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The Green Bag

474

since rates have been kept up high enough to make them the largest source of revenue for the state, besides ying interest on the capital invested. On ti: other hand, shippers have the great advantage of absolutely fair treatment; there is no discrimination among them, there are no rebates, secret or other.

Another great ad

vantage consists in havin a single system to deal with, as well as simpfified tariff schedules; before the nationalization there were 63 rail ways, with 1,357 different tarilfs." See Interstate Commerce, Taxation. Responsibility. See Criminology. Roman Law. See Lex de Majestate. Self lncrlmlnatlon. See Criminal Procedure. Taxation. "The Income Tax Amendment." By Hon. Charles E. Littlefield. Editorial Review,

This instance illustrates the fact that much of the present agitation for separation and for substitutes for the personal property tax. on the ground that our present system has entirely broken down, is in reality directed against the administrative organization and not against the tax itself." l‘The Inequalities of Taxation." By Tom L. Johnson. Hampton's, v. 27, p. 192 (Aug). “Now, gentlemen," I continued, “the market value of the bonds and stocks of the Nickel Plate Company is about $40,(D0,000. As about forty-six r cent of the road is in Ohio. it has over “7.60.000 worth of property in this state. The law says you shall assess property at its full value in money and that includes railroads. but as you have adopted a rule to assess property at only sixtymice cent ofcase. its value, I ask youwill to apply rule of that sixty perrin cent, thisthe Nickel If on late apply road

v. 5, p. 610 (July).

“I do not suppose it is contended by anybody that the conferring of this power would eliminate the states as a matter of legal entities. He [Justice Brewer] means the disastrous effect of such legislation upon the power of the state to borrow— the power to control the exercise of the governmental functions‘of the state. . . . While the state when it goes into the market for a loan has to compete with capital engaged in private business, it is always for the public interest that the loan should be obtained b the state for the lowest possible rate, as every ollar added to the interest charge increases the burden that the public has to bear. When this burden is imposed upon the state government by the federal government, a separate and independent power, then the state government as a govern

ment is subjected to the domination and control of the federal Government which has the power to say what the size of the burden shall be. From the days of Webster and Marshall it has been recognized that the power to tax is the power to destroy." “The Proposed Federal Income Tax." By Governor John A. Dix.

Editorial Review, v. 5,

p. 603 (July). “Our present system of Federal taxation prac tically puts the entire burden upon the shoulders of producers and consumers. If the legitimate rights of property are to be conserved by the establishment of a just system of taxation that will create a contented and prosperous nation, it is time for a change." “Some Phases of Tax Reform in Illinois." By F. B. Garver. Journal of Political Economy, v. 19, p. 574 (July).

“The general property tax has never been given a fair trial in Illinois. That is, however bad the undifferentiating tax levied upon all forms of property may be in theory, there has been no

state-wide enforcement of the tax that could furnish conclusive proof of its essential unwork ableness. For instance, taxation of moneys and

credits under the present system amounts almost to confiscation, for property discovered, but this

be assessed in Ohio at about 810,000,000 instead of 33,0009“), as it has been valued and wants to continue to be valued."

Workmen's Compensation. York Employers‘ Liability Act."

“The New By Andrew

Alexander Bruce. 9 Michigan Law Review 534 (June). In a thoughtful article which discusses INS V Soulll Bufl'alo Ry. Co., the author says: — "Have we, and has the New York Court. and have our courts generally, really understood the meaning and the qualifications of the tem}! liberty and property as they have been used "1 our constitutions?

Is there, after all, any abso

lute right of property? Are there any inalienable rights which can be pigeon-holed, classified and

defined?

Is not every right subject to the

paramount right of the public weal, and has 00: the right of private property itself as opposed t_0 communism. merely been conceded because It is deemed to promote industry and virility and

to be the best social policy? The rights to liberty and property, indeed, have always been relative. and whenever the unlimited exercise of th05_¢ rights has been deemed injurious to the publlc welfare they have been modified and restrained or permitted only under certain conditions The tradesman in England was from an early time under the royal protection, and the free burghs or trading and manufacturing cities Wm the recipients of royal charters. Every extra hazardous occupation is a business which 15 affected with a ublic interest. . . . _ "Mr. Justice gvemer does not state the hi9 ton'cal truth when in his opinion in the New York case he intimates that at the time of the adoption of the American Constitution there was no common law liability where negll

gence could not be proved. From an early time the innkeeper and the common carrier were not merely compelled to accommodate and carry the goods of all, but were made almost absolute insurers of their safety. Their regulation was justified on the theory that they were engaged in public callingsand that their control redou nded

would no longer be t e case if real estate and other

to the good of all classes, but much more upon the

personal property were assessed at actual values,

theory that they were accorded privileges and protection and owed to their lords and to the

or the prescribed percentage of actual value.