Incorporation Fees. 
175 
fairest method of gauging the incorporation fee, is to make 
it proportional to the amount of capital stock. 1 Five states 
have adopted this method in full, and charge from ten cents to 
one dollar per thousand dollars of authorized capital stock. Six 
other states have a slight modification of this system, in that 
they charge a certain minimum fee for any amount of capital 
stock up to a certain limit, and then collect from fifty cents to 
a dollar per thousand of capital stock over this amount. A very 
large corporation would, under this latter system, yield some 
revenue into the state treasury. These fees were originally 
designed only to cover the expenses incurred by the state in 
granting incorporation rights and regulating them when 
granted. 
The dangers which may come to the public from corporations 
which at times may be organized for purposes that are not the 
very best, has become quite apparent during recent years. The 
harm which may be done by private individuals is great, but 
that is insignificant when compared with the injuries which 
may accrue to the public from incorporated companies. In the 
latter the responsibility is divided, because one of the first 
privileges which a corporation has, as against the individual, is 
limited liability for debt. It was need of concentration of 
capital which first gave rise to this provision in the incorpo¬ 
ration laws, and the enormous industrial enterprises which 
have been made possible by it, have simply demonstrated its 
wisdom. Limited liability for debt is, however, not the only 
privilege which is granted by the state through its incorpora¬ 
tion laws. There are a great many other privileges obtained 
now by one company, now by another, which are of just as 
much, and oftentimes more, value than the above-mentioned. 
The public purpose and interest in all these enactments has 
hitherto been so great, that no state has attempted to charge 
fees which are at all equivalent to the value conferred. 
1 Illinois charges $30 for the first $2,500 of capital stock, $50 for $5,000, 
and $1 per $1,000 for amounts over $5,000. —- P. L., 1895, p. 132. 
North Dakota charges $50 for the first $50,000 of capital stock and $5 
for each additional $10,000. — Laws , 1891, Ch. 105, Sec. 1. 
