was passed in 1819 providing for forfeiture of charter in case of suspension of specie payments, and it somewhat reduced the number of banks. The period of extensive internal improvements that followed stimulated the banking business as well as all other business of the State, and for ten years the banks were exceptionally prosperous. In 1836 the second United States Bank, at the expiration of its national charter, became a Pennsylvania State institution, paying heavily for the privilege. The crisis of 1837 again caused a suspension of specie payment, and in 1840 after a hard struggle the United States Bank failed, ruined by its heavy investments in the State improvements and its heavy contributions to the State treasury. This failure, together with financial difficulties of the State treasury between 1840 and 1845, was felt by the other banks, and the stocks of most of them were sold far below par. Efforts were made to correct this by special legislation, by the levying of a tax on banking stock below par, and by making specie payments obligatory; but this last provision was frequently suspended by necessity. A slight improvement between 1850 and 1855 was followed by the severe crisis of 1857, when several Pennsylvania banks failed and a general suspension followed.
An agitation for a free banking system, with guaranteed circulation, was started, and in 1860 a free banking act was passed which was very similar to the New York Banking Law of 1837, but before the value of this act could be tested the national banking system came into existence. There was a marked demand for the national charters, which were supposed to exempt the banks from State taxation. By 1868 only 12 State banks remained, as against 198 national banks. In 1870-73 more than 90 State banks were chartered bv special acts, but the Constitution of 1874 prohibited the organization of banks, except under the general law. At present State banking is regulated by the law of 1876 as amended in 1891, when a Banking Department was established. National banks remain by far the more important ones. Trust companies are conducted mostly in conjunction with the banks, and take care of business which the law prohibits the banks from doing. Savings banks have existed in Pennsylvania for almost a century. The first savings bank was chartered in 1819. Before the Civil War there were 14 of them. A general law for their regulation, strictly limiting their avenues for investment, was passed in 1889. A clearing house was established in Philadelphia in 1858, or five years later than the one in New York. The condition of the banks in 1902 is shown as follows:
| National Banks |
State Banks |
Trust Companies |
Private Banks |
Savings Banks | |
| Number | 550 | 105 | 158 | 23 | 13 |
| Capital | $88,201,000 | $9,460,000 | $62,797,000 | $920,000 | |
| Surplus | 70,385,000 | 8,996,000 | 36,829,000 | 361,000 | $8,994,000 |
| Cash, etc. | 51,394,000 | 2,779,000 | 7,758,000 | 443,000 | 2,413,000 |
| Deposits | 453,710,000 | 100,165,000 | 259,327,000 | 7,424,000 | 120,441,000 |
| Loans | 447,736,000 | ..... | ..... | 6,630,000 | |
There were 396,877 depositors in the savings banks and the average deposits amounted to $303.
Constitution and Government. The State Government was organized in 1776. The convention, of which Benjamin Franklin was president, signed the State Constitution September 28th of that year. In 1790 a new Constitution, of a more democratic cast, was adopted. The Constitution, as amended in 1838, vested the legislative power in a General Assembly, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. An amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1850, made the judiciary elective. An amended Constitution was adopted in 1873, by a popular vote of 253,744 against 108,594, and went into force January 1, 1874. If a proposed amendment receives a majority vote of both Houses at two successive regular sessions, it will be submitted to the people, and if approved by a majority of those voting, it becomes a part of the Constitution. No amendments can be submitted oftener than once in five years. A voter must have been a citizen of the United States one month, a resident of the State one year, and of the election district two months, and have paid State or county taxes. No elector can be deprived of the privilege of voting because he has not registered. The general election is held annually on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in November. The State has thirty-two members in the National House of Representatives.
Legislative. The Senate is limited to 50 members chosen for four years, and the House to a varying number, apportioned after each Federal census, chosen for two years. No city or county is entitled to more than one-sixth the whole number of Senators. Sessions are biennial, on the first Tuesday of January, without time limit. The Governor is empowered to call extra sessions for urgent business, and required to do so in case of a vacancy in the office of a United States Senator occurring during the recess. No bill can contain more than one subject, and revenue bills must originate in the Lower House. The power of impeachment rests with the Lower House, the trial of impeachment with the Senate.
Executive. The executive department consists of a Governor and a Lieutenant-Governor, both elected for four years, and a Secretary of Internal Affairs, an Auditor-General, elected for three years, and a Treasurer, elected for two years, an Attorney-General, a Secretary of the Commonwealth, and a Superintendent of Public Instruction, appointed for four years by the Governor, with the consent of two-thirds of the Senators. The Governor is not eligible for two consecutive terms. He is empowered to commute sentences and grant pardons within clearly defined limits, and vested, besides the ordinary veto powers, with the prerogative of a partial veto on appropriation bills. The department of the Secretary of Internal Affairs embraces a bureau of industrial statistics, and maintains the supervision of corporations, charitable institutions, and the agricultural, mineral, timber, and other interests of the State. The Lieutenant-Governor and the president pro tempore of the Senate are in the line of succession to the Governorship in case of vacancy.
