1829.1 INSPECTION OF FLOUR AND MEAL. sion, that if the foreign labourer, who compared with our own is generally badly paid and poorly fed, is allowed, (for want of sufficient protection by duties in certain seasons,) to compete with our agriculturist, it may reduce our condition more to a level with theirs, and will not assist them. The demand in this country for every article of consumption continues so regular, from the good wages which labour receives, moderate taxes, and the habits of comfort in which the people constantly indulge, that there is an advance of from 100 to 300 per cent. (from 25 cents to $1 00) in the value of a bushel of potatoes, according to the scarcity of the crop; and in barley there is a difference of 150 per cent. per bushel in price, according to the season-which aids the foreigner to introduce, at the present rates of duty, his produce, to our disadvantage, when the crops are deficient. We would more willingly that there should be a reduction of this scale of prices by competition among ourselves, than permit such interference, in certain years, when the farmer particularly needs assistance from those he has supplied, in abundant seasons, at the lowest rates. Therefore 1. Resolved, That to dissipate the possible character of presumption, from the smallness of the district originating this weighty and national concern, we with all deference allege, that the impulse must come from some quarter, and that we would have been more willing to have followed a larger and more interested portion of our fellow labourers than to have preceded them. 2. Resolved, That viewing our efforts but as preparatory in effecting the contemplated purpose, we feel little doubt of its accomplishment, if farmers will assist it with that unanimity which is important to produce conviction in the minds of those entrusted with national objects of legislation. 3. Resolved, That from the exemplary acquiescence of agriculturists in the constantly increasing duties, imposed for the protection of manufactures and mechanic employments generally, this meeting is emboldened to look for no opposition to their views, but rather a hearty and liberal concurrence. 4. Resolved, That as we perceive the subject of the present condition of the agricultural community enlarges much as we consider it, and that it appears to attract an attention which we hoped to excite, that we invite the Farmers and Graziers of the County of Philadelphia generally, and any others inclined to meet us from other counties, to meet in Germantown at the house of John M. Bockus, this day, the 16th inst, at 10 o'clock A. M. to join with us in the free discussion of subjects connected with the interests of our profession. 5. Resolved, That a committee of seven, viz. George Breck, John H. Gibbon, Thomas J. Baird, Samuel Swift, G. H. Walker, Edmund Green, and Benjamin Walmsly, be appointed to give a statement, at a county meeting, of the original purpose and progress of this meeting; and that it be desired to collect any further information which may be acceptable. 6. Resolved, That the minutes of this and the preceding meeting be distributed in a circular form, and that we solicit Editors of newspapers, friendly to Agriculture, to give publicity to our proceedings. JACOB SHEARER, Chairman. b FLOUR AND MEAL. In Vol. I. Nos. 49 and 51, and Vol. II. Nos. 1 and 3, of our Price Current, we presented to the commercial public a series of tables exhibiting the Flour and Grain trade of this country, furnished by a friend who has paid attention to the subject. We are now enabled from the same source, to give a table of Inspections for 1828, compared with those of preceding years back to 1822. See Register, vol. I, p. 45, 182, 334. 205 Remarks. On examination of the above table to appear that the return for New York is now sion to observe, that the returns from Petersburg, Frede- It will be observed, that there has been a gradual increase in the quantity of Flour Inspected, which in the last year is particularly striking, as exhibited in this table, in relation to which we may remark, that the enhanced prices soon after last harvest have brought to market larger supplies than usual, especially to Southern ports, a greater proportion of which having been re-shipped to New-York to supply deficiencies at that port from the interior of the State, and being there reinspected, has swelled the aggregate returns. The actual amount of re-inspections for 1828 has, we believe, exceeded by 100,000 barrels the re-inspections of sevePhil. Price Current. ral years preceding Inspection of Flour and Corn Meal in the Port of Philadelphia during the year 1828. 1st quarter, 76,299 brls. Superfine 13,203 half brls. do. 4,892 brls. Scraped 5,752 brls. Rye Flour 2d quarter, 83,408 brls. Superfine 6,178 half brls. do. 3,466 brls. Scraped 145 half brls. do. 502 brls. condemned 7,539 brls. Rye Flour 707 brls. Middlings 20 brls. condemned 2,533 hhds. Corn Meal 11,553 brls. do. do. 3d quarter, 55,169 brls. Superfine 4,689 half brls. do. 1,222 hhds. Corn Meal 4th quarter, 78,850 brls. Superfine 8,728 half brls. do. 7,782 brls. Scraped 340 half brls. do. 1,306 brls. condemned 9,433 brls. Rye Flour 417 brls. Middlings 146 brls. condemned 2,781 hhds. Corn Meal 19,095 brls. do. do. Maximum on 7th 42° Max. on 12th 29.95 |2 Minimum on 10th 170 Min. Mean of extremes 2940 mean of extr. 29.42 6,7 tions,. 1 day N.16,10,23 13 days clear. 