Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/706

 PENNSYLVANIA

642

PENteJSYLVANIA

anionn the Miildlo States in cotton and excoeds all of the Uiiitcil Slates in woollen manufactures. The first company to spin yarn by machinery wius founileil at Philadelphia in 177o. A sale of i)rints and linens took place in 17SS). In ISfiO I'liiladelphia was the leading city of the world in the mnnber of its textile works. In 1S;I9 there were S13 cotton and woollen factories, producing a value of Sllt),S.')0,7S2. In 1907, ir)7 silk plants produced a value of $52,780,830. The agricul- tural wealth of the state is also considerable, althougli only 28 per cent of its land is under cultivation. The leading crops are hay, corn, oats, wheat, jjot atoes, and tobacco, aggregating for the year 1908 a value of SltitJ,173,000. The value of farm animals in 1908 was Sl-1.5,S0;i,000. The dairy industry in that year, aside from the milk product, was valued at §41,250,000, while tobacco amounted to .13,948,134.

C. Communicalions. — In 1827 the first railroad in the state, nine miles in length, was opened between Mauch Chunk and Sunniiit Hill. In 1842 the Phila- delphia and Reading Kailroad penetrated the coal regions, and in 1854 the Pennsylvania Railroad be- tween Pittsburg and Philadelphia was opened for traffic. Pennsylvania has 22-96 miles of track for every hundred miles of area. The total assessment of steam railroads operating any portions of their lines within the state is $4,686,281 ,066— one-third of the assets of all the railroads of the United States. The total earnings for the year ending 13 November, 1908, of the railroads of Pennsylvania subject to taxation were $824,213,593. During that year there were 262,570,546 passengers carried and 81,454,385,026 mile-tons of freight. The street railways show a total capitalization of $484,545,694.

IV. Edcc.vtion. — A. General. — The common school system of education is universal throughout the Com- monwealth in every county, township, borough, and city. Each constitutes a separate school district, and new districts are formed as required under the direc- tion of the Court of Quarter Sessions. School direc- tors are elected annually in each district, two qualified citizens being chosen for a term of three years, there being six directors in all. School directors receive no pay, but are exempt from military duty and from serving in any borough or township office. They must hold at least one meeting in every three months and such other meetings as the circumstances of the dis- trict may require. It is their duty to establish a suffi- cient number of common schools for the education of every individual over the age of six years and under the age of twenty-one in their respective districts. They appoint all teachers, fix their salaries, and dis- miss them for cause; direct what branches of learning are to be taught in each school, and what books to be used; suspend or e.xpel pupils for cause. They report to the county superintendent, setting forth the num- ber and situation of the scliools in their districts, the character of the teachers, amount of taxes, etc. Where land cannot be obtained for schools by agree- ment of the parties, school directors may enter and occupy such land as they deem fit not exceeding one acre. Free evening schools must be kept open on the application of twenty or more pupils or their parents, for the teaching of orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, and other branches to pupils who are unable to attend the day schools, for a term of not less than four months in each year. Twenty days' actual teaching constitutes one school month. Schools are closed on Saturdays and legal holidays. High schools may be established in districts having a population of over 5000.

In Penn's charter it was provided that the Govern- ment and councils should erect and order all public schools, and before Penn there had been a school taught by Swedes. In 1706 land to the extent of 60,000 acres was set aside for the support of schools. The Constitution of 1790 required the Legislature to

provide by law for the establishment of schools throughout the state in such maimer that the poor might be taught gratis. The University of Pennsyl- vania dates from (he year 1740. The report of the superintendent of education for the year 1!M)S .shows the number of schools to have been 33,171, taught by 7488 male and 26,525 female teachers, the number of pupils amounting to 1,231,200 and in daily attendance 951,670. The total expenditure for school purposes for that year was more than .?;( l,(l,(l; the esti- mated value of school property exceeded §90,(100,000. There were in that year thirteen noiiiial scliools, seven theological seminaries, three medical colleges, one veterinary college, one college of pharmacy, four den- tal schools, two law schools, thirty-fi\e colleges and universities, employing 1914 instructms, with an at- tendance of 12,211 male and 31MI female students.

B. Catholic. — Prior to the Revolution, ami for some years after it, Philadelphia was the laigesi city, and St. Mary's the largest Catholic i)arisli in tin- t'nited States. A parochial school was established in that parish in 1782. This was an English .school. Subse- quently German schools were established at Goshen- hoppen, Berks County, at Lancaster, Hanover, and other places under the auspices of the German Jesuits. In Western Pennsylvania the first Catholic school was established at Sportsman's Hall, Westmoreland County, some time after 1787, where subsequently the Benedictines built St. Vincent's Abbey and Col- lege, the mother-house of this religious order in the United States. Father Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin (q. V.) established a Catholic colony in Cambria County in 1791tandin 1800 opened a school at Loretto. The first Catholic church at Pittsburg was built in 1811, and in 1828 a community of the Order of St. Clare, coming from Belgium, established a convent and academy. In 1835 the sisters took charge of the dayschools at Pittsburg and opened an academy for more advanced pupils. They opened a school at Har- risburg in 1828; one at McSherrytown in 1830; one at Pottsville in 1836. The Catholic educational sys- tem has been gradually developed since that date un- til now, in all the dioceses of Pennsylvania, there is a carefully graded system of parochial schools, there being in attendance in the various dioceses 225,224 pupils, who are taught by 2896 religious and lay teachers in 443 schools, irrespective of those who are instructed in the various orphan asylums and chari- table institutions of the different dioceses. The course of instruction is graded in the Diocese of Philadelphia, covering Christian doctrine, English, penmanship, arithmetic, algebra, geography, history, civil govern- ment, vocal music (including Gregorian), drawing, elementary science. Institutions for higher education are, with a few exceptions, in the hands of the teaching orders and are not an integral part of the jiarochial school system. The cost of maintenance of the Cath- ohc educational system is defrayed by voluntary contributions.

V. Religious Conditions. — A. Dei'eJopmetit of the Church. — The State of Pennsylvania liistoiicafly coin- cides with the ecclesiastical Province <if I'liil.ulclphia, composed of the Archdiocese of Philaileljiliia and the five suffragan Dioceses of Pittsburg, Erie, Ilarrisburg, Scranton, and Altoona. (See the special articles on these dioceses respectively.) The Catholic population in Pennsylvania owes its existence mainly to early immigration from Ireland and Germany, though of recent years many Poles, Hungarians, and Italians have swelled its numbers. The first Catholic resident of Philadelphia, a German, came with Daniel Paeto- rius, the founder of Germantown, in 1683. In 1685 J. Gray, of London, having obtained a grant of land, settled in Pennsylvania, where he changed his name to John Tatham. In 1690 he was appointed Governor of West Jersey, but was unable to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. He seems to have