18M.] l-iJ [Rothrock. 



the average farms have become reduced in size and a better system of 

 agriculture inaugurated, we might hope they would be prevented, even if 

 cleared, from relapsing into the unproductive condition in which they are 

 found now. Probably by that time limber growing as a legitimate 

 branch of agriculture would be established among us, and they would be 

 found to pay enough to warrant keeping them in timber. 



There are, however, two sides to this question. The Constitution of 

 this State reads thus : "Art. Hi, See. 7. The General Assembly shall not 

 pass any local or special law exempting property from taxation." 



It furthermore. Art. ix. See. 1, expressly declares "that all taxes shall 

 be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of 

 the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under 

 general laws : but tiie General Assembly may by general laws exempt 

 from taxation public property used for public purposes, actual places of 

 religious worship, places of burial not used or held for private or corpo- 

 rate profit, and institutions of purely public charity. 



"See. 2. All laws exempting property Irom taxation, other than the 

 property enumerated, shall be void." 



It will be seen from this that as timber lands are not in the favored 

 classes tiieir exemption from taxation was clearly forbidden. 



The Constitution, however, distinctly recognizes the constitutionality 

 of classification in persons and things to be taxed. Art. ix, See. 1, already 

 quoted, expressly declares for it in the phrase "all taxes shall be uniform 

 upon the same class of subjects." 



It may be an open question whether or not it may be possible to clai:n 

 exemption from taxes for timber lands on the ground that as they collected 

 water from the Slate at large, as they aided in retaining the fertility of 

 the soil on land other than that of the forest owner, they were in fact and 

 deed "objects of purely public charity, or lands used for public pur- 

 poses ;" until the owner derived a revenue from them by the removal and 

 sale of wood. It is, however, clearly within the power of the General 

 Assembly to place them in a class by themselves under a specified mini- 

 mum rate of taxation, because they are under different conditions of pro- 

 duction and are wholly different from any other lands, and for the good 

 of the Commonwealth require legislation different in character from any 

 other lands. "Laws enacted in pursuance of such classification and for 

 such purposes are, properly speaking, neither local nor special." It is 

 equally clear that if tax were collected from such lands classified as a 

 separate class it would be under a general law, which specified no individ- 

 ual, but dealt with a whole class of persons, all of whom were similarly 

 conditioned. 



Then again, even if tax were removed, or greatly reduced, on timber 

 lands the whole problem would not be solved, because this would deprive 

 many portions of the State, where an excess of timber over cleared land 

 remains, of the funds required for current expenses. This difficulty is a 

 serious one, and unless the deficit be made good, would be an absolutely 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXIII. 144. Q. PRINTED MARCH 30, 1894. 



