r bonds of counties,
cities, and towns, issued to encourage industries, raise a question
far more complex than the simple bounty. Such legislation has,
however, practically ceased throughout the country, except in the form
of exemption from taxation. It has been recognized by a long line of
decisions that it is constitutional to grant such aid to railroads,
but it may be questioned in almost any other industry. A mere
exemption from taxation, especially for a certain number of years,
rests on a stronger constitutional basis. Many of the Southern States
have recently passed laws exempting manufacturing corporations, etc.,
from taxation for a definite number of years, and such provisions are
found in one or two State constitutions. When they only rest upon a
statute, however, they are always at least litigable at the suit of
any tax-payer. So, bonds issued by the city of Boston under a statute
expressly authorizing them to enable land-owners to rebuild after the
great fire, were held to be void. A Federal loan was proposed to raise
money to lend to the inhabitants of San Francisco to rebuild after the
earthquake, but failed of enactment. It will be remembered that the
States have very generally no power to engage in internal improvements
(see above). _A fortiori_, therefore, they can hardly loan money or
credit to private interests be they never so much for the general
benefit. The difficulty of testing all such laws has been adverted to,
at least in the case of taxation. For that purpose Massachusetts has
a wise law providing machinery by which such matters may be contested
upon the action of any ten tax-payers.

There are three great questions before us in the immediate future--the
negro, local or self government, and taxation, which last is the chief
problem of city and town government.

The world has never before tried the experiment of municipal
government, where those who have the local vote do not generally pay
the local taxes.

XX

FINAL

One would suppose that a democracy which believes in the absolute
panacea of law-making would take particular pains with the forms of
its legislation, to have its statutes clear, in good English, not
contradictory, properly expressed and properly authenticated. You
would certainly suppose that the people who believe that everything
should be done under a written law would take the greatest pains to
see that law was _official_; also, that it was clear, so as to be