11 so New York State Agricultural Society 



To make that recognition more clear, an amendment to Section 7, 

 Article I of the const itntion was passed in lSt)4. This amend- 

 ment provides: 



" GoiU'ral laws may ho passed pormittiiifi tlio owners or ooonpants of apri- 

 cultural lands to construct and maintain for tlu' drainage tlioreof, ni'ct'ssary 

 drains, ditches and dykes upon the land of otiiers, under proper restrictions 

 and with just eomi)ensation : hut no special laws shall l)e enacted for such 

 purposes." 



This legal machinery seeks also to aid cooperative drainage 

 work hy jjrescribing the form and manner of cooperation of in- 

 dividuals and the method by which they meet the expense of such 

 construction. All this must he acc(nnplislie(l without abridging 

 the right of the individual under the federal constitution. This 

 is why regular procedure through the courts is prescribed. If 

 this legal machinery to facilitate land drainage is inadeqmite 

 either in scope or in detail of operation it is open to change. IIow 

 far that is necessary we shall see later. 



In the matter of linancial aid the state gives the use of the 

 courts as part of the legal machinery, and further, in the case of 

 benefit from drainage to the pnl)lic health, the community so 

 affected is taxed to pay part or all the cost of the construction, 

 whether the individual has any direct interest in land or not. On 

 the other hand, while the state has so far recognized the public 

 benefit from land drainage for agricultural improvement as to 

 establish l)y statute certain methods of procedure, and to give the 

 iiidi\idual certain })ublie rights in the acquisition of an outlet, it 

 has never given dii'e:_t fiimneial aid to such improvement either 

 by paiv'ment of part of the cost or by loan from the state treasurer. 

 In all drainage work lor })nrely connnercial purposes, the cost is 

 assessed agiiinst the land in proportion to the benefit received. 

 1'ho owner of wet land must alone })ay for its improvement unless 

 it can be shov.'ii that the health of the community or its gencr;il 

 welfare is improved and that, therefore, the community in its 

 corporative capacity should pay some part of the cost of the im- 

 provement. The basis of this limitation of financial aid for com- 

 mercial ]>ui"poses is that ])ro\ision of the state constitution which 

 prohibits the use of public funds or money raised by genci-al taxa- 

 tion for any ])riva1e purpose. ( \ew York Const., Art. \'II. Sec. 

 1 and Art. YIII, Sec. 10, also Sec. G, Art. I.) The agricultural 



