MISSOURI. 



523 



of those of each class. Cities of over 100,000 

 inhabitants may frame their own charters of 

 government and submit them to the people for 

 ratification, but all such charters shall provide 

 for a major and two houses of legislation, one 

 of which shall be elected on a general ticket. 

 The city of St. Louis is authorized to extend 

 its limits and frame a new charter of gov- 

 ernment under certain restrictions. Counties, 

 towns, and cities, are prohibited from subscrib- 

 ing to the capital stock of corporations, or loan- 

 ing their credit by making grants or donations 

 to them. 



Article X., of twenty-one sections, relates to 

 revenue and taxation. It is declared that the 

 power to tax corporations and corporate prop- t 

 erty shall not be surrendered or suspended, and' 

 that railroad corporations doing business in the 

 State shall be subject to taxation for State, 

 county, school, municipal, and other purposes, 

 on the real and personal property owned or 

 used by them, and on their gross earnings, 

 their net earnings, their franchises, and their 

 capital stock. The State tax on property, ex- 

 clusive of that necessary to pay the bonded 

 debt, is limited to twenty cents on a hundred 

 dollars, and, whenever the taxable property 

 amounts to $900,000,000, to fifteen cents on a 

 hundred dollars. Limits are also fixed for 

 county taxes. Counties, cities, and towns, and 

 other political divisions of the State, are pro- 

 hibited from incurring debt exceeding in any 

 year the revenue of that year, without the as- 

 sent of two-thirds of the voters at an election 

 held for the purpose ; and in no case shall in- 

 debtedness be incurred exceeding five per cent, 

 of the value of taxable property, unless for the 

 erection of a court-house or jail ; and a sinking- 

 fund shall be provided for the full payment of 

 all indebtedness incurred within twenty years. 

 A special tax is required sufficient to pay the 

 interest on the public debt and reduce the prin- 

 cipal not less than $25,000 each year. The 

 making of profit out of public funds or using 

 them for any purpose not authorized by law is 

 made a felony. The Governor, Auditor, Treas- 

 urer, Secretary of State, and Attorney- General, 

 are constituted a Board of Equalization, to ad- 

 just and equalize the valuations of property 

 among the several counties. 



Article XI. relates to education, and con- 

 tains eleven sections. The Legislature is re- 

 quired to establish and maintain free schools 

 for the instruction of all persons between the 

 ages of six and twenty years, but separate 

 schools must be established for children of Afri- 

 can descent. The last section of the article is 

 as follows : 



SEO. 11. Neither the General Assembly, nor any 

 county, city, town, township, school district, or other 

 municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropria- 

 tion, or pay from any public fund whatever any- 

 thing in aid of any religious creed, church, or sec- 

 tarian purpose ; or to help to support or sustain any 

 private or public school, academy, seminary, college, 

 university, or other institution of learning, con- 

 trolled* by any religious creed, church, or sectarian 



denomination whatever ; nor shall any grant or do- 

 nation of personal property or real estate ever be 

 made by the State or any county, city, town, or other 

 municipal corporation, for any religious creed, church, 

 or sectarian purpose whatever. 



Article XII. contains twenty-seven sections, 

 and relates to corporations. It requires all 

 corporations to be organized under general 

 laws. Railroads are declared to be public 

 highways and railroad companies common car- 

 riers, and the General Assembly is required to 

 "pass laws to correct abuses and prevent un- 

 just discrimination and extortion in the rates 

 of freight and passenger tariffs on the different 

 railroads in this State ; and shall, from time to 

 time, pass laws establishing reasonable maxi- 

 mum rates of charges for the transportation 

 of passengers and freight on said railroads, 

 and enforce all such laws by adequate penal- 

 ties." Consolidation of parallel or competing 

 lines, and discrimination in charges or facilities, 

 are prohibited. The following is a section re- 

 lating to free passes : 



SEO. 24. No railroad or other transportation com- 

 pany shall grant free passes or tickets, or passes or 

 tickets at a discount, to members of the General As- 

 sembly, or members of the Board of Equalization, 

 or any State, or county, or municipal officers ; and 

 the acceptance of any such pass or ticket, by a mem- 

 ber of the General Assembly, or any such officer, 

 shall be a forfeiture of his office. 



The establishment of a State bank is forbid- 

 den, and no act authorizing or creating associa- 

 tions with banking powers can go into effect 

 without the approval of a majority of the voters 

 obtained at the next general election after its 



Article XIII., containing seven sections, pro- 

 vides for the organization, equipment, and dis- 

 cipline of a militia force. 



Article XIV., twelve sections, consists of 

 miscellaneous provisions, among which are the 

 following: 



SEO. 3. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, 

 or assist in the same as a second, or send, accept, or 

 knowingly carry a challenge therefor, or agree to go 

 put of this State to fight a duel, shall hold any office 

 in this State. 



SEO. 4. No person holding an office of profit under 

 the United States shall, during his continuance in 

 such office, hold any office of profit under this State. 



SEC. 11. It shall be the duty of the grand-jury in 

 each county at least once a year to investigate the 

 official acts of all officers having charge of public 

 funds, and report the result of their investigations 

 in writing to the court. 



Article XV. and last, consisting of three sec- 

 tions, provides for future amendments of the, 

 constitution. The General Assembly may pro- 

 pose amendments any time, which shall be sub- 

 mitted to a vote of the people at the next elec- 

 tion, and, if ratified, shall become part of the 

 constitution ; and it may also authorize a vote 

 to be taken on the question of holding a con- 

 vention for the revision of the constitution, and 

 provide for it in case the vote shall be in the 

 affirmative. 



The State debt on the 1st of January was 

 $17,839,000, of which $300,000 was paid dur- 



