The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-09

Ohio, to wit: Four grades of hrst-class l cities. eight of second-class cities, two |
 classes of incorporated villages and | hamlets. with ' form of government to | greater or less extent special for each l
 class. In ten of these classes there is
 but single city in each class, and under |
 the holdings of the Supreme Court of the |
 State. notwithstanding the provisions of l
 the Constitution. the right of the 0ep-
 erai Assembly Is firmly established to |
 ieeislate specially for each city and vil- |
 iage in Ohio. the only requirement being
 that they shall adhere to the cherished legal fiction of creating special class
 for each municipal corporation and then
 legislating for the class; so that 1t VII appear in all these years since 1850. Ohio. |
 under the license of its Supreme Court has been travelling in q circle and we
 are in practical effect back to where we
 were before the present constitution to the era of special charters .The same conditions exist in 1ndiaflai the charter of the city of Indianapolis while purporting to be general law IS entitled an act concerning the incorpora- tion and government of cities having more than one hundred thousand popula- | ton according to the last precedne federal census is in effect a special aef for the government of that city alone; and by the skiilful wording of the title such acts may be multiplied indefinitey. However defective the Constitution may be on the point indicated It contains I a number of provisions on other sup9ects
 which commend 1t very :strongly.: s:ntbori. m pssi. l ties the absolute control over fts own l thoroughfares. by providing that no one shall be authorized or permitted 10 use l the streets avenues or alleys or pupuc places of city. town or village for the construction or operation of any public utility or private enterprise without first | obtaining the consent of the proper mu-
 nicipai authorities. And long step Tor ward was taken by the adoption of Sec ton 227 which provides that any person | or corporation constructing or operating
 any public utility on. along or across the
 public thoroughfares shall be liable to
 abutting property owners for the actual damages done to the abutting property | by such construction and operation This l has not heretofore been the law in this
 State. and works of a public character. character been constructed in such D way as to | were without means of redress.
 Every member of this Convention is l familiar. TO doubt with the fact that | under the provisions of the code regu- | Iating the taxation of express companies,
 and the construction placed thereon py | the Supreme Court 1t has been impossi- l ble of late years to collect any license tax | in this State from the Southern Exp:ess | Company. It appeared that it's represen. | tatives had been able to drive hard bargain with the Legislature and by pay | ing lump sum into the State Treasury. | had succeeded in evadtng the license tax 1 which the various towns and cities had | imposed upon 1t. As a result Of an in-
 formal discussion had at our last meet. ing, an ordinance was introduced to meet | this situation. and as result section ! 2N of the Constitution declares That the Legislature shall not enact any law which will permit any person nrm. cor poration or association to pay privi. iege license or other tax to the State of | Alabama, and relieve him or it from the l payment of all other privilege or license taxes in the State
 only the Express Company. yet 1t pre- vents the State from entering into similar arrangement with the raiiroad
 companies. telegraph or telephone com ,a.
 panies or any other person or corpora@I,on @
 operating in more than one place. The
 fire, life and accident insurance compa-
 nies the Pullman Company. the dining
 car companies, the Standard oii com
 pany, or any similar corporations mi5nt
 have caught on to the fashion of trading
 directly with the State. and some busi- ness Governor with desire to make a
 showing might have encouraged the trade, and the cities would thus have losE an : important source of revenue; this, now l ever. Is now effectually guarded against ] by the provisions alluded to. } "The influence of the small towns ana , the rural element in the Convention was shown by the fact that In endeavorlng to fix a limitation upon the life of public ! franchises, it was not possible to make a general law. The representatives or the small towns seemed to think that such
 a provision would make It more diHieuit for the cities to procure the construction of such utilities in the first instance, and
 the passage of the law limiting the op. eration of such franchises to a period of thirty years was secured only by amend ing the section so that It would apply only to towns and cities having more : than 6000 population. , Tt is to be hoped that this section VIII
 have some effect in checking the indis- crlminate grants of the use of our thor oughfares for unlimited terms, and will
 lead to system or eKaet1ns nr,xieens rUmpensa "The new Constitution requires that hereafter in issuing bonds. except . ing refunding and local improvement as-
 sessment bonds the proposition r, must pc fist voted upon by tEe people. This will, think. be found to be a. very wise change and will have tendency tQ stop the creation of public debt The llmlta- ton on the taxing power Of municlpalues l prevents us from ever paying any part , of the debt we have already contracted. , and of course when bonds now outstand- , ing fali due, there Is no option left but
 question of such renewal would be use- l less N The laws which govern the issue of irnnroyement assessment bonds gen. eraliy provide some machinery for ascer- I taining the wishes of the property own
 CTS before the bonds are issued, and the , cost of holding an election would be too , | great, and fo: these reasons exception 2 was made to the general rule.
 During the last few years there mas , been a great deal of discussion by the courts of last resort of the various States r upon the question of local assessments ts , for public improvements. As Is well , known the theory upon which these as , | easements have been sustained is. that
 the property improved has been benentec to the extent of the assessment: There 1 have been a great many ways or making A that assessment, in some eases what Is 5 called the foot front rule was adopted . in others the superficial area was used as a basis for making the assessment . | and in other cases the value Of the prop ! elty improved as assessed for taxation | was used as basis for determining the ? amount of the improvement assessment 3 The courts lave held that the Legisla- , ture nay authorize the municipality to a aEont a,,,- ono of these methods. out the most equitable method Is clearly that 2 2 based upon benefits. In view of The inn portauce of this matter and the steady 3 increase in the number and amount of [ such assessmcnts. 1t was thought to be a s wise precaution 70 protect trie property 3 rol1.,r hy declaring that all assessments
 should be made according to benefits th' |, language of the section being that NC city town or ether municipality shal
 make any assessment for the cost of sidewalks or street paving. or for the cost of the construction of any sewers g against property abuuing or such street l or sidewalk 50 paved or drained by such sewers in excess of the increased value l., r.f tr