England prohibiting corporations from holding lands in mortmain without 

 license are founded upon the same policy as the rule against perpetuities;, 

 to prevent lands from being withdrawn from commerce and rendered 

 unalienable. 



It is undoubtedly true that large tracts of land in England were tied 

 up, taken out of the market, and rendered practically unalienable, not only 

 by gifts to religious societies, but also by their law of primogeniture and 

 entail, from both of which England has suffered. But the conveyance to a 

 corporation having power to sell, as all corporations in this country do, 

 such conveyance being made subject to no trust requiring the corporation 

 to hold the land for any definite period, does not tie up land or withdraw 

 it from the scope of your activities. Nay, more, in some respects a con- 

 veyance to a corporation is more likely to bring land into public use than 

 a conveyance to an individual. An individual may keep land in an 

 unproductive state merely to promote his pleasure. A corporation will 

 hold land for the purpose of deriving income from it, and that income 

 can only be secured by devoting it to some use advantageous to the 

 public. 



In the report made by the committee to which Governor Butler's veto 

 was referred, Hon. George A. Bruce being the chairman of that committee, 

 I find the following: "Men, and corporations more universally than men, 

 use their possessions so as to make them profitable. There is no fear that 

 land will be withdrawn from the use of the public." 



A corporation does not want to have its land tied up. It wants to 

 have the privilege of selling as well as of buying land. 



It is a common law principle that, except for public charities, land 

 cannot be tied up so as to be unalienable for a longer period than a life 

 or lives in being and twenty-one years after. This is known as the rule 

 against perpetuities. It applies to corporations as well as individuals. 



Can land which is held by one of our corporations be properly said 

 to be held in mortmain, or by the dead hand ? Such land is not un- 

 alienable, neither is it exempted from any public burden to which the land 

 of individuals is subject. The Legislature determines the length of life of 

 corporations. The life of those organized under general laws is not 

 limited. So long as the Legislature permits a corporation to live, its 

 ownership of land is very far from being without life. It is peculiarly 

 full of life and activity. Not only can the corporation make convey- 

 ance of its land or any part thereof whenever its stockholders desire, 

 but each one of those stockholders by selling stock can at any time 

 transfer his interest or any part of his interest in the property of the cor- 

 poration, real as well as personal. Mortmain is a gruesome word and, if 

 used to describe the corporate ownership of land as such ownership exists 

 in this State, it is misleading. 



In the veto to which reference has been made, Governor Butler wrote 

 that "all monopolies are bad enough, but of all monopolies, that of land on 

 which men are obliged to exist is the worst." This is a terse and forceful 

 statement, but it is hard to conceive of a monopoly of land resulting from 



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a general permission to any combination of citizens to form corporations, 

 with a capital stock limited as the Legislature may determine, to be 

 managed under proper regulations devised by the Legislature, and to be 

 under the supervision of the State. 



It was stated by Governor Butler that "every possible restriction 

 upon the sale and division of lands should be removed so that all can be 

 thrown on the market for sale in order that mechanics and laboring men 

 employed in the city can find cheap lands on which to build homesteads." 



In this connection it should be remembered that to prepare a large tract 

 for the market by filling up marshes, by levelling hills, by laying out 

 streets, etc., so that the land can be available for such homesteads, is one 

 of the principal purposes for which the incorporation of land companies 

 has been desired. If the organization of such corporations was authorized 

 by general laws, such would still be one of the main purposes which these 

 corporations would have in view. The)' would also be organized for the 

 purpose of combining into one body several estates which, owing to 

 smallness, or shape, conflicting easements, or other reasons with which 

 you are only too familiar, cannot be profitably improved separately, but 

 which by combination immediately acquire a greater value, can be 

 adapted to furnishing better service to the public, will bring in a larger 

 return, and will be of greater taxable value. The estates in Boston which 

 could be combined in this way under corporate management, to the advan- 

 tage both of the owners and of the public are numbered by the thousands. 

 Look along Washington Street and you will see building after building, 

 25 feet or so in width, which cannot profitably be improved because stair- 

 cases and elevators would take too large a percentage of the space and 

 profits. The owner of one of such adjoining properties does not wish to 

 sell to either of his neighbors and thereby part with a safe investment with 

 which, perhaps, he has cherished associations, and yet he would be willing 

 to combine his property with that of his neighbors under a corporate 

 management, each one taking his fair share of the stock of the company 

 to represent his proportionate value of the combined estates. Again, even 

 if one owner were willing to sell, his neighbor might not be rich enough 

 to buy, and if he were rich enough to buy, he might not be rich enough 

 to erect a suitable building covering both properties. 



It is only very rich men who are able to erect large buildings in the 

 heart of the city. They have, indeed, a monopoly of this business. The 

 men of ordinary means cannot compete with them, for the reason that the 

 law does not enable men of ordinary means to combine under corporate 

 organization, and thus by contributing many small amounts to create a 

 large fund. 



It is extremely desirable for the promotion of good government that 

 the poor as well as the rich should have an interest in real estate. The 

 policy of the law has been to bar them from such interest. If, however, 

 land companies could be organized under general laws, the man having a 

 hundred dollars to invest might purchase a share of stock in one of these 

 companies. He could purchase a share whenever he had laid up a 



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