TUESDAY, February 18, 1873.

The Convention was called to order at seven minutes after ten o'clock A. M. by the President.

Prayer was offered by the Rev. J. W. Curry.

THE SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION. The PRESIDENT also laid before the Convention the following communication:

No. 532 WALNUT STREET,
February 17, 1873.

THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION.

The PRESIDENT laid before the Convention the following communication:

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION PHILADEL-
PHIA-1876.

OFFICE CENTENNIAL COMMISSION,
No. 904 WALNUT STREET,
PHILADELPHIA, February 17, 1873.
Hon. Wм. M. MEREDITH,

President Constitutional Convention: SIR-The joint committees having in charge the arrangements for Pennsylvania's grand mass convention to provide for the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of American Independence, on the twenty-second inst., at the Academy of Music, respectfully ask your honorable body to be present on that occasion. Trusting that you will send us an early reply,

We are respectfully yours,
D. J. MORRELL,
ASA PACKER,

Commissioners for Pennsylvania. Mr. J. PRICE WETHERILL. Mr. President: I move the invitation be accepted, which was ageed to.

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President Constitutional Convention: DEAR SIR:-I am instructed by the executive committee of the Philadelphia Social Science association to invite the Constitutional Convention to attend the next stated meeting of the association, on Thursday evening, February 20, at eight o'clock, when Mr. Sydney Biddle will read a paper on the work of the Constitutional Convention, at the Mercantile Library hall, Tenth street, between Market and Chestnut.

Very respectfully, &c.,

J. G. ROSENGARTEN,

Secretary.

Mr. NEWLIN. Mr. President: 1 move that the invitation be accepted, which was agreed to.

WRITS OF ERROR.

The PRESIDENT laid before the Convention a communication from the prothonotary of Erie county, which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

PROHIBITION.

Mr. CARTER presented a petition from two hundred citizens of Lancaster county, in favor of a clause in the Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of

intoxicating liquors, which was referred to the Committee on Legislation.

Mr. ANDREWs presented a similar petition, which, on motion of that gentleman, was referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

NEW COUNTIES.

Mr. PUGHE presented a memorial from certain citizens of Luzerne county, relative to the division of said county, which was referred to the Committee on Counties.

PROHIBITION.

Mr. LEAR presented a memorial from the monthly meeting of Friends, asking for a Constitutional provision against traffic in intoxicating liquors, which was referred to the Committee on Legislation.

MILITARY SERVICE.

Mr. LEAR also presented a petition from the same meeting, asking that its members be excluded from taxation for military purposes, which was referred to the

Committee on the Militia.

Mr. NEWLIN offered the following resolution, which was referred to the Committee on the Executive:

Resolved, That the principal officer of in each of the Executive departments shall have the privilege of discussing in either House any measure pertaining to his department.

THE FORM OF THE BALLOT.

The Convention then resolved itself into committee of the whole, Mr. Lawrence in the chair, for the purpose of further considering the article reported from the Committee on Suffrage.

The CHAIRMAN. The question is upon the amendment to the second section, offered by the gentleman from Montgomery, (Mr. Boyd.) The amendment will be read.

The CLERK read: "Strike out all after 'section' and insert as follows: 'All elections shall by ballot, except those by persons in their representative capacity, who shall vote viva voce, but in any city, borough, or town containing a population of of at least fifty thousand inhabitants, the ballots shall be numbered by the election officers, when received, and each shall have endorsed upon it the name of the elector, written either by himself or by another citizen of the district, who shall not be an election officer."

Mr. BOYD. Mr. Chairman: I desire to withdraw that amendment, and substitute the following:

The CLERK read: "All elections shall. be by ballot, which shall be numbered by the election officers, when received, but in any city, borough, or town containing a population of at least fifty thousand inhabitants, the ballots shall be numbered by the election officers, when received, and each shall have endorsed upon it the name of the elector, written either by himself, or by another citizen of the district, who shall not be an election officer; and all persons voting in a representative capacity shall vote viva voce.

Mr. BOYD. Mr. Chairman: The substitute that I have offered is the same as the original one that I offered, except that the ballots throughout the State shall be numbered. The reason that I have so modified it is because that arrangement will, in no wise, interfere with the convenience or inconvenience of the voter. The duty of numbering is imposed upon the election officers. I can see no objection to that, because, throughout the State, it may be the means of preventing fraud, and if fraud is perpetrated, it will enable an investigation into the regularity of the election, to ascertain by these numbers what otherwise might not be ascertained. Therefore I see no objection to it throughout the State. As I said before, inasmuch as election officers are to perform a duty, but when you come to the cities of a population of fifty thousand and upwards, it is provided that the ballots shall also have the names of the voters endorsed upon them.

