SCIENTIFIC ASSISTANCE IN LAW-MAKING 9 
State Finance. Statistical tables giving an analysis of the financial condition of each 
state in 1890 and in 1895. March, 1897. 
Trend of Legislation. A review and discussion of recent state legislation. May, 1900. 
Taxation of Corporations in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey 
A review and compilation of the corporation tax laws. May, r1got. 
Perhaps the most important of these is the Annual Comparative 
Summary and Index of State Legislation. Brief summaries of the laws 
enacted in each of the states during the preceding year are made and classi- 
fied. For instance, all the summaries of laws concerning highways 
are grouped together, as are all the laws concerning various other subjects. 
Arranged in this way they are published in the bulletin, which thus is a 
classified: index to all the state legislation enacted in the United States 
during the preceding year. This bulletin is ready for distribution the 
day the legislature meets, and a copy is placed in the hands of each mem- 
ber. He is in this way advised of what the other states have done along 
the lines of any new legislation which he may be contemplating. As 
one of these bulletins has been published each year for sixteen years, it is 
now very easy for the legislator to know what the states have done in a 
legislative way during all this period. A consolidated index of the state 
legislation has been kept in the State Library at Albany and by this 
means the Sociology Librarian is enabled to furnish the legislator with 
any information he may desire concerning any legislation in any state 
during this period. 
The Sociology Division of the New York State Library publishes also 
a review of legislation. This is an annual publication and consists of 
reviews of the legislation of the various states on certain subjects. 
Experts in various parts of the country contribute discussions of the new 
legislation. For instance, the banking legislation was reviewed last 
year by the New York superintendent of banks, Mr. Frederick Kilburn. 
The preceding year’s legislation on the following subjects is reviewed 
in this bulletin: 
State Government Inheritance Tax 
City Government Taxation of Business Corporations 
Assessments and Improvements Taxation of Public Service Corporations 
Roads School Organization and Supervision 
Law-making and Elections Common Schools 
Taxation of Mortgages High Schools 
