was arbitrary and irrational in its operation.[22] Thus an act which forbade the consumption of liquor by red-haired persons and which imposed a fine for the offense would be arbitrary and irrational in its application, and the imposition of a fine pursuant to the act would be a taking of the property of the individual without due process of law. But more than this, the arbitrary character of the legislative act must be clear beyond all reasonable doubt.[23] It must be so clear that two rational men could not differ about the matter.[24] These were the limits of the power of the court as originally laid down. It is apparent that with these limitations conscientiously observed the veto power of the court over legislation was of largely theoretical and academic value in protecting property interests. The fact is that this power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional because they took some person’s life, liberty, or property without due process of law remained practically unused during the first half of the nineteenth century. Perhaps there was no call for the protection of property interests from the legislature. Perhaps the limitations upon the exercise of the power of the court were too faithfully observed. It is not unlikely that both reasons contributed to the results. Before 1860 the Atlantic seaboard states ceased to be provincial or frontier communities. Since 1860 an enormous area in the Mississippi Valley has ceased to be a frontier community. Great cities have arisen. Whole states have been brought under cultivation. Manufacturing has constantly gone forward. Facility in transportation has diminished the size of the country twenty-fold in many areas. The increase in the value and quantity of private property has been fabulous. So enormous an increase in so short a time has necessarily resulted in the concentration of immense fortunes in the hands of a considerable number of individuals. Even more marked has been the concentration of collective property holdings in corporations. The financial difference between persons of some property and those with vast fortunes is so great that the bridging of the gap by even the exceptional individual in his lifetime is out of the question. The financial difference between the position of persons possessing some property and the collective wealth of great corporations is beyond the actual comprehension of the human intelligence. Opportunity is no longer anywhere near equal and many start the race in life with a lead which puts them out of sight of all but a very few. The result is that a constantly increasing number of people think not in terms of property and the interests of property, but as individuals, and in many instances as one of a collection of individuals. They have begun to consider whether the state is so run and legislation so framed that they as individuals, or as one of a collective organization of individuals similarly situated, are enabled to live satisfactorily.