APPENDIX
office of the recorder of deeds of the respective counties. The system thus established has grown by subsequent legislation, and now railroads, collieries, furnaces, rolling mills, coal and iron companies, corporations for the propagation of fish, and many other corporations have their force of policemen exercising the authority of the commonwealth. There were issued in
| 1901 | 570 police commissions. |
| 1902 | 4,512 police commissions. |
| 1903 | 186 police commissions. |
| 1904 | 187 police commissions. |
Usually these commissions have been issued at the request of the companies and have been unlimited in duration. A practice has recently been instituted in the Executive Department limiting the appointments to a period of three years, and requiring the applications to set forth under affidavit the circumstances making the appointment necessary, the capability, and reputation for sobriety and peacefulness, of the person named, and that he is a citizen of Pennsylvania. But it needs little thought to see that the system is objectionable upon principle and is likely to be ineffective in practice. The act upon which it is based is inartificially constructed, and, were the question raised, would probably be held to be unconstitutional by the courts. Where police are selected, paid and discharged by the corporations, and bear the name of “coal and iron police,” it is evident that they are in effect the servants of their employers rather than of the commonwealth whose authority they exercise. The arrest and incarceration of a citizen for breach of law is one of the most fundamental and delicate of the functions of sovereignty, and the protection of property and the prevention of breach of the peace and disturbance are among the most important of its duties. The one ought not to be delegated and the other ought not to be evaded. To attempt to do so is to abdicate sovereignty and to accomplish it would seem to be a legal impossibility. The state stands above interests in controversy and its powers ought not to be used by either of them. In case of disturbance, no confidence can be placed in the discreet use of the power of the state by persons dependent upon others for their positions. On the other hand, it is the duty of the state to see to it that the exercise of the franchises granted by her is not impaired or interfered with by violence. It would be well for you to consider whether the time has not arrived for the state to resume these functions and to
authorize the appointment by the governor of a constabulary of
