Section 109. The taxing power of the State, as has been indicated, is absolute and uncontrolled, except so far as it is limited by constitutional provisions within these limitations, and a municipal corporation, being merely the creature of the sovereign power, cannot hold the power of taxation conferred upon it by the State, in perpetuity.

The legislature may confer the taxing power on municipal corporations "with such limitations as it sees fit, as to the rate of taxatoin, the purposes for which it is authorized, and the objects, that is the property, which shall be subjected to taxation; but it cannot, of course, confer any greater power than the State itself possesses, and must observe the restrictions and limitations of the organic law."4

The legislature being invested with the exercise of all governmental power, unless restricted by the state constitution, may, at its discretion, make property otherwise real property, personal property for purposes of taxation; it is the sole judge of the necessity and expediency of its exercise of that power.5

The doctrine is well recognized that the sovereign power of taxation can only be exercised for public purposes, and the determination of whether the purpose is public or private is left to the courts, and the decisions of such tribunals are at considerable variance.

3 United States vs. New Orleans, 98 U. S., 381. 4 Alexander vs. Baltimore, 5 Gill (Ind.), 383; Prim vs. Belleville, 59 III., 142; Dillon Mun. Corp. (3rd Ed.), Par. 740. 5 Johnson, Collector, vs. Roberta, 102 III., 165.

The determining whether a particular exercise of the power of taxation is for a public or a private purpose has not infrequently been a vexatious question for the courts to solve, and I herewith quote some of the recognized public purposes from the work of a learned author upon this branch of jurisprudence: " Taxes maybe imposed for roads of all kinds, canals, and bridges, that there may be facilities for transportation of freight and for travel; for public schools or colleges, that the people may be educated; for public libraries, that their means of improvement may be increased; for the poor, the dumb, the blind, the insane, lest they suffer from want; for the police of the State, in regulations for the preservation of health or the detection of crime; for courts of law, that individual rights may be protected and enforced, and that crime, when detected, may receive its fitting punishment; for the preservation of peace and the protection of the country from foreign enemies; to aid, encourage, and stimulate commerce, domestic and foreign, by the establishment of mints, postal system, and maintaining navies to keep open the highway of nations; to encourage citizens in the defense of their country by suitable rewards and mementoes for past services in times of war, or by bounties for enlistment for future services; and for the promotion of the arts and sciences.

"For all these matters taxes may be imposed. The purpose is public. The object is governmental. The money raised and property purchased is held by the agents of the State for the State. The object is to regulate the State that all its citizens may enjoy their lives, liberty, and property, and pursue their happiness according to the dictates of their own reason."6

6 Burroughs, Tax'n, Par. 25.