6 N. E. 3,5,10,12,16,19,20,21,22,24,25,26,28 13 part clear pt. cloudy 7 E. 7,30 13,5,9,10,11,12,13,16,19,21 10 N.W. 1,18,27 13 heavy fall of snow 3 pt. clo. pt. rain & snow the month between 3 and 4 inches. This month was 6° warmer than January 1828, and 4 degrees warmer than January 1827. again on 10th; open on 15th. River closed with ice on 5th; open on 7th; closed Har. Chron. METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER FOR JANUARY 1829: TAKEN AT THE STATE CAPITOL, HARRISBURG, PA. BY WIL Thermometer. Barometer. LIAM MUSGRAVE, LIBRARIAN. Days. | Wind. | Days. Weather. REPORT ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Communication from the Secretary of the Common wealth, accompanied with an abstract relative to the To the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Gentlemen,-In obedience to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the fourteenth day of April last, I herewith transmit an abstract of the reports received from the commissioners of thirty-one counties 1829.] REPORT ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 207 large sums that are now expended by the public for education under existing laws. These expenditures will be greatly increased. Every year the necessity ofplacing under proper control the public expenditures for this purpose, will become more apparent. It is more than probable, that the money expended, bythe public, and by individuals throughout the commonwealth, for education in the common schools, is sufficient, if applied proved systems of elementary education, to extend the benefits of instruction to all the children within the state. The introduction of the Lancasterian plan of instruction into the populous parts of the state, would greatly reduce the expense of education; and the ben of this commonwealth, relative to the number of poor children instructed at the public expense in those counties, and the expense of their instruction. It appears that in the thirty-one counties from which reports have been received, in the year 1825, 4940 poor children received instruction in the common schools, at an expense of $15,931 793. In the year 1826, 7,943 poor children were instructed at an expense of $30,192 47. In the year 1827, 9,014 poor children were instructed at an ex-under the control of agents, familiar with the most appense of $25,637 364; and in the year 1828, up to the date of the reports, 4,477 poor children were instructed at an expense of $15,067 994. The number educated at Lancasterian schools were in the year 1826, 3,950; 1827, 4,342; 1828, 4,267. of the most improved plans of instruction, would be sensibly felt in lessening the time of attendance upon instruction, and consequently lessening the expense. A due regard to economy, relating to public and private expenditure, as well as a regard to the improvement of the youth of our country, requires that the best systems of education known, should be introduced into all parts of our commonwealth, with as little delay as public opinion will warrant. No schools on the Lancasterian plan have been re-efits of extending to all parts of the state a knowledge ported, except by the commissioners of the counties of Philadelphia and Lancaster. The number above stated to have been educated at Lancasterian schools, is in addition to those educated at common schools. In the county of Philadelphia, the expense of education in the Lancasterian schools is reported to be at the rate of four dollars per annum for each scholar, and the expense of education in the common schools at the rate of ten dollars per annum for each scholar. The whole number of children educated at the public expense, within the first school district of the state of Pennsylvania, compris ing the city and county of Philadelphia, during the last year, ending the 31st of December, was, 5,057. Of this number 4,297 were instructed at the schools conducted on the Lancasterian plan, at an expense of $16,011 94 cents. In the thirty-one counties from which reports have been received, $86,829 624 have been expended during the years 1825, 1826, 1827, and part of the year 1828, in the education of the poor, exclusive of the expense of those educated at the schools conducted on the Lancasterian plan. In the county of Lancaster, the commissioners pay yearly for the education of poor children in Lancasterian schools $800. The price of education in the Lancasterian schools at Lancaster, is reported to be from twenty-five cents to two dollars per quarter for each scholar; being varied to suit the circumstances of the parent, RECAPITULATION. All which is respectfully submitted. LOAF BREAD. C. BLYTHE. The subscribers, a committee appointed by the town meeting of the citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia, on the 21st ult. to propose and obtain signatures to a memorial to the legislature, praying that an act may be passed to remedy the evils that exist for want of a law to regulate the sale of loaf bread, beg leave to report the following memorial. March 24, 1829. GEORGE GUIER, Chairman. To the Honourable the Senate and House of Represen- Number educated on 3950 The length of time which the children have attended to receive instruction has not been reported. The average expense of instruction in the common schools, is from six to eight dollars per annum, at which rate the time of attendance of the children educated at the commen schools, during the last three