scribed; another calls for an annual report of one hundred and five items, and another prohibits consolidation with parallel or competing lines. The Alabama1 law of 1850 reserves to the legislature the right to alter or repeal any certificate of incorporation; it places a limit upon the indebtedness which the company may assume, and contains furthermore the very novel provision that no railroad shall be constructed through an orchard without the owner's consent. In 1853 all railway companies were made subordinate to general laws. California was one of the few states which began to legislate on railway matters in general rather than special acts, beginning with 1850. In 18532 a law was passed which enabled any twentyfive persons to form a railway company. The life of the franchise was limited to fifty years. While section 2 of the law specified that the capital stock of the company shall exactly equal the actual cost of the road, section 16 empowered the company to increase its capital stock "to any amount which may be deemed sufficient and proper for the purpose of the corporation." This law was amended in 1853, 1856, and 1857, but in 1861 3 the whole of it was repealed and another law, supplementary to the original general act of 1850, was adopted. An important provision of this last law is found in section I, which specifies that at least $1,000 per mile shall be subscribed, and ten per cent actually 2 Laws, 1853, ch. 72. 1 Laws, 1848-50, p. 54. paid in before the articles of incorporation can be filed. The form of the articles of the association is prescribed, and the period of its existence limited to fifty years. A sinking fund for the redemption of bonds is provided for, and the unusual liberty of laying out its road, "not exceeding nine rods wide," is given to the company. There are elaborate sections on eminent domain, arbitration, tolls, and so on. By a vote of three-fourths of the constituents of the companies, consolidated railway corporations may be organized. Maximum rates of ten cents per passenger-mile and fifteen cents per ton-mile are prescribed, although the company cannot be compelled to undertake the transportation of a small quantity of freight for less than twenty-five cents. The maximum rates of the California law are in part exceeded by those prescribed in a Washington charter granted in 1862,1 which are ten cents per passenger-mile and forty cents per ton-mile. It is also a significant fact that the first general law enacted by the legislature of Washington, in 1873,2 relates to "extortion and unjust discrimination in the rates charged for the transportation of passengers and freight on railroads in this territory." Montana, Colorado, Arizona,5 and Idaho are other states which, like California, began with general laws. 1 Laws, 1862, p. 119, § 10. 2 Laws, 1873, p. 455. 8 Laws, 1873, p. 93. 4 Laws, 1862, p. 44. 5 Acts of Territorial Assembly, 1877, p. 24. 6 Laws, 1864, On Corporations. CHAPTER III CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS General Considerations. Constitutional provisions probably represent the more fundamental and permanent features of railway legislation. It may be assumed that the provision incorporated in the constitutions of the various states of the Union were thought to represent those matters respecting railways which the people of the different states, represented in their respective legislatures, considered most important and least likely to require changes in the future. The history of American constitutions does not reveal great readiness on the part of the people to change or modify their organic laws; and in view of this slowness in bringing about constitutional changes an element of fixity and rigidity is infused into the legislative control of railways. The constitutions of the older states, as a class, contain fewer and less comprehensive provisions relating to railways; and two of them, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, embody no direct provisions of this kind, while Rhode Island is saved from being classified with these two states by a brief and rather unimportant constitutional pro vision. In addition, there is an absence of clauses relating to railways in the organic codes of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico. With these exceptions, every state in the Union contains more or less elaborate provisions on this subject, varying from the less comprehensive and incomplete sections of many of the constitutions of the older states to those much wider in their scope and stringent in their nature, as in the recently adopted constitution of Montana. By far the greater part of the contents of all the constitutional provisions may be grouped under three general heads: first, those relating to incorporation; second, those relating to public aid, and, third, to direct regulation and control, the latter having in view the correction of abuses and the establishment of equitable rates. While a few of these provisions are negative in their character, a good many of them are positive, empowering legislatures to establish rates and to do other things calculated to subordinate the agencies of transportation to the public good. Acceptance of the Constitution. Fifteen state constitutions contain provisions to the effect that no railway, canal, or other transportation company in existence at the time of the ratification of the constitution shall have the benefit of any future legislation by general or special laws other than in execution of a trust created by law or by a contract, except on the condition of complete acceptance of all the provisions of the section or article of the constitution in question. In a few instances the further provision is embodied that whenever existing charters are revised or amended, the same shall become subject to the constitution.1 - Corporations organized under General Laws. In the chapter on Early Railway Charters it was noted that great crops of special charters were produced in all sections of the country, and it was perhaps a reaction against these excesses in special and local legislation which led to the adoption of constitutional provisions prohibiting the organization of railway and similar companies under special charters. One method of avoiding these constitutional and statutory provisions was observed in the case of the Northern Pacific Railway; but section 21 of the original charter of the Superior and St. Croix Railroad Company declared "that in the judgment of the legislature of this state the object of the corporation hereby created cannot be attained under the general laws." The later constitutions of the Western states are very stringent in this respect, and the organization of a large class of corporations, of which railways are an important member, under special acts, is rigidly prohibited.2 1 The constitutions incorporating such provisions are found in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. 2 The following states have incorporated such prohibitions in their constitutions: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Min |