626 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



was put upon the ground that the subject was one 

 involving the public interest and general welfare. 

 Waite Cti. J., in delivering the opinion of the Court, 

 said: "When one devotes his property to a use in 

 which the public have an interest, he, in effect, grants 

 to the public an interest in that use, and must submit 

 to be controlled by the public for the common good, 

 to the extent of the interest he has thus created." 



These cases may perhaps be deemed to have car- 

 ried the right of legislative interference with pri- 

 vate rights and property to its utmost limit, but 

 they illustrate the scope of the police power in legis- 

 lation ; and the reports abound in decisions which 

 show that the State has authority to regulate the use 

 and enjoyment of property and the control of pri- 

 vate business in many ways, " without coming in 

 conflict with any of those constitutional principles 

 which are established for the protection of private 

 rights or private property." 



The right of the Legislature to control the use and 

 traffic in intoxicating liquors being established, its 

 authority to impose liabilities upon those who exer- 

 cise the traffic, or who sell or give away intoxicat- 

 ing drinks, for consequential injuries to third per- 

 sons, follows as a necessary incident. And the act 

 of 1873 is not invalid because it creates a right of 

 action and imposes a liability not known to the 

 common law. There is no such limit to legislative 

 power. The Legislature may alter or repeal the 

 common law. It may create new offenses, enlarge 

 the scope of civil remedies, and fasten responsibility 

 for injuries upon persons against whom the com- 

 mon law gives no remedy. We do not mean that 

 the Legislature may impose upon one man liability 

 for an injury suffered by another with which he had 

 no connection. But it may change the rule of the 

 common law, which looks only to the proximate 

 cause of the mischief, in attaching legal responsibil- 

 ity, and allow a recovery to be had against those 

 whose acts contributed, although remotely, to pro- 

 duce it. This is what the Legislature has done in 

 the act of 1873. 



Our conclusion is, that the act of 1873 is a constitu- 

 tional enactment. It is doubtless an extreme exer- 

 cise of legislative power, but we can not say that 

 it violates any express or implied prohibition of the 

 Constitution. 



NORTH CAROLINA. The debt of the State 

 is $16,960,045 principal and $10,160,182 inter- 

 est. This is known as the recognized debt, 

 and distinct from the special -tax bonds. (See 

 "Annual Cyclopaedia," 1877.) The question 

 before the people and the Legislature is, What 

 shall be done with this debt ? The Governor 

 says: 



It is out of the question for us to attempt to pay it 

 at its face value. Indeed, I do not conceive that there 

 is any moral obligation on us to do so, nor do our 

 creditors expect it of us. Quite one half of our prop- 

 erty upon which our bonds were based was wantonly 

 destroyed by consent of a large majority of those 

 who held them, and no court of conscience upon the 

 earth would permit a creditor to destroy one half 

 of his security, and claim full payment out of the 

 remainder. But we can and should pay something. 



At the last session of the Legislature, the 

 Governor, Treasurer, and Attorney -General 

 were constituted a committee to confer with 

 the bondholders, but no power was given to 

 them to make or accept any proposition. No- 

 thing has therefore been done, although it is 

 believed that very reasonable terms can he 

 obtained if a determination to settle the debt 

 is manifested. The special-tax bonds are re- 



garded as not binding either in law or good 

 morals, unless there may be a small fraction 

 honestly appropriated to the use of the State 

 and accepted by her. 



The current finances of the State are also in 

 an embarrassed condition. The funds in hand 

 have not been sufficient for all the objects pro-' 

 vided by law. The reason is simply that the 

 last Legislature increased the appropriations 

 without increasing the taxes. The deficiency 

 has been made to fall entirely on the special ap- 

 propriations. It was supposed that the tax bill 

 would yield sufficient revenue ; but there is the 

 same unequal and defective assessment of taxes 

 in North Carolina which exists in every other 

 State of the Union. In this State, however, 

 it is thought to be impossible to devise a sys- 

 tem which would operate more unequally, un- 

 justly, or prejudicially to the Treasury. The 

 rule for every county, town, and township is 

 different, and the values of property situated in 

 the same locality and of the same character 

 are as variant and unequal as the varied, arbi- 

 trary, and often indifferent opinions of the as- 

 sessors may chance to be. Very little property is 

 assessed to anywhere within the neighborhood 

 of its value, but that does not matter ; the es- 

 sential idea is to have the assessment bear the 

 same uniform proportion to the true value of 

 the property taxed. Unless this is secured, one 

 man pays a vastly higher tax than his neigh- 

 bor, and one township or county than the ad- 

 joining township or county; and it is in the 

 power and often happens in practice of the 

 county assessors and commissioners to defeat 

 the will of the Legislature by lowering the as- 

 sessments. It becomes also a heavy tax on 

 honesty, and compels the conscientious man to 

 pay sometimes double or treble the tax paid by 

 his less scrupulous neighbor. 



The penitentiary system of the State is the 

 most costly of its institutions. The idea of 

 such institutions is to punish offenders with 

 hard labor, so as either to reform them or de- 

 ter them and others from the commission of 

 crime. The economic problem is to make this 

 labor support the institution. The system of 

 employing the convicts in the construction of 

 railroads has been adopted, and it results in 

 yielding an income much above the expenses 

 of the keeping of the prisoners. Indeed, they 

 have earned more than four times the minimum 

 fixed by the Legislature at which the railroad 

 companies should be charged. By the esti- 

 mates of the President of the "Western North 

 Carolina Railroad, as engineer, the earnings of 

 427 hands furnished to him have been nearly 

 $100,000 per annum, or $200,000 for the years 

 1877 and 1878. This is about $236 per annum 

 per hand gross. The cost of supporting, guard- 

 ing, and overseeing them for the same time has 

 been $98,000. Their health has been excellent. 

 As nearly as can he ascertained, their net earn- 

 ings, deducting everything, and including the 

 sick, the women, and all others not at work on 

 the road from any cause, is $121.50 per hand. 



