784 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



done in buildings, and through these visible instrumentalities capi- 

 tal can be reached by a rule of fractional uniformity, and by a sim- 

 ple, plain, and economical method of assessment and collection. 



This building-occupancy tax, or tax on rental value, does not 

 preclude a supplementary tax on corporations. 



Much has been said of the onerous burdens of taxation en- 

 dured by individuals compared with those of corporations, and es- 

 pecially corporations enjoying certain rights or franchises in pub- 

 lic streets and highways or corporations of a more or less public 

 character. The phenomenal growth of municipalities has been one 

 of the notable social movements of the last twenty-five years. The 

 drift of population from the country districts to cities has increased 

 with each year, and finds an explanation in many causes. The op- 

 portunities offered in a city for advancement are greater and more 

 numerous; the monotony of the farm life does not keep the young 

 at home, but drives them for excitement and profit to the great cen- 

 ters of population. The economic changes of a half century also 

 have their influence. The competition of new regions, better 

 adapted for certain cultures on a commercial scale, has reduced the 

 profitableness of older and more settled localities, where compara- 

 tively costly methods must be resorted to if the fertility of the land 

 is to be maintained. The wheat fields of the "West narrowed the 

 margin of profit in New England farming, while the sheep and cattle 

 ranges of the West made it impossible for the same quality of live 

 stock to be raised for profit in the East. Farms were abandoned, 

 and the younger blood went West to grow up with the country, or 

 into the cities to struggle for a living. Further, the advances in 

 agriculture, the application of more productive methods, and the 

 introduction of machinery have reduced the demand for labor in 

 the rural districts, and this has led to a migration to the cities. 



The result of this has been an immense development of city life, 

 and with it an ever-increasing field for investment in corporate 

 activities. The supply of water is usually in the city's control, but 

 the manufacture and sale of gas, the production and distribution of 

 electricity, the street railways, telegraph, and telephone interests 

 are private corporations formed for profit and using more or less the 

 public highways in the conduct of their various enterprises. A 

 grant of a street or highway for a railway or electric-wire subway 

 generally involves a monopoly of that use, and the privilege or fran- 

 chise may become more valuable with the mere growth in the popu- 

 lation of the cities. Assured against an immediate competition, 

 there is a steady increment in the value of the franchise, and in 

 the case of a true monopoly there seems to be no limits to its pos- 

 sible growth. 



