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The resolution was read the second time ABSENT.-Messrs. Andrews, Black, and considered. Charles A., Cassidy, Church, Clark, Craig, The resolution was agreed to, ayossixty- Cronmiller, Cuvier, Davis, Dunning, Elone, noes not counted.

HOURS. OF SESSION.

Mr. AINEY. I offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That on and after to-morrow the daily sessions of this Convention shall be from half-past nine o'clock A. M. to three o'clock P. M.

On the question of proceeding to the second reading and consideration of the resolution, Messrs. Ainey and Darlington called for the yeas and nays

Mr. D. N. WHITE. I ask for information, what are the hours of meeting now? The PRESIDENT: From ten A. M. to one P. M., and from three to six P. M.

Mr. MACVEAGH. I rise to a question of order. Has not that resolution been negatived? Was it not included in Mr. Purviance's resolution?

The PRESIDENT: In part only. That resolution proposed two sessions. The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the Clerk will call the roll, on proceeding to the second reading and consideration of the delegate from Lehigh (Mr. Ainey.)

The question was taken by the yeas and nays with the following result:

YEAS.

Messrs. Ainey, Alricks, Armstrong, Baer, Baker, Bartholomew, Biddle, Bigler, Black, J. S., Boyd, Brodhead, Broomall, Bullitt, Calvin, Carey, Corbett, Corson, Curry, Curtin, Dallas, Darlington, Finney, Funk, Gibson, Guthrie, Harvey, Hunsicker, Knight, Lilly, M'Clean, M'Culloch, M'Michael, Minor, Newlin, Palmer, G. W., Pugh, Read, John R. Runk, Sharpe, Smith, Henry W., Smith, Wm. H., Stewart, Van Reed, Wetherill, J. M. and Woodward-45.

NAYS.

Messrs. Achenbach, Addicks, Baily, (Perry,) Bailey, (Huntingdon,) Bannan, Barclay, Bardsley, Beebe, Bowman, Brown, Buckalew, Campbell, Carter, Cochran, Collins, De France, Dodd, Edwards, Ewing, Fell, Hanna, Hay, Howard, Kaine, Landis, Lawrence, Littleton, Long, MacConnell, MacVeagh, Metzger, Parsons, Patterson, D. W., Patton, Purviance, John N., Purviance, Sam'l A., Reed, Andrew, Rooke, Russell, Stanton, Struthers, Turrell, Wethérill, Jno. Price, White, David N., White, Harry, White, J. W. F., Wright and Walker, President-48.

So the Convention refused to order the resolution to a second reading.

liott, Ellis, Fulton, Gilpin, Green, Hall, Hazzard, Hemphill, Hoverin, Horton, Lamberton, Lear, M'Camant, M'Murray, Mann, Mantor, Mitchell, Mott, Niles, Palmer, H. W., Patterson, T. II. B., Porter, Purman, Reynolds, Ross, Simpson, Smith, H. G., Temple, Wherry and Worrell-40.

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

Mr. ANDREW REED. I move that the Convention now proceed to the consideration of the article on the Legislature.

The PRESIDENT. There are some reports yet to be made.

Mr. ANDREW REED. Then I withdraw the motion for the present.

The PRESIDENT. Resolutions are yet in order.

FORTY-THIRD RULE.

Mr. BUCKALEW. I offer the following resolution, to lie over one day under the rules:

Resolved, That the forty-third rule of the Convention be rescinded.

The PRESIDENT. The resolution will lie on the table.

Mr. S. A. PURVIANCE. I offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Convention will, when the order of the day has been called, proceed to the consideration on third reading of the several articles which have already passed through second reading in the order in which they appear in the pamphlet form now on the desks of mem

bers.

The PRESIDENT. What action will the

Convention take on this resolution?

Mr. MACVEAGH. I move that it lie on the table.

SEVERAL DELEGATES. Let it proceed to second reading.

The PRESIDENT. Is the motion to lay on the table withdrawn.

