years. These propositions, except the first, became a part of the Constitution, and were embodied in §§ 10 and 12 of article 7 of the Constitution of 1846.

Governor Wright, in 1845, referred to the financial amendments proposed by the legislature of 1844, and, after discussing the terms of the amendments, said: "The recent free use of the public credit in over-hastening loans for state works, and in lending to irresponsible corporations, the embarrassed condition of our finances, and the consequent call for direct taxation to restore public confidence, have doubtless given rise to these proposed amendments, as they did give rise to the law of 1842, which the first amendment proposes to surround by a constitutional sanction. The manner in which that legislation was received by the people, although imposing a direct tax upon all their taxable property as its first provision, the salutary influences it so promptly exerted upon public and private credit, and the triumphant manner in which its provisions and policy have been sustained by the people whenever the wisdom and soundness of either have been brought in issue at any subsequent election, present a more forcible argument in favor of the first of these amendments than any it would be in my power to offer." Governor Wright, in this message, makes the following statement of the reasons for the proposed amendment limiting the power of the legislature to contract a debt exceeding $1,000,000 without the consent of the people: "The second is manifestly intended, as it appears to me to be wisely framed, to secure the people against a like hazard and loss for the future, and their credit from further over-use and consequent depression. The provision requiring each law to provide for a loan for a single object only is necessary to enable the freeman at the polls to form a distinct and satisfactory opinion upon the propriety of the contemplated expend

iture, and to express that opinion in an intelligible and unequivocal manner. It strikes also effectually at one of the most universal causes of complaint and dissatisfaction growing out of the recent appropriations for our works of internal improvements. I refer to the charge, whether well or ill founded, that combinations of local interests are formed on the part of friends of different works having no natural or necessary connection with each other, and that, in this way, loans are authorized, and appropriations secured, which the intrinsic merits and strength of no single work in the combination could command." After stating the admitted principle that, in a government by party, the political majority in the legislature is responsible for the laws enacted, and after discussing the efforts of parties to gain political advantage, and the temptation often afforded the minority to induce the majority to enact objectionable laws,—a temptation which, the Governor said, is not always sufficiently resisted,―he remarked that if the amendment be adopted "no contest can take place offering party advantage, as to the objects of expenditure to be embraced in any proposed law, or as to the amount which it shall appropriate; and every member will be required to meet and justify his own vote before his own constituents, whether he belongs to the majority or minority of that body; because those constituents will be called upon directly to vote upon the same question. The requirement that a tax shall be imposed by every such law, sufficient to meet the interest upon the loan to be made, is but preserving the same safe precaution which marked our early legislation of this character. Then the state possessed rich revenues which it could spare, and they, together with certain specified taxes, were pledged. Now, as has been seen, all its revenues applicable to these objects are encumbered to their full extent by existing debts, and the only pledge

it can make to fortify and sustain its credit is the one here proposed. This the citizen should understand at the time he votes upon such a law; and to make it certain that he will understand it, he should be called to vote for the tax as well as the loan. It may appear to some as going too far, to require that the tax should be sufficient to redeem the principal of the debts within a specified time, as well as to pay the current interest. If the object of expenditure be one not expected to yield revenue, then the provision is clearly right and absolutely necessary. If it be one from which a return of revenue is anticipated, and that anticipation be disappointed, as has been the case with most of the lateral canals, then the provision is equally right and necessary. And if the anticipated revenue be realized, then the debt will be sooner paid, and the tax imposed be but partially required, or collected; while, in any event, the people will be protected from a load of unexpected debt and unforeseen taxation."

Referring to the pledge in the Constitution to secure "the payment of the old canal debt, and protect the citizens and the property of the state from taxation," the Governor further remarked that "if that pledge was wise, it would seem to be equally as wise that another efficient barrier should be interposed between the taxpayers of the state and the unrestrained power of the legislature to contract debts upon their credit and at their risk. That this power may be abused, we now know. That it has been abused, the people now feel; and it cannot be a matter of surprise if they shall be found to demand protection against future abuses." Referring to public discussion of the proposed amendments, the Governor said: "So far as my observation and means of information enable me to speak, these proposed amendments have been very broadly and fully discussed before the people during the late canvass, have taken deep hold of the

public mind, and have been received with strong favor."

The legislature did not pass these amendments again, probably for the reason that it decided to submit to the people the question of holding a constitutional convention. If such a convention were authorized, all pending amendments to the Constitution, and the whole subject of constitutional reform, could be submitted to a convention chosen expressly for this purpose, and would be likely to receive more careful and more satisfactory consideration than could be given by the legislature, which was charged primarily with other duties, and not chosen with special reference to constitutional revision.

Notwithstanding the suspension of public works by the act of 1842, the legislature of 1845 seemed unwilling to let the matter rest and abide the action of the constitutional convention. It passed a bill in relation to canals, which, among other things, made appropriations for continuing certain work on the Genesee Valley and Black River canals. Governor Wright, in a message which bears the same date as the convention act, May 13, 1845, vetoed the bill. The Governor here again reviewed at considerable length the financial history and policy of the state, and objected to the bill principally for the reason that it was a deviation from the policy established by the suspension act of 1842; that it was a violation of the pledges contained in that act and in other statutes relating to state obligations; and that to postpone the payment of these obligations, and thereby resume the construction of public works, was not only a direct violation of pledges, but "unwise and impolitic in reference to the true interests of the people of the whole state." The bill was not passed over the veto. Thus the Governor compelled the state to adhere to the policy of 1842; at least, until the subject could receive consideration by the constitutional convention. The passage of the con

vention act placed the whole subject in abeyance for the time being, and transferred the responsibility from the legislature to the convention.

STATE AID TO PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.

This subject has an interesting history. The policy of rendering state aid to private business illustrates the paternal character of government in the early years of the state. It was founded on the conception that it was the duty of government to promote the prosperity of all the members of the state, and that for this purpose the state might use all its powers, even to the extent of appropriating money from the common treasury, in fostering laudable enterprises, in which a considerable number of the people were interested. It is, perhaps, a natural evolution from the earlier forms of government which was possessed and exercised by one person only. The state, as a political entity, stands in the place of the monarch in earlier forms of government, and may do whatever a wise and beneficent ruler should have done under the old system. This conception makes the body politic a body corporate, treating the state as a great political corporation, of which all the inhabitants are members. The paternal character of legislation is peculiarly manifest during the colonial period, and in the early years of the state; indeed, in these modern times, with a more accurate conception of the true theory government, the paternal idea still prevails, and the laws proposed in the legislature as well as many of those testify to the continuing belief that the legislature can do almost anything.

of

enacted

funds or

The policy of aiding private enterprise by giving state loaning state credit began moderately, and the first instances seem reasonable when judged from the condition of public affairs at that time; but the practice,