500 



MICHIGAN. 



the State, one to be constructed at once from 

 Vera Cruz to Minatitlan. The government of 

 Sonora projected a line from Guayamas, via 

 Hermosillo and Ures, to the frontier of Arizona 

 Territory. The wires from the city of Mexico 

 and from Matamoras were to be connected 

 with the Texas lines at Piedras Negras. 



MICHIGAN. At the general election, held 

 November 8th, the vote for Governor was as 

 follows : 



For Henry P. Baldwin, Republican 100,176 



Charles C. Comstock, Democrat 83,391 



Henry Pish, Temperance 2,710 



Imperfect and scattering votes 230 



Total 186,507 



Republican plurality 16,785 



The other State officers chosen were as fol 

 lows: Morgan Bates, Lieutenant-Governor ; 

 Daniel Striker, Secretary of State ; Victory P. 

 Collier, State Treasurer ; William Humphrey, 

 Auditor-General; Dwight May, Attorney-Gen- 

 eral ; Oramel Hosford, Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction; Charles A. Edmonds, Com- 

 missioner of the State Land-Office ; Witter J. 

 Baxter, member of the State Board of Educa- 

 tion, all Republicans. 



The Legislature chosen was divided between 

 the two parties as follows: Senate Republi- 

 cans, 27 ; Democrats, 5 ; total, 32. House of 

 Representatives Republicans, 70 ; Democrats, 

 30 ; total, 100. Republican majority on joint 

 ballot, 62. 



At this election several proposed amend- 

 ments to the State constitution were voted 

 upon. Three of these were proposed by the 

 Legislature of 1869. The main purpose of the 

 first was to abolish distinctions in civil and 

 political fights and duties based upon color, 

 but it also empowered the Legislature to pro- 

 vide for taking the votes of soldiers away from 

 their places of residence in time of war, which 

 could not be done, so far as the State elections 

 were concerned, under the constitution as it 

 stood. This was adopted yeas 54,105, nays 

 50,598. 



The second proposed to enlarge the powers 

 of boards of supervisors of counties to raise 

 moneys for public buildings, highways, and 

 bridges, which was voted down yeas 39,180, 

 nays 61,904. 



The third proposed to increase tha salaries 

 of State officers and circuit judges as follows : 

 Governor, from $1,000 to $2,500; judges of 

 circuit courts, from $1,500 to $2,000; State 

 Treasurer, Auditor-General, and Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction, from $1,000 to 

 $2,000 ; Secretary of State, Attorney-General, 

 and Commissioner of State Land- Office, from 

 $800 to $2,000. This was voted down yeas 

 36,109, nays 68,912. 



The other amendments referred to railroads. 

 To understand one of them, it is necessary to 

 premise that previous to 1870 acts had been 

 passed by the Legislature, authorizing -towns 

 and cities, and in some cases counties, to loan 

 their credit to railroad corporations, and to 



levy taxes to aid them either by way of dona- 

 tion or of subscriptions to stock, first submit- 

 ting the question of the proposed aid to a vote 

 of the people. "Under these acts aid had been 

 voted to railroad corporations in various forms 

 to the amount of upward of $6,000,000, and 

 township and city bonds to a considerable 

 amount had been issued and delivered to 

 various corporations. The larger portion of 

 the aid voted, however, was represented by 

 bonds on deposit in the office of the State 

 Treasurer, awaiting the performance of pre- 

 cedent conditions specified in the votes. One 

 of the townships which had voted aid refusing 

 to deliver the bonds voted, the Supreme Court 

 was applied to for a mandamus, and in May, 

 1870, that court decided that all these votes 

 were unconstitutional and void. The decision 

 was based upon the fundamental principle 

 that all taxation, to be valid, must be for a 

 public purpose, and the court declared that to 

 tax the community for the benefit of a private 

 corporation which proposed to construct a 

 railroad was no more within this principle 

 than to levy a tax for the benefit of parties 

 who proposed to erect a manufactory or a 

 store, or to engage in any other private enter- 

 prise. The public might be incidentally bene- 

 fited in either case ; but these incidental bene- 

 fits to spring from a private undertaking could 

 not be recognized as giving it the character of 

 a public object to which unwilling parties 

 could be compelled to contribute ; if it could, 

 there would be no limit except the discretion 

 of the Legislature as to the objects which 

 taxation should embrace. After the decision 

 was made, the Governor deemed it proper to 

 convene the Legislature in special session to 

 consider the subject, and, if thought best, to 

 propose some constitutional amendment to 

 meet the difficulty. That body convened in 

 August, and various proposed amendments 

 were submitted, but it was found impracticable 

 to secure the requisite majority for any amend- 

 ment sanctioning future municipal aid to rail- 

 roads. The following were, however, agreed 

 upon: 



1. The Legislature may, from time to time, 

 pass laws establishing reasonable maximum 

 rates of charges for the transportation of pas- 

 sengers and freight on different railroads in this 

 State, and shall prohibit running contracts be- 

 tween such railroad companies, whereby dis- 

 crimination is made in favor of either of such 

 companies as against other companies owning 

 connecting or intersecting lines of railroads. 

 This was adopted by the people yeas 78,602, 

 nays 51,397. 



2. No railroad corporation shall consolidate 

 its stock, property, or franchises, with any 

 other corporation owning a parallel or com- 

 peting line; and in no case shall any con- 

 solidation take place except upon public notice 

 given of not less than sixty days to all stockhold- 

 ers, in such manner as shall be provided by law. 

 Adopted yeas 76,902, nays 51,194. 