Mr. MACVEAGH. I do not withdraw it, for the simple reason that there is one article which has never passed second reading, the article on the Legislaturo, which the gentleman from Miniin (Mr. A. Reed) suggested a moment ago should be taken up, and I think that ought to be passed through second reading before we go to the third reading of the other articles. We have not met that question for some time, and I hope we shall meet it now. I trust, therefore, that the gentleman will withdraw his resolution until we can get through with the article on the Legislature on second reading.

Mr. S. A. PURVIANCE. I will say, in answer to the gentleman from Dauphin, that we shall come to that in its order. It is, I believe, the second article in the pamphlet after the article on the Bill of Rights, and when we come to that of course we shall go through with it.

Mr. MACVEAGH. The Committee on Revision and Adjustment have not, reported any of those articles yet, and they are not properly before us. The legislative article is properly before us, and I must insist on my motion to lay the gentleman's resolution on the table, and I trust the Convention will stand by me.

The PRESIDENT. The question is on the motion of the gentleman from Dauphin (Mr Mac Veagh.)

The motion was agreed to.

PRINTER'S ACCOUNTS.

MR. HAY. I present a report from the Committee on Accounts and Expenditures.

The CLERK procoeded to read the report, but before concluding was interrupted by

Mr. HAY I suggest, as the report is somewhat lengthy, that its further reading be dispensed with.

MR. BUCKALEW and OTHERS. No; let it be read.

Mr. HAY. I merely make the suggestion to save time.

The CLERK resumed and concluded the reading of the report, which is as follows:

The Committee on Accounts and Expenditures of the Convention respectfully reports, that during the recess of the Convention it met at Harrisburg for the consideration of such accounts as had been submitted in accordance with the resolution of the Convention requiring them to be promptly rendered to the committee for all claims up to the time of the adjournment; and that the second account of the Printer to the Convention, covering the period from the l5th of May to the Ist of July, and the third account covering the period from the 1st to the 15th of July, and also including some itonis charged subsequently thereto, have been carefully examined. In the second account the Printer claims the sum of $11,934 14, after the deduction of the discount of forty-one and one-fourth per cent. from the amount of such items as he admits to be subject to discount; and in the third account he claims the sum of $5,797 23 after making similar deductions, making a total claim of the net sum of $17,731 37 for the period from May 15th

(the date to which the first account was rendered) to the 15th day of Jin Cho date of the adjournment of the Convention.)

In the examination of these accounts the committee has strictly adhered to the principles of the report upon the first account, made to the Convention on the 14th of July last; and has, as in the settlement of that account, allowed only the prices mentioned in the schedule to the act of March 27, 1871, wherever, in the opinion of the committee, those prices were applicable. The printing acts clearly contemplate that the prices mentioned in this schedule are those which are to be, exclusively, allowed to the Public Printer wherever the price or value of work done by him is fixed by or otherwise ascertainable under them.

The Printer has continued to claim in these accounts, as in his first accounts, for plain composition seventy-five cents per thousand ems, and for press-work forty cents per token, without any deduction or discount in either case. These rates aro considerably in excess of the prices to which he would be entitled under his contract with the Convention. The printing acts, as heretofore reported, fix the following rates: For plain composition, sixty cents por thousand ems, and for press work, fifty cents per token; both subject, as are all other rates in the schedule, to the discount of forty-one and onoquarter per cent., at which the public printing and binding was allotted to Benjamin Singerly; leaving the net rates, which the Printer would be entitled to receive under his contract, for plain composition, thirty-five and one-quarter conts per one thousand ems, and for press-work, twenty-nine and thirty-eight hundredths cents por token. The difference caused by this variance between the claim of the State Printer and the rates established by law, and due him under his contract, amounts to many thousands of dollars.

The State Printer alleges that the work done by him is work "the price or value of which is not fixed by or ascertainable under the printing acts," for the reason that, as he also alleges, the composition on the work he is doing for the Convention is much more solid than that on the work he usually does for the State; that it is of an unusual character, not so profitable as the ordinary State printing, and that some portion of the composition and press-work must be done at night to enable him to comply with the requirement of the Convention, that the Journal for

the files on the desks of the members should be furnished the day after its approval, and the Debates the day after their delivery; and that he is therefore entitled to be paid the special rates charged by him regardless of the schedule of rates fixed by the act of March 27, 1871.

