TAXATION. 65 



obliged to pay interest would have before them a constant motive 

 to make payment at the earliest day possible ; whereas on the 

 discount plan, after the specified date, the only incentive is to 

 put off the day of payment as long as possible. Again, the pay- 

 ment of interest would be in the nature of a penalty for the neg- 

 lect of duty, and hence consistent with all our other relations to 

 the State, which visits with punishment wrong doers, but does 

 not offer money bounties for right doing. 



Exemptions from Taxalion.-^l!\\e propriety of exemption in the 

 following cases is generally conceded, or at any rate seldom op- 

 posed. Household furniture, not exceeding two hundred dollars 

 to one family, wearing apparel, farming utensils, mechanics' tools; 

 mules, horses, neat cattle, swine and sheep less than six months 

 old ; the polls and estates of Indians ; the polls of persons under 

 guardianship; and the polls and estates of persons who by age, 

 infirmity and poverty are unable to contribute toward the public 

 charges. 



The matter of exemption of manufacturing establishments is 

 under the control of towns, and hence need not be considered 

 ftirther than to remark, that a wise economy will not unfrequently 

 dictate the exemption of such property for a term of years. The 

 principal exemptions remaining to which attention is directed are 

 the following : 



1st. The property of the United States and of this State. 



2d. The real and personal property of all literary institutions, 

 and the real and personal property of all benevolent, charitable 

 and scientific institutions incorporated by this State. 



3d. All houses of religious worship, and the pews and furniture 

 within the same, except for parochial purposes ; and all tombs and 

 rights of burial, and property held by a religious society as a 

 parsonage. 



Over the property of the United States the commonwealth has. 

 no control, and hence neither the power nor the right to tax it. 

 If the National Government exempts from taxation its securities, 

 the State has no alternative but to accept the condition. Just 

 occasion for complaint arises, however, when in the use of these 

 securities they are made to extend their exempting power to other 

 classes of property ; as when a merchant or manufacturer, just 

 before the day of assessment, invests his surplus funds in United 

 States bonds, and directly after the assessment disposes of the 

 5 



