Another thought having weight in connection with the constitutional right to tax the people in aid of railroads, is, that minorities have the right to live, and to own and enjoy property; and the majority has no right to compel the minority to contribute aid to railroad corporations. It has always been conceded that in a republican government the majority should rule, and that their will expressed in a constitutional and legal manner should be the law of the land; yet no one claiming to respect constitutional law will contend that this will of the majority can act outside, or independent of, constitutional restrictions. If this doctrine should obtain, constitutional government is at an end; private rights are destroyed, and the unrestricted will of a bare majority becomes supreme; all the guarantees of the constitution are annulled; life, liberty, and property, are all dependent upon the popular will; constitutional safeguards are destroyed, and the stability of the government is lost. The first step in this direction is fraught with the greatest danger. When the restrictions embodied in the constitution are overridden and disregarded in one instance it affords a precedent for a second step in the same direction. Acquiescence in encroachments upon constitutional restriction by the people, undermine and absolutely destroy republican institutions and the government itself. If, for the accomplishment of some private purpose, a community, a state, or the general government disregard the provisions of the constitution, and assume powers not granted them by that instrument, they arbitrarily act the part of the absolute tyrant. And it makes no difference whether the course pursued, or the measure adopted, proves beneficial to the public, or oppressive. In the fact that it is the usurpation of an unauthorized power, lies the danger. The disregard of the limits fixed by the constitution, in the administration of the government, destroys the only guarantee the people have for the protection of their private rights. Among all the unconstitutional measures which now obtain throughout the country, the affording of aid to railroads, by the government, state and national, has proved the most burdensome to the people. Of this class of subsidies, that afforded by local, municipal subscription, with or without a vote of the people, has caused the greatest injury. A local or municipal government can lawfully impose taxes for the support of its administration, and for contribution to the general comfort and happiness of the people. It can tax for the purpose of laying out and constructing streets and public highways, because these objects are intended to be, and in fact are, open to the use of the whole people; all can use them on equal terms; they are made for the benefit of the public; each citizen has undertaken to contribute his just proportion of the expense of providing for the common, public benefit.