years, may be fixed at an average of from four to six months per annum. The whole number of children within the commonwealth, between the ages of five and sixteen, is probably not less than three hundred and fifty thousand. The necessity of extending to these the benefits of elementary education is obvious to all. It can hardly be supposed that, at this day, those children who are placed within the reach of instruction at private expense, should be deprived of it by those under whose superperintendance they are placed. The legislature have continually kept in view the provision of the constitution, which enjoins that the poor shall be instructed at the public expense. If all the children within the commonwealth are not instructed, the interest of the community requires that the means of education should be, as far as possible, placed within the reach of all. I have been led to make these observations by noticing the That it is of great importance to the public, particularly to the poor, that the commerce in bread, an article which forms a considerable item in the expenditures of that class, should be conducted on fair principles. That in most well ordered communities it has been found necessary to establish some regulations on the subject by law. That in conformity with this idea the Legislature of this State, in the month of April, 1797, passed an act which directed that "all loaf bread made for sale within the Comwonwealth, should be sold by the pound avoirdupois," and imposed a penalty of ten dollars for every violation of the provision. "From and after the first day of May next, all loaf bread made for sale, within this Commonwealth, shall be sold by the pound avoirdupois, and every baker or other person, offering the same for sale, shall keep at his or her house, or at such other place at which he or she shall at any time offer or expose for sale, any such bread, sufficient scale and weights, lawfully regulated, for the purpose of weighing the same; and if any baker or other person, shall from and after the first day of May next, sell, or offer for sale, any loaf bread, in any other manner, the contract respecting the same shall be void; and the person offending against this act, shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars for every such offence, one half to the use of the informer, and the other half to the use of this Commonwealth; and it shall be the especial duty of the clerk of the market, in any place where such officer is appointed, to disco 203 ANNUAL SICK REPORT OF THE PHILADELPHIA PRISON. ver and prosecute all persons offending against this act." That this clause, for want of declaring specifically the. weight at which bread should be sold, has been wholly inoperative; as it is obvious that every possible variety of weight, at every possible variety of price, might be regarded as coming within the meaning of the act, and as "sold by weight." That for want of some legal regulation on the subject, the commerce of bread is carried on with great irregularity, there being differences in the weight of loaves sold by different bakers at the same price, equal to 15 and even 20 per cent. That it is the custom of the bakers of this city to sell bread by the dozen loaves to the hucksters, by whom the poor are generally supplied-and that although the total weight of their dozen is generally the same, the number of loaves differs from 13 to 15 or 16, each loaf, nevertheless, being sold at the same price. That this state of things appears to your memorialists to require legislative interference and regulation, and they conceive that most of the evils of the present mode of managing this business would be removed by a law obliging Bakers to make their loaves of a certain specific weight, say one pound, two pounds, three pounds, &c. They therefore respectfully request, that a law to this effect, and providing adequate penalties for transgression, may be passed by your honourable bodies. Philadelphia, March 24, 1829. ANNUAL SICK REPORT OF THE PHILADELPHIA PRISON FOR THE YEAR 1826. I. Sick in Hospital. [MARCH 991 2 117 2 2 1114 15 FRANKLIN BACHE, Physician. January 8, 1827.. THE REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE. VOL. III.-NO. 14. EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 4, 1829. NO. 66. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SIR WIL- | him therefore I refer for many things in thy letter which LIAM KEITH. Communicated. In addition to the Biographical Sketches of Sir William Keith inserted in page111 of the Register, give me leave to offer the following notices which may be depended on as authentic. Previous to Sir William Keith's coming out as Governor of Pennsylvania he had been in the Colonies and had held a Commission in them under the Crown-I believe it was Surveyor General of the Customs; but he had not then his title. He was a man of abilities and education, but was ambitious, artful and unprincipled and soon began to take advantage of his popularity, and the unhappy situation of the Proprietary family after the death of William Penn, to establish himself so as to hold his commission from the Crown in case of a surrenHis treatment of the family, der of the Government. and disregard of their Interest was very apparent and there is yet extant a letter of reproof from HannahPenn to him, complaining of his conduct in various respects, and his utter disregard of the instructions which he had received from the family. The letter is an excellent one, and has been printed more than once. In the mean time endeavouring to strengthen himself in popularity, he widened every breach between the proprietors and the public, acted as he pleased without regard to the feelings of the original settlers, and made use of all the means in his power to appropriate whatever he could of property and credit, to himself. should otherwise be answered, for all things relating to government are answered by his person, his commission and his instructions." "Collonel Keith has obtained his approbation by so general a consent, that whatever becomes of proprietary government, we think he will be continued over you if his conduct answer his character. He has also given me such assurance of his care and zeal in our affairs, as gives us room to hope you may safely consult with him for your own case and our benefit in cases of property, however that is left to thine and the other commission. ers prudence. Thou art, as Secretary of the Province, or (as I should rather conceive) Agent to my husband, to take a bond of him which his instructions mention, and was thought more proper to be given there than here, and is drawn and sent by Thomas Grey accordingly." "I cannot doubt of the countries willingness to make William Keith on his first arrival a handsome present, and afterwards to settle upon him enough to make them thoroughly comfortable and happy amongst you, which I shall be glad to hear: for his obtaining this post and removing his large family have been no small expense to him"-and the following extract of a letter from James Logan contains so curious a circumstance that it must not be omitted, it is dated 1717. "That poor man Colonel Gookin, after the Governor's (Keith's) arrival continued his weakness so far, as privately, between themselves, to charge John French Upon his arrival, he was received with every demon- and me to the Governor with being friends to the prestration of joy by the people of Pennsylvania, who, tender, alledging that had he not prevented it, we de wearied with the imbecillity and folly of Gookin, look-signed to declare for him, the Governor considering us ed forward to the change with great satisfaction; he brought his lady and several children with him, one of whom was born on the passage; but whether they died young or were sent back to Europe, I have no information. A daughter of his lady by a former husband, was married to Dr. Græme, and was the mother of the celebrated Elizabeth Ferguson, and also of another daughter married to a gentleman of the name of Young, and who left issue. Sir William Keith lived, at least part of the time of his command, in Chesnut street, in the house built by Joshua Carpenter, of late years owned by Judge Tilghman, and lately taken down to build the arcade. Sir William Keith was commissioned by William Penn and approved by the Crown, in 1716. His title also was conferred upon him about the same time. Hannah Penn in a letter of this date to Jas. Logan says, "And since those on whom I have most reason to confide for justice and friendship have advised to a change of Governor, we have, all concurring, joined our helping hands therein, and overlooking all other difficulties, have at your request, got William Keith commissioned by my husband and approved by the crown; and with a general consent he now goes Deputy Governor over the Province. And though he was pretty much a stranger to me, yet his prudent couduct and obliging behaviour,joined to your observations thereon, give me and those concerned good hopes. He is certainly an understanding man, a man of temper, and seems to have made himself master of the affairs of your Province, even beyond what one might expect in so short a time. To VOL. III. 27 both to be in some posts was apprehensive there might be some snare in it, and desired, last week, the opinion of council upon it; yesterday was appointed for a full one, at which Colonel Gookin was desired to attend, by a message sent to him in a respectful manner by two members, which he did; the Governor with much mildness told him how much he had been surprised with bliged him to inquire into it, that those persons, if guilthe information he had received, and that his duty oty, might be removed from all trusts in the government, and desired he would enable him by proof to proceed against them." "Col. Gookin owned what he had said, but declared that he really did not know that any were disaffected," (for the Governor had not named any one to the Board, only saying that one of them was a member there) that he had from some inferences formerly imagined they were, but he had no reason for it, that his discourses of that kind had been owing to his passions, and that lately his Physician knew that he had a weakneess in his head from an indisposition of body to which he imputed what he had said. This being said before a full Board, As I have before said the People of Pennsylvania rehe was civilly dismissed, and so ended the accusation." ceived Col. Keith in lieu of this weak man with sincere satisfaction. He was a man unquestionably fitted by his abilities for the station he occupied, yet we find his art and talent for intrigue justly gave occasion for uneasiness during the greatest part of his administration, The assembly made an ample provision for him, far exceeding what any former Governor had enjoyed, for he |