MUNICIPAL TAXATION — WHY AND HOW. 43 



and to place within the reach of all a more generous and useful edu- 

 cation. Under this generous S3'stem, whether the tax-payer receives 

 his remuneration in instruction given to his own children or not, he 

 yet receives it in the improvement of the intellectual and social 

 character of his neighbors, by which his property is rendered more 

 secure, the labor for which he pays is better performed, and the 

 demand for whatever he produces is more universal and more con- 

 stant, the moral and social character of the community is elevated, 

 the taste of the nation refined, and an impulse given to efforts for 

 the benefit of man. With this view, no one could oppose the 

 expense incurred in bestowing upon public edifices elegance, or 

 even, in some cases, magnificence of structure, in the public cele- 

 bration of remarkable eras and in the rewards bestowed upon those 

 who have, by their discoveries, enlarged the boundaries of human 

 knowledge, or by their inventions signally improved the useful arts. 



PAUPERS. 



The support of paupers and the giving of assistance to those 

 who by reason of age, infirmit}' or disability are likely to become 

 such, is b}' the practice and the common consent of civilized coun- 

 tries, a public purpose. Hospitals for the sick, houses and food for 

 the poor, asylums where the deaf and dumb may be supported and 

 taught, and where the insane can be safel3'kept and have such care- 

 ful and scientific treatment, with a view to their restoration, as they 

 would not be likely to receive elsewhere. 



The poor we have with us always, and he would be a bold man 

 who, in these da3's, should question the public right to make pro- 

 vision for their support and comfort. 



To build and support for the use of the people highways, town 

 ways and bridges, are among the most important functions of Gov- 

 ernment. The competency of the Legislature to levy taxes for the 

 construction of the common highwa3', the improved turnpike and 

 macadamised road, the planked or paved street, the canal, the tram- 

 way, or railway, is unquestioned. 



The differences of opinion which have been entertained and exhaust- 

 ivel3' discussed by the courts, have principally arisen in those cases 

 in which the Legislature has permitted or required the municipal cor- 

 porations to become stockholders in private corporations for the 

 building of railroads, canals, &c., conducted and managed in part, 

 perhaps mainly, by individuals for their own benefit. 



4 