His claim is based upon the provisions of the sixth division of the first section of this act, which is in these words: "Any work done by said Printer for the Commonwealth, and any supplies or publications furnished by him to any department or public officer, the price or value of which may not be fixed by or be other wise ascertainable under the printing act of 1856 or this act, shall be paid for at rates of compensation to be fixed in the nanner provided for in the fourth division of this section, subject, however, to the control and authority of the Auditor General, over the accounts therefor." That part of the fourth division of the same section here referred to, is as follows: "And whenever it shall happen that the price or cost of the same shall not be fixed by or be ascertainable under the laws relating to the public printing and binding, then the price or cost of the same shall be fixed and determined between the said Superintendent (of Publie Printing) and the Public Printer, before the same shall be furnished or supplied, and shall not exceed the lowest rate at which such articles or supplies of like quantity and quality can be obtained elsewhere."

There does not appear to be any force or merit in this claim. The price, both of composition and presswork, is "fixed by and clearly ascertainable under the printing acts, as was shown in the committec's first report upon this subject, on the 14th day of July last; and as to composition, the law further and most emphatically provides that upon no pretense whatever should any composition be fixed at rates other than those therein prescribed. There can therefore be no doubt, it would seem, that the prices to be allowed to the State Printer under his contract with the Convention are those which are provided in the schedule, and no other. Indeed, in the printed memorial which was addressed by Mr. Singerly to the members of the Convention, shortly after their assembling in Philadelphia, and just before the contract for the printing was made, he repsesented that during the session of the Legislature of 1871, while a revision of the printing laws of

the State (which resulted in the passage of the act of March 27, 1871) was under consideration in that body, some of its members conversed with him about the Convention printing, leaving the idea on his mind that the printing of every description for the State was embraced in that act; that a majority of the printers who bid for the public printing on the 4th of April, 1871, would testify that they understood that the Convention printing was included in the public printing at that time; and that the public printing, under the revised law, was awarded to him after the bill to call the Convention had passed both houses; and, therefore, finally claimed that he had a right to do the printing of the Convention, and was prepared to do it, in whatever form the Convention might designate, according to the revised printing laws, passed March 27, 1871. Apart, therefore, from the mere legal construction of the contract entered into by him with the Convention, this representation and claim of the Printer, made at the time and under the circumstances it was, shows what impression was conveyed to the minds of the members before the vote upon the printing contract was taken, as to the law (which was that embracing the schedule of rates) under which the prices for the printing and binding of the Convention were to be ascertained.

The committee has reported with such degree of fulness upon this matter, not only because it was one of some importance to the Convention and the people of the Commonwealth generally, but also that the grounds of its action upon these accounts and of the State Printer's claims might be thoroughly understood.

For the reasons given in the previous report, the charges made for “extra lettering" or labeling the backs of the remainder of Volume 1 of the Debates, and of Volumes 2, 3 and 4, together amounting to the sum of $877 50; and the charge for correcting a member's speech, $9 28, have not been allowed. For trimming and packing Debates and Journals for files there is a charge made of $280, which has not been allowed, for the reason that the "packing" is simply putting into a bundle the copies sent each day to the Convention, and is merely an incident in the convenient transmission by the Printer of that which it is necessary for him to deliver in good condition; and the "trimming" charged for it is believed is fully covered by the allowances otherwise made, and for which no separate charge

can justly and fairly be presented. Any claim based upon the allegation that the trimming of the Debates had to be specially done at night in order that the matter might be placed on the files of the members the day after the occurrence of the debate is shown to be not well founded by the fact, well known to every member, that the Debates have been from a week to a month behindhand from the commencement of the session, and were never at any time delivered to the Convention within less than five or six days from their date.

The committee has held over for further examination charges for the paper on which reports and articles in bill form were printed, amounting to $241 50; for boxes for packing the Debates sent by express to the members and officers,

claims, and on the other side the amounts to which he is considered to be entitled under his contract with the Convention.. These are attached to and made a part of this report and are marked respectively A and B.