Mr. LANDIS. Mr. Chairman: I propose to amend the amendment of the gentleman from Montgomery (Mr. Boyd.)

The CLERK read: "Strike out the words 'containing a population of at least fifty thousand inhabitants.''

Mr. LANDIS. Mr. Chairman: I have only a word to say, and I will preface what I have to say with the statement that I entirely sympathize with every effort to inaugurate reform in the matter of conducting our elections. I believe, sir, that I am prepared to go as far as the farthest. There can be scarcely any one upon the floor of this House who would give his entire acquiescence to the proposition as submitted originally by the Committee on Suffrage and Elections as cheerfully as myself, if I did not deem that, in many respects, in certain portions of the State, it would be entirely impracticable. I believe the proposition is a good one, but I believe it is one that would be better adapted to the large cities and the large

Now, sir, I very well understand that these gentlemen who represent large towns and cities have felt the necessity for reform. There can be no doubt that they have felt it, but in the rural districts we have not felt it. Where the elections are conducted in the rural districts, they are generally held in school houses.These school houses are isolated, and the voters come there, perhaps, from widely separated farm houses, and other places of abode. They come there alone, and they will find no facilities for complying with the requirements of the section. They may find no person there, if they are unable to write themselves, who can place their names and numbers upon the tickets, and whether any one may be able to write or not, no elector may be found to attest his vote. Election officers are forbidden to do so, and they will be thrown upon their own resources, and may not be able to comply with the requirements of the section.

In addition to that a majority of the people who live in the rural districts are the laboring and toiling population. Their days are spent in labor, and they do not go to the polls until after dark, and, in many cases, they will find it difficult to comply with the provisions of this proposed section. There will be no facilities furnished, and perhaps no adjacent houses or offices, and they will be utterly unable, in many cases, to vote; so that I fear that the effect of this proposition, instead of tending to effectuate reform, will operate to the defeat of the Constitution, for, by reason of its insertion, it may make it unpopular with the masses.

In view, therefore, of these difficulties, I have proposed this amendment. The gentleman upon the other side may reply that there may be a want of symmetry and uniformity in the Constitution if this amendment is adopted. They may say that it is adapted to the large cities, and should adapt itself to the country. I might pursue the same line of argument, and say that the present Constitution is adapted to the State at large, and therefore it ought to be adapted to the cities.

fraudulent votes in the cities, then I might urge it would tend greatly to prevent legal votes in the country districts. With a desire, therefore, of obviating the difficulties, as well as providing for the necessities of the case, and with the hope that conflicting views may be reconciled, I offer this amendment, believing that we ought to embody such a provision in the Constitution as will adapt itself to all portions of the State, although I am opposed, upon general principles, to the enactment or embodyment of special provisions in our Constitution.

I am very well aware that the tendency of this Convention is to adopt this clause, and they may do it, but I desire, before that is done, to make a stand here in behalf of the people who live in the rural districts, who do not like this provision, and who do not, I believe, so far as they are concerned, wish to have it embodied in the Constitution. I will therefore call upon those who are its special advocates to be careful before they conclude to adopt it, without making any effort to adapt it to the country districts. They may defeat the very object for which they are laboring-the accomplishment of reform.

Mr. HOPKINS. Mr. Chairman: I have, in common, with many others of this committee, been a quiet listener during the two weeks that this subject has been under consideration. I will not now propose to enter into anything like an elaborate argument, but simply to refer, very briefly, to what has been said by one or two gentlemen during the progress of the discussion. The gentleman from Erie, (Mr. Walker,) for whom, personally, I have great respect, asked, yesterday, whether "our present Constitution regulating elections had proved a failure?" And he repeated the question, and, as it seemed, in rather a defiant tone, as much as to say, who dare assert that it has? will take the affirmative of this proposition and say here, and now, that, so far as securing an honest expression of the the popular will is concerned, in some locations it has proved not only an utter "failure," but a miserable farce. Within the past few years it is notorious that the most wicked and stupendous frauds have been perpetrated in open day; the voice of the people has been ignored, and men "counted in" who had been repudiated by the honest voters of the Commonwealth, and others "counted out" who had received a clear majority of their suffrages.

I