Igular session Monday, May 12. The Republic- 

 *,is had a majority of 9 in the Senate and 14 in 

 the House. Several important laws aii'ecting tax- 

 ation and corporations were passed. Among them 

 are these : 



Requiring domestic and foreign corporations 

 other than quasi-public corporations to file an- 

 nual reports and pay annual fees of one-tenth of 

 1 per cent, on invested capital stock. 



An amendment to the law relating to electric- 

 light, gas, natural gas, express, telephone, tele- 

 graph messenger, railroad, pipe-line, waterworks, 

 street, suburban, and interurban railroads and 

 other corporations increases their annual tax 

 from i to 1 per cent, of the gross receipts for the 

 business done in Ohio in the year next preceding 

 the 1st day of May. 



An addition to the Dow tax law providing for 

 a stricter enforcement of the tax on the sale of 

 liquors. 



Providing that an action upon the liability of 

 stockholders of corporations can only be brought 

 within eighteen months after the date the obliga- 

 tion shall become enforceable against said stock- 

 holders. 



Giving the Governor and the Secretary of State 

 the power to remit penalties against foreign cor- 

 porations for failure to comply with the corpora- 

 tion laws where good cause is shown for such fail- 

 ure or neglect; also providing that where two- 

 thirds of the property or business of the foreign 

 corporation is invested in Ohio, and the corpora- 

 tion pays one-tenth of 1 per cent, upon its au- 

 thorized capital stock, the shares of stock of such 

 corporation held in Ohio need not be returned for 

 taxation. 



Providing that a corporation may purchase or 

 otherwise acquire and hold shares of stock in kin- 

 dred, but not competing corporations, whether 

 domestic or foreign. 



Requiring owners of bank stock outside of Ohio 

 to list their stock for taxation in Ohio. 



Among the enactments of other character the 

 most important are the following: 



Providing that the action of a political , party 

 convention on a proposed amendment to the State 

 Constitution may be expressed by affirmative or 

 negative expression printed with the party ticket 

 on the official ballot. 



Establishing State normal schools at Ohio and 

 Miami Universities. 



Defining schools and colleges. 



Authorizing an Ohio commission and building 

 at the St. Louis fair and appropriating $75,000. 



Redistricting the State for congressional elec- 

 tions. 



Making burglary of an uninhabited house a 

 crime punishable by imprisonment for life. 



Perfecting the child-labor law and fixing the 

 age at fourteen years. 



Providing stringent punishment for assault on 

 a President, Vice-President, Cabinet officer, gov- 

 ernor, op lieutenant-governor. 



Requiring the registration of union labels. 



Making safe-blowing a crime punishable with 

 five to fifteen years' imprisonment. 



Making it an offense to desecrate the United 

 states flag. 



Providing an official State flag for Ohio. 



Providing that grade-crossings in cities may be 

 ibolished, the cost to be divided equally between 

 city and the railroad company. 



Several " ripper " bills affecting municipalities 

 were passed, but the subsequent action of the Su- 

 preme Court nullifying special enactments and the 

 adoption of a general municipal code disposed of 

 some of them. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (OHIO.) 



783 



The Legislature provided for the submission of 

 amendments to the Constitution to the vote of 

 the people at the November election, 1903: Giving 

 the General Assembly greater powers in the matter 

 of classifying subjects for taxation under the gen- 

 eral laws of the State ; the stockholders', liability 

 amendment, which in effect abolishes the double 

 liability laws of the Constitution; and providing 

 for single legislative districts. 



A special session was called by Gov. Nash, and 

 was held from Aug. 25 to Oct. 22. The cause was 

 the necessity for the enactment of a municipal 

 code and the correction of an error in an act 

 passed at the regular session, the effect of which 

 was to prevent cases being appealed to the Su- 

 preme Court. Both objects were effected after 

 nearly two months of discussion, and, in addition, 

 a resolution was adopted submitting to the people 

 in 1903 a constitutional amendment permitting 

 the classification of cities into 3 divisions of over 

 100,000; between 25,000 and 100,000; and below 

 25,000. 



Corrupt Practises in Elections. A previous 

 Legislature enacted a law to prevent corrupt prac- 

 tises in elections. After each election candidates 

 were required, under penalty, to make sworn re- 

 turns of their election expenses. The law was 

 evaded by many candidates, and at last was 

 openly violated by one candidate, who declared 

 it to be unconstitutional. The case was taken to 

 the Supreme Court, which, Jan. 28, sustained the 

 constitutionality of the law. A few weeks later 

 the Legislature repealed the enactment. 



Court Decision. A complete revolution in 

 legislation for municipalities was effected by the 

 decisions of the Supreme Court in cases coming 

 before it from Cleveland and Toledo. These deci- 

 sions destroyed a system that had grown up year 

 by year for half a century, and reversed the posi- 

 tion which the court had held from the beginning 

 until recently. The Constitution provides that 

 " the General Assembly shall pass no special act 

 conferring corporate powers," and in another sec- 

 tion that " all laws of a general nature shall have 

 a uniform operation throughout the State." Im- 

 mediately after the adoption of the Constitution 

 the Legislature classified the municipalities into 

 cities of the first and cities of the second class 

 those having a population of more than 20,000 be- 

 ing of the first class, and the remainder with a 

 population of over 5,000 being in the second class 

 incorporated villages, and incorporated villages 

 for special purposes. Successive Legislatures sub- 

 divided these classes, and finally substituted a pol- 

 icy of isolation instead of classification, while the 

 courts sanctioned many of the acts, but this " was 

 done with reluctance and on the grounds of pub- 

 lic policy." Recently the Supreme Court, in some 

 minor cases, showed a disposition to check the 

 progress of special legislation, and in the cases 

 brought to oust the Police Board of Toledo and 

 the entire municipal government of Cleveland, ex- 

 cept the mayor, on the ground that the acts crea- 

 ting them were applicable to the respective cities 

 only, a position was taken that left every munici- 

 pality in the State without a legal government. 

 In the decision made in the latter part of June the 

 court declared the present classification of the 

 municipalities of the State to be repugnant to 

 the Constitution and that the entire municipal 

 code of Ohio must be revised and brought into 

 harmony with the fundamental law of the State. 

 This was followed, four months later, with a de- 

 cision in a school case which practically destroyed 

 all the special school laws of the State and made 

 necessary the enactment of a general school code 

 as well as a general municipal code. In both in- 



