EXERCISES.

§ 1. For what reasons do cities require different governments from towns? By what authority are cities incorporated? Name the cities in, this state.

§ 2. Define charter. Mention the origin and present use

of the word.

§ 3. What are the principal officers in a city government? What are their general duties?

§ 4. Are the inhabitants of cities subject to the general laws of the state?

§ 5. What are the nature and powers of a police court? § 6. Mention some points of difference between the government of cities and villages.

CHAPTER XIX.

Of the Assessment and Collection o, Taxes.

§ 1. Ir appears from the foregoing chapter, that to transact the business of the state, requires the employment of a great number of persons; and consequently, that the amount of money paid out every year to all these officers must also be very great. As no government can be maintained without expense, and as every person is in some way benefited by the government, it is the duty of all who are able, to contribute towards its support. Every government must therefore have the power to provide the means of defraying its expenses. This is done chiefly by taxation; the money which the citìzens are required to pay, is called a tax. Taxes are assessed and levied principally upon the property of the citizens.

§ 2. All lands, and all personal property are subject to taxation, except public property; school-houses and meetinghouses, with the land attached to them; burial-grounds; and the property of literary and charitable institutions; these several kinds of property being usually exempted from taxation. Lands, real property, and real estate, have the same

meaning, and include land, with all buildings and other articles erected or growing thereon. Personal estate, or personal property, includes all household furniture, money, goods, chattels, and debts due from solvent debtors.

§ 3. As the amount of tax which each person is to pay is in proportion to the value of his property, the first thing to be done is to value the property of every person in the town. This is done by the assessor or assessors, who pass through the town, at the time required by law, and set down in their assessment roll the names of all the taxable inhabitants, and the estimated value of the property of each, real and personal. If mistakes are made in taking the value of property, they · are corrected in some way prescribed by law. Returns of the names of the owners of property and of the value of the same, are made to the proper county officer or officers, who cause the tax list for each town to be made out, and order the taxes to be collected.

§ 4. In some states, every person liable to taxation is himself required to furnish a list of all his taxable property, printed blank lists having been previously distributed among the taxable inhabitants for this purpose. To secure accuracy in the lists, the assessors (called also listers) may require persons to make oath that they have made a true statement of their property, real and personal, and of its estimated value. In states where the polls of the tax payers are assessed, these also are set down in the lists at such sums as the law directs to be affixed to each poll.

§ 5. Before a tax list can be made out, it must be known what amount is to be collected in each town. The amount is made up of three parts: first, the sum wanted to defray the expenses of the town; secondly, its share of the county expenses; and thirdly, its proportion of the expenses of the state government, or of what is to be raised for state purposes.

§6. The apportionment of the state and county expenses among the several towns, is made according to the amount of property in each as valued by the assessors. The state auditor or comptroller, having received from the several counties returns of the aggregate valuation of the property of each county, is enabled to apportion to each its quota of

the amount to be raised for state purposes. To each county's share of the state expenses is added the sum to be raised for county purposes, and the amount is apportioned among the towns. Then adding to each town's share of the county and state expenses, the amount to be raised for town purposes, gives the amount to be collected in the town.

§ 7. Having thus ascertained the sum to be raised in each town, the county officers whose duty it is, cause a tax list to be made out, containing the name of all taxable persons in the town, and the amount of each person's tax opposite his name. The tax list of each town is then signed by the proper persons, and put into the hands of the collectors of each town, with a warrant ordering the same to be collected.

§ 8. In some states, town, county, and state taxes are, or may be collected separately, and whenever they shall be ordered by the proper authorities. In other states, however, the whole amount to be raised for state, county, and town purposes, for the year, is made out in a single rate bill. The money collected for county and state purposes is paid to the county treasurer, who pays to the state treasurer the amount of the state tax; and the remainder is applied to the payment of the county expenses. And the amount collected for town purposes is paid to such persons in the town as are by law authorized to receive the same.

EXERCISES.

§ 1. By what means is a government maintained? Define tax. Upon what are taxes chiefly levied ?

§ 2. What property is exempt from taxation? Define real estate, and personal estate.

§3. By whom, and how, is the valuation of property taken?

§ 4. In what other manner are lists of persons and property taken? Which of these modes is practised in this state?

CHAPTER XX.

Canals, Rail Roads, &c.

§ 1. THE grand object of a good government is to promote the happiness and welfare of its citizens. The whole duty of the government is not done when it protects men in the enjoyment of life and the fruits of their labor. It should extend farther, and make provision for improving the condition of the people, especially the less favored portions of them. As all must contribute to the support of the government from what they acquire by their labor, the government ought to do all it can to render the labor of all equally profitable.

§ 2. But the people of a large state do not all possess equal advantages. He who resides near navigable waters and good roads, is better rewarded for his labor than others who reside at a greater distance from them. A farm lying near a market town may possess double the value of another of equal size and fertility, in a distant part of the state, as a large portion of the products of the latter must be consumed in transporting them to market. So also they who reside far in the country, must pay the merchants higher prices for their wares and merchandise to remunerate them for the additional cost of their transportation. Hence the necessity of good roads, canals, or other means of facilitating intercourse between distant portions of the state.

§ 3. Among the works of public utility, canals are perhaps the most useful, and are to be preferred wherever their construction is practicable. Canals are sometimes constructed by incorporated canal companies, but generally these works, especially those of considerable magnitude, are constructed by the state, and are the property of the state, Although there are some states in which there are no canals of the latter description, it may be both interesting and useful to young persons to know how so important a state work is accomplished.

§ 4. The legislature of a state has power to raise the

money necessary to make a canal, by levying a tax upon the property of the citizens; but it would impose too heavy a burden upon the people to compel them to pay so large a sum within the time in which the work is to be done. When, therefore, a great work of this kind is to be undertaken by the state, the law authorizing the work provides a fund to be set apart for this purpose. Canal funds consist usually of such grants and appropriations of lands, property and moneys, as may be made by the legislature. But as the income of such fund is insufficient, the state borrows money to prosecute the work. This money is borrowed for a long term of years, and is to be repaid by the income of the canal fund, and by the proceeds of tolls collected on the canal when completed. If these are insufficient, the deficiency is supplied by a reso t to taxation. The original cost of the Erie canal in the state of New York, was wholly repaid by the revenue arising from tolls and from the canal fund, without the necessity of taxation.

§ 5. The business of borrowing the money is done, on the part of the state, by persons duly authorized, who give for the money borrowed the bonds of the state, which are witten promises to pay the money at the time specified, with interest at the rate agreed on; the interest generally to be paid semi-annually. These bonds are usually given in sums of $1,000 each. The debts of a state thus increased by the issuing of bonds, are called state stocks, as the capital or stock required to construct any state work, is obtained by the sale of these bonds. These bonds, like the certificates of stock in a rail-road or turnpike company, are transferable as promissory notes, and constitute an important article of speculation.

§ 6. These stocks are taken by men who have large sums of money to lend, and who consider state stocks good security; because, if the state has no other means of redeeming its bonds, the legislature has power to pass a law authorizing the money to be raised by a tax upon the people. Almost every state is thus indebted, not only to American capitalists, but to those of European countries, whence many millions have been sent to the United States to purchase state stocks. § 7. Officers are appointed according to law to manage