taxes upon the people for the support of coporations over which it can have no control. If congress can levy taxes for the construction and support of railroads, and take the management and control of them, it certainly can take the entire supervision of all the highways in all the states, provide for their construction, and tax the people at will for that purpose. This being admitted, no local or police regulation in any of the states is exclusively under the jurisdiction of the state governments; but the general government may at any time take the absolute control of the governmental affairs of the several states, and thus complete the centralization of power now s0 rapidly developing in all the departments at Washington. The assumption of the right to tax the people for any and every purpose that to congress shall seem expedient, irrespective of constitutional prohibition, is at once destructive of the rights that were supposed to be guaranteed and preserved to the whole people by the constitution. If the will of those men who happen to occupy seats in congress (and that will too often controlled by personal interest) is to govern, then all constitutional government is at an end, and the liberty and property of the citizen have no constitutional safeguard. Taxes to the entire value of all the wealth in the country may be levied by the general government, and the citizen of this republic holds his entire estate at the will of the persons who fill the offices of the country. Under the system of congressional legislation that now obtains, the laboring and producing classes are being rapidly reduced to a state of servitude that would grace the most despotic government.

CHAPTER XII.

THE RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN. UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF MU

NICIPAL AID TO RAILROADS.

T

HE question of taxation for the benefit of private corpo

rations has agitated the public mind since the construc

tion of railroads became one of the admitted necessities of the country. For the purpose of justifying and legalizing governmental aid to railroad corporations, in the various forms in which such aid has been afforded, the doctrine has obtained among the advocates of the measure that railroads are public highways, as well as a public necessity; and such being the fact, that aid in the shape of grants, taxes, and subsidies, are legal, legitimate, and proper. They draw an argument in favor of this doctrine, from the fact that legislatures, state and national, have provided by law for the condemnation of private property, for the use of the companies, respectively, upon paying the assessed value thereof; and that thus the right of eminent domain is vested in these corporations; that the right of eminent domain is an attribute of sovereignty, and that the granting of this attribute to corporations imparts to them the character of public highways. They reason that because they are public highways, and the companies owning them are common carriers, taxes may be legally levied and collected for the exclusive use of these companies. They claim that because the United States, states, counties, cities, towns, and townships, have authority to construct, or to aid in constructing, common highways, they have the same right to construct, or aid in constructing, railroads.

If it were not that precedent has tended to sustain this "false doctrine," we would not think it profitable to combat it. The only point in the argument in favor of this doctrine

that has any real foundation, is, that railroad companies are allowed to locate their roads where they please, upon payment of the damages assessed in the manner prescribed by statute. The answer to this is, that railroads could not be built, unless the companies had permission to pass over the lands of private citizens. If the title from each land owner could be procured only by negotiation and purchase, no railroad could be constructed, for the reason that a direct or continuous line for a road could rarely be secured. Railroads are constructed to aid in the transportation of freight and passengers from one part of the country to another; to promote commerce throughout the whole country; to supply the wants of a people, just as a mill or factory supplies the wants of a particular locality. The miller constructs his dam across a stream, and, under the statutes of most of the states, he can procure the condemnation of the land of his neighbor overflowed by his dam, to his own use, upon payment of the damages assessed. It is not a condemnation for the use of the public, but for the use and benefit of the owner of the mill. The mill itself, while it is owned by a private individual, and can be sold and transferred by him at any time, is also a public benefit. Can it be said that the right of eminent domain attaches to the mill or its owner? So with railroads: They are owned by private companies are built and controlled by them; they are of public benefit, but not owned or controlled by the public or by the state, or local authority, as in the case of public highways. Their private owners can sell them, with all their franchises, rights, and privileges. The rules for their operation, rates of charges, and all other matters affecting their government, are exclusively under the control of the parties owning them. Only that the companies may become the owners of the necessary grounds over which to build their roads, have legislatures provided that they may enter upon lands owned by private persons, and upon the payment of the appraised value thereof, appropriate a narrow strip (the width being fixed by statute) for the purpose of locating their road upon it. It is not condemned for public use, as in the case of a public highway, or where land is needed for public buildings, or any other public purpose. The assessed value is not paid by the government,

or from the public fund, nor by individuals for the public; but by the private corporation out of its own purse, and for its own gain.

This is what is called, by the advocates of the measure, "the right of eminent domain," a right that only belongs to the supreme government. This power cannot be exercised by local or subordinate governments, unless it is delegated to them by the supreme or superior government. While the courts in some of the states, Iowa included, have, by decisions, made this right of eminent domain attach to railroad cor panies, it cannot be supported on principle. To allow it to obtain is to clothe private corporations with the attributes of sovereignty. But conceding that this right attaches to these corporations, upon no principle of constitutional law or justice can the right to levy taxes upon private citizens to aid in the construction of railroads, either by acts of congress, by state statutes, or by local municipal government, be supported. And it matters not in what form these taxes are imposed upon the people, whether in the shape of municipal subscriptions of stock, to be paid by assessments upon the people; by donations of land or money, to be repaid by imposing a larger price upon lands sold to the citizen; by indirect taxation, or by special local elections held in cities, towns, or counties,-the compulsory taxation of the property of individuals, under our system of government, can only be imposed for governmental or public purposes. Taxes are levied for the support of the government in all its departments; for the construction and repairing of highways; for the building of school houses and all other edifices of a public character; for the support of schools; for the necessities of local municipal governments, and for other objects having the public weal for their sole consideration. These taxes are legitimate and proper, because the ends sought to be reached by such taxation are for the use and benefit of the whole people, and for the protection of their rights. For all of these purposes the legislature can provide an uniform system of taxation. But when the government attempts to compel A to pay a tax to assist B and C in building a railroad, it enters upon the exercise of a despotic and oppressive power, that is in conflict with the letter and spirit

of our constitutions, both state and national. The legislature, by the passage of such a statute, says, in substance, to the taxpayer: "A company is formed for the purpose of building a railroad which passes through the county in which you reside. This company has not sufficient means for constructing and stocking its road. That the necessary means may be furnished to it for that purpose, you must pay a tax upon your property, amounting to one-tenth or one-twentieth of its value; this amount you must donate to the company. True, you will have no interest in this road when it is completed; you will not be a stockholder; you cannot ride in its cars, or ship your freights over the road, without paying the same price as other persons. It may cause you to sacrifice a part of your property to pay this tax, but the road will be of great advantage to the public, and you must make this donation to help the enterprise." The consequences flowing from this unjust and oppressive system of taxation are appalling. It has no foundation in right or justice. The legislature has no inherent right to impose taxes for any purpose. The authority to levy taxes is dependent upon the power delegated by the people as contained in the fundamental law. In a republic even a majority of the people do not possess the inherent right to tax the minority for private purposes. Such taxation can be imposed by no other government than a despotic one, where the will of the despot is the supreme law, and where might rather than right is the controlling power. So conscious are the advocates of this species of taxation of the fact that taxes can be levied for public purposes alone, that they deem it all-important to connect and blend in one the right of eminent domain and taxation.

tenable.

Bouvier defines the "The right which the estate of individuals, to Taxes are defined to be

But this position is not term, "Eminent Domain," as follows: people or government retains over the resume the same for public use." burdens or charges imposed by the legislative power of a state, upon persons or property, to raise money for public purposes. It will be seen that there is a wide distinction between the taxing power and the right of eminent domain: that while they both appropriate private property for public uses, they