provoked considerable discussion. Friends of the unfinished Genesee Valley and Black River canals thought these canals ought not to be abandoned, but should be completed. The motion to strike out the section was defeated, as were also motions to include the Genesee Valley and Black River canals. There was considerable discussion over the 5th section, relating to enforcement of claims against corporations, which will be found in the article on state aid to corporations. The 6th section, relating to deficiencies in sinking funds, received little attention in the preliminary consideration of the article.

The 7th section, providing that "the legislature shall not sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any of the canals of the state, so far as the same are now finished and navigable, but they shall remain the property of the state and under its management forever," was opposed by the friends of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals. Mr. Patterson of Chautauque, moved to strike out the words "so far as the same are now finished and navigable." This amendment was vigorously opposed by Mr. Hoffman, who said that if the state should decide not to finish the Genesee Valley and Black River canals the legislature ought to be at liberty to sell them, and

so

possibly permit their completion by private enterprise. The Convention did not sustain the canal. committee in this branch of its report. The Genesee Valley canal had had already cost $3,794,000 and the Black River canal, $1,544,000. According to the estimates it would require only a comparatively small amount to complete both canals. The Convention thought that the state ought to avail itself of the expenditures already made, and by a vote of 44 to 34 sustained Mr. Patterson's motion to strike out the exception, which would have permitted the sale of these canals. After going through the report in a general discus

sion, apparently taking observations of the whole field, but without reaching any definite conclusion, the Convention addressed itself seriously to the task of devising a plan for paying the state debt, preserving and expanding the canal system, and disposing of surplus canal revenues. The canal committee proposed to set apart $1,500,000, from canal revenues annually, as a sinking fund for the payment of the canal debt. Several sums were named by delegates as a proper amount to be set apart for this fund, but after considerable debate the Convention adopted a plan proposed by Mr. Loomis, appropriating $1,300,000 for the sinking fund until 1855, and after that $1,700,000 until the debt should be paid. The 2d and 3d sections of the committee's plan, appropriating $672,500, to be used in liquidating state debts, and authorizing the expenditure of $2,500,000 for the improvement of the Erie canal, were stricken out, and a section proposed by Mr. Loomis was adopted, setting apart $300,000, afterwards increased to $350,000, for the purposes specified in § 1, and also creating a further sinking fund of $1,500,000, annually, for the payment of other state debts and obligations.

The Convention also adopted, by a vote of 62 to 55, a section proposed by Mr. White, of New York, setting apart $200,000 from surplus canal revenues for state expenses, and appropriating the remainder of the canal revenues for the enlargement of the Erie canal and the completion of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals. This section was afterwards amended by adding a clause providing that, after the state debt had been paid, and the enlargement of the Erie canal and the construction of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals had been completed, $672,500 should be appropriated annually from the canal revenues for the expenses of the state government. The committee's section providing for

equitable taxes to meet deficiencies in canal revenues was adopted without change.

The canal article adopted by the Convention appears in full in another part of this work. The article, as a whole, preserved the credit of the state, pledged its revenues for the redemption of all state obligations, provided for the enlargement of the Erie canal and the completion of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, authorized direct taxation to meet deficiencies, and prohibited the sale or other disposition of the canals.

LIMITING STATE DEBTS.

In the preliminary article on this subject I have already set forth at some length the evolution of the theory that the legislature ought not to possess unlimited power over appropriations and taxation. The policy of internal improvements, beginning with the construction of the Erie canal, and the expansion of that policy in the construction of other canals, and in state aid to numerous corporate enterprises, taken in connection with the discontinuance of a direct tax, in 1827, which was not resumed till 1842, made possible the accumulation of a large state debt; and the prodigal expenditures for further improvements, authorized by the legislature in the unrealized hope that the receipts from canal tolls and other indirect sources would furnish sufficient means for the payment of all obligations, had, some time before the Convention, brought financial affairs to a condition which demanded radical treatment in order to save the good name and credit of the state.

The act of 1842, resuming direct taxation, providing for payment of the state debt, and suspending work on public improvements, has already been noted. Discussion of the subject in the legislature, in executive messages and otherwise, had developed a desire for consti

tutional reform by restricting legislative action concerning debts and taxation. The legislature of 1844 had responded to this demand for reform by adopting for submission to the next legislature, and ultimately to the people, a proposed constitutional amendment based on the Loomis "people's resolution" of 1841, limiting state debts created by the legislature to $1,000,000, except to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, without a vote of the people. The delegates to the Convention were therefore familiar with the history of this subject, with the discussion incident to it, and with the pending propositions for reform. Several of them had occupied important official positions many years, and had participated in the formulation and application of the state's financial policies during the preceding quarter of a century. They thoroughly understood the situation and the great problems presented for their solution. They addressed themselves to their task with courage and intelligent patriotism, and the results of their labors must forever stand as a shining example of the wisdom, integrity, and high moral purpose of a free people, confronted with conditions that threatened the very life of free institutions; and the provisions on this subject incorporated in the Constitution show that the people did not hesitate to resume power once surrendered to the legislature, thus limiting representative authority, and restoring to the people themselves power which they had learned could not be safely intrusted to their representatives.

On the 30th of July the finance committee submitted a report embodying, in substance, the amendment relative to limiting state debts, proposed by the legislature of 1844, but distributing the subject in three sections. According to the proposed plan the legislature might contract debts aggregating $1,000,000 for either or all of the following purposes: namely, to "meet casual deficits

or failures in revenues, or for expenses not provided for;" and the legislature might also, without limit, contract debts "to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the state in war." These propositions were adopted without debate. A debt beyond the limit stated, or for other purposes, could not be contracted without the previous assent of the people, expressed at a general election, approving a law "for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein," and providing for paying the debt within eighteen years. The section requiring the submission of such a law elicited considerable discussion. Mr. Hoffman, chairman of the committee, said the section had been regarded as a "serious change in our form of government." "He spoke of the disposition of all free governments to contract debt, as their besetting sin, against which it was indispensable to guard, if we would avoid taxation, direct or indirect. Unless some check was placed upon this dangerous power to contract debt, representative government could not long endure. Without some check, you would have debt, and this debt would be fastened upon the surpluses of your canals; and those who, with him, favored a free transportation and travel, would guard against debt, which, more than anything else, would form iron bars. to trade. He proceeded to point out the operation of the section. The submission principle was so guarded that the representative must indorse the act submitted as right and proper. The obligation to submit laws to the people at a general, rather than a special, election, would also secure the masses against a surreptitious decision. Again, the law was to be three months before the people prior to an election; and this, too, would prevent the people being taken by surprise. Again, if the law was modified or repealed, the tax must remain to sponge out the debt." He believed "the committee were