10,911

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very strenuously, at the time I was Assistant Attorney

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General, made the" point that the state could not barter

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away its sovereign power, and also made the point that this

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exemption was granted as an inducement to build property

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which had long since been replaced and had outlived its

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usefulness by almost a hundred years or more, so that

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all of those points were made but they were unavailing.

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The court of appeals, in an opinion by Judge

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Park, relied heavily upon the Dartmouth College case, of

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course, in the Supreme Court, and they said that this

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was an inviolate contract and it existed in perpetuity.

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Now, the point about this constitutional

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provision and the reason why I should strongly urge

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that it be retained in the constitution is that in its

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present form it was virtually a compromise with the B&0.

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The B&0 did surrender some of its tax exemptions.

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It does pay a good many taxes. All that is left, really,

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of its tax exemption -- although that amounts to a good deal

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of money -- is its about one-fifth rate it pays on its

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gross receipts and the property exemption on only one

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of its many lines, so that it has been whittled down to