at the end of the year!  But the responsibility comes much closer home than this.  Many of us who would not think of violating the law have failed to appreciate the value of the gifts that nature has given us, and have apparently been “too busy” to inform ourselves as to whether or not our public lands have been administered solely for the purpose to which Congress devoted them just after the Revolution.  This, like every other matter of community interest, requires team work.

The community has certain rights to a citizen’s land that are clearly recognized as superior to the citizen’s rights.  Acting through its government, it may take a part of a citizen’s property by taxation (see Chapter XXIII).  Taxes are paid in money; but if a citizen does not pay the tax upon his land, the government may sell the land for enough to cover the obligation.

THE RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN

Again, the government may take a citizen’s land for public uses, if the interests of the community demand it, by what is called the right of eminent domain.  For example, if the interests of the community demand that a new road be built, the government will seek to buy the necessary land from the farmers along the line of the proposed highway.  Some farmer may say that he does not want the road to run through his farm, or he may try to get a price beyond what his land is worth.  The government may then condemn the required land and fix a price despite the farmer’s objections.  The citizen whose land is taken must, however, be paid for it; the Constitution of the United States protects him by the provision, “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation” (Amendment V, last clause).

The right of eminent domain may be exercised to secure a site for a schoolhouse, a post-office, an army post, or courthouse, or for any other public purpose.  The government also authorizes corporations that perform a public service to exercise the right, as in the case of railroads which must obtain a right of way for their tracks, and sites for their yards and stations.

THE POLICE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT

Finally, by the exercise of what is known as the police power, the government may control the use to which a citizen may put his land.  Occasion for the exercise of the police power arises most frequently in cities, where it is necessary to control the construction of buildings for fire protection, and to regulate the kinds of business that may be conducted.  In country districts it does not usually make so much difference what a man does on his own land; but even there the police power may be exercised, as when the state of Idaho passed a law forbidding the herding of sheep within a certain distance of towns.