Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/323

Rh the event of their unlawful destruction, the municipality would be liable to respond in damages for their full value—all this for the accommodation of a small fraction of the people. It seems to me that the value of these structures, at least so much of it as exceeds a certain reasonable limit, should be taxable. No principle is more firmly imbedded in our political system than that the support of religious worship and institutions shall be entirely voluntary. The exemption of this class of property from taxation violates the principle, in that it is a forced contribution on the entire community to the extent of the exemption; and it is the less defensible, in that the exemption is in favor of that portion of the community that could with the least difficulty meet its obligations.

If the matter were presented in the form of a proposition for a direct tax for the maintenance of the churches, it could not find support in any quarter. No community in our land would consent that either the State or the municipality should levy any direct tax to be appropriated for the support of religious services or institutions. Why it is the less objectionable, because it takes the form of special exemption from a common liability, I am utterly unable to understand.

Another instance of the abuse of municipal authority (and the last to which I shall refer at this time) may be found in the legislation affecting railway corporations. The constantly increasing volume of railway traffic demands almost daily increasing facilities for its accommodation. New railways are constantly seeking entrance into or a right of way through all our large cities. The granting of new franchises as well as the regulation of the train-service on all lines; the protection of those streets which are either crossed or traversed by railway-tracks; the construction of viaducts and bridges, are matters in which the municipality and the railway corporations are mutually interested, and which ought all to be considered and decided simply in accordance with their relation to the public interests. As a matter of fact, the public interests have very little to do with such decisions. The railway companies have learned that any legislation which they may want, however necessary and proper it may be, and however much it may promote the general welfare, must be well paid for; that any privileges, however legitimate, which affect either their own interests or the interests of their patrons, can only be had by the payment of a price to the city government.

Within a few years a certain railway corporation applied for a right of way into Chicago, on a route by which a great deal of the most valuable property of the city was seriously damaged. At first no one seemed to think that the project could be bona fide. When it became apparent that the corporation was in earnest, it was still felt that it would be utterly impracticable for the company to secure from the City Council such an ordinance as would enable it to carry out its plans. But the matter was in the hands of able attorneys and shrewd