The second account, from May 15th to July 1st, as rendered, is for a total sum of $14,331 54, of which amount it is claimed that only the sum of $5,811 90 is subject to the discount of 414 per cent., and that the sum of $8,519 64 is not subject to any deduction, leaving the net amount claimed in this account, $11,934 14.

The third account, from July 1st to July 15th, as rendered, is for a total sum of $7,001 04, of which amount it is claimed that only the sum of $2,918 34 is subject to discount, and that the sum of $4,082 70 is not subject to any deduction, leaving

amounting to $401 00, and for folding fly- the net amount claimed in this account,

leaves for volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Debates, amounting to $72 00, and will report hereafter upon these items in the accounts.

In addition to the reduction of the prices charged, to the regular rates established by the printing acts, wherever those rates were applicable, the committee has also, as in the audit of the first account, and for the reasons there mentioned, reduced the charge for "files for desks" from $2500 to $15 00 per hundred, and the charge for wrapping and mailing the Debates to newspapers, &c., from five dollars and ninety-one cents per day to two dollars per day.

The charge made for packing, directing and cooperage of the boxes of Debates for members and officers, amounting to eighty-three dollars and seventy cents for the first four volumes, might without explanation be considered a charge merely for delivery, for which the Convention would not be liable. It has been allowed by the committee because of the fact that instead of having all the Debates delivered in one mass as they were printed, at one place, the Convention directed them to be boxed up, and a certain number of copies sent to the residence of each member, to carry out which direction for delivery in this particular manner involved some expenditure of time, care and labor, and the additional expenses of a different address upon each package. The sum charged is certainly full compensation for the service rendered.

The committee has re-stated the second and third accounts in the same manner in which the first account was re-stated, showing on the one side Mr. Singerly's

$5,797 23.

In both the second and third accounts together, therefore the net amount claimed is $17,731 37.

The second account has been reduced, by the corrections of the committee, from $11,934 14 to the sum of 27,368 13, leaving still to be audited an item of $241 50; and the third account has been reduced, by similar corrections, from $5,797 13 to the sum of $3,920 22, leaving yet to be audited two items, together amounting to $473. Or, taking the two accounts together, they have been reduced by the corrections from $17,731 37 to the sum of $11,288 35, exclusive of the items above referred to, omitted from the present settlement and together amounting to the sum of $714 50, the whole or the greater portion of which may be eventually allowed upon further and fuller examination. The said sum of $11,283 35 is accordingly found to be due the Printer, Benjamin Singerly, and the following resolution reported for the action of the Conven

tion:

Resolved, That there is due to Benjamin Singerly, Printer for the Convention, in full of all claims to the 15th day of July, 1873, (exclusive of the items in the above mentioned accounts yet to be fully audited, together amounting to the sum of $714 50, and also exclusive of the items excepted from the audit of the first aocount, together amounting to the sum of $2,060 45,) the sum of $11,288 35; and that a copy of the above report and of the aotion of the Convention thereon, be forthwith certified by the Chief Clerk to the Auditor General of the Cominonwealth.

[ A.] STATEMENT showing the differences between the claims of Benjamin 15, 1873, to July 1, 1873,) and the allowances of the Com

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Folding

Dry pressing..

Debates. Vol. 5....

$10 GO

1.06

Making index for same.

Four hours correcting member's
speech..

5,266 copies-50 forms.

2,745,600 ems, minion, at seventy

five cents.

1,100 tokens, at forty cents.

Folding

Dry pressing

2,059 20

410 09

$530 00

53 00

11 66

200 00

49 98

2,499 20

583 00

37 59

Debates, Vol. 6..... 150 files with labels..

5.256 copies-17 forms.

933,504 ems, minion, at seventy-,

five cents.

374 tokens, at forty cents.

70912
149 69

Folding.

$180 20

Dry pressing.

18.024

159 files, with labels

Journal from May

1,50 copies-34 forms.

15 to June 30,both inclusivo.

1,523,200 ems, brevier, at seventy

five cents.

201 tokens, at forty cents.

Folding

Dry pressing.

1,112 40
81 60

$102.00,
10.20

849 72

198 29

37 59

1,224 00

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