsylvania most conspicuous for military achievement during the Revolutionary period was Anthony Wayne, during the Rebellion was George G. Meade. To Meade there are monuments in Fairmount Park and at Gettysburg,— to Wayne there are none in the State. At this time when the nation is celebrating with vast outlay the Louisiana purchase and the settlement of the west, it would be a fitting season for Pennsylvania to erect upon the hills of Valley Forge, where his brigade lay, or at some other proper place, an equestrian statue to Anthony Wayne, perhaps the most imposing and potent figure in the western settlement. The Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution have already raised a sum of $8,380.35 for a like purpose. This fund is under capable and intelligent supervision and it might perhaps be wise to supplement their efforts.

An act of February 27, 1865, provided that any corporation owning or using a railroad might apply to the Governor to commission such persons as the corporation should designate to act as policemen for said corporation. These policemen were to possess in the respective counties the powers of policemen of the city of Philadel phia, and jail-keepers were directed to receive all persons arrested by them for the commission of offences against the Commonwealth along the railroads. The companies were to pay the policemen and when the services were no longer required, they were empowered to discharge them by notice filed in the office of the recorder of deeds of the respective counties. The system thus established has grown by subsequent legislation and now railroads, collieries, furnaces, rolling mills, coal and iron companies, corporations for the propagation of fish, and many other corporations have their force of policemen exercising the authority of the Commonwealth. There were issued in

Usually these commissions have been issued at the request of the companies and have been unlimited in duration. A practice has recently been instituted in the Executive Department limiting the appointments to a period of three years, and requiring the applications to set forth under affidavit the circumstances making the appointment necessary, the capability, and reputation for sobriety and peacefulness, of the person named, and that he is a citizen of Pennsylvania. But it needs little thought to see that the system