STATE TAX COMMISSIONER. xvii

the State, " and makes it his duty to "superintend and en-
force the prompt collection of all taxes and revenue. " The
power and duty to assess the shares of stock in corporations,
for State purposes, was conferred and imposed by the Act of
1812, Chapter 90, and the Act of 1874, Chapter 483.

Experience showed that such duties could only be im-
perfectly performed by the Comptroller, in consequence of
their interference with the duties imposed on that officer by
the Constitution, