Miscellaneous. 397 



people at large, but this will not authorize appropriations of public 

 money for their benefit. State ex rel. Switzler, 143 Mo. 287. The 

 Legislature at one time attempted to give a bounty to private indi- 

 viduals for growing forest trees upon their own lands, but the Su- 

 preme Court, in Deal vs. Mississippi County, 107 Mo. 464, held 

 the act to be in conflict with the Constitution. So it has been held 

 that appropriations in aid of educational institutions not under the 

 control of the State are invalid. The courts declare that direct or 

 indirect benefits to the public are insufficient to justify the appro- 

 priation of public money in aid of the corporation from which the 

 benefits come. Public money can only be collected and disbursed 

 by the State for public purposes. 



In my opinion, the act of the Legislature referred to is in- 

 valid, and under the Constitution the General Assembly has no 

 power to make apropriations in aid of your Society as now organ- 

 ized. The fact that these appropriations have heretofore been 

 made will not be a sufficient argument to induce their continuance, 

 as the question may never have heretofore been raised. 



I think, if you desire to continue to receive aid from the State, 

 the form of your organization must be changed. Instead of a pri- 

 vate corporation, or an association of individuals interested in 

 horticulture, the body controlling the appropriations made by the 

 State must be a part of the State government, and probably it will 

 be best to organize it upon similar lines as the State Board of Agri- 

 culture. The State cannot donate any of the public money to an 

 association of individuals or to a corporation, no matter how worthy 

 the objects or how great the benefits that may result. Public 

 money must be disbursed by the State itself, or through its own 

 agencies. A State Board of Horticulture, appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor, with public duties to perform, something like the State 

 Board of Agriculture, or the Board of Immigration, or the other 

 State Boards, would be entirely different from your Society, as now 

 formed, which, if anything more than a mere volunta7'y associa- 

 tion, is only a private corporation. 



Very truly, 



W. M. Williams. 



At once the committee began the planning for a new bill to be 

 passed by the Legislature in 1907, and another visit was made by 

 them to Jeflferson City to consult Gov. Folk and Secretary of State 

 Swanger as to our bill, and how it should be drafted. 



The Committee suggested a division of the State into six dis- 



