They belong emphatically to that class of objects which demand the application of the maxim, _salus populi suprema lex_; and they are to be attained and provided for by such appropriate means as the legislative discretion may devise. That discretion can no more be bargained away than the power itself.[194] In exercise of this police power the Legislature prohibits the manufacture and sale of malt liquor. Such manufacture or sale is not an exercise of a right by contract, and prohibition of the business is not legislation impairing the obligation of a contract.[195] So too, a provision in a State constitution forbidding lotteries and gift enterprises within a commonwealth, and revoking lottery charters theretofore granted, is not a law impairing the obligation of a contract.[196] The principle followed here is expressed by the Chief Justice (Waite): “No legislature can bargain away the public health or the public morals.” Thus it may be accepted as settled constitutional law that the people in their sovereign capacity and through their properly constituted agencies may exercise powers as the public good may require.[197] But corporations and private persons possessing and exercising rights and franchises vested in them by law and possessing property rights by contract are entitled to compensation when, under the State power of eminent domain, such vested rights are taken away.[198] 76. Whether property or employment possesses the qualities or attributes of a public use will largely determine the character of legislative control for the purpose of safe-guarding the public against “danger, injustice, and oppression”; the police power of the State is here paramount.[199] 77. The principle involved in the obligation of contracts is clearly set forth by the Supreme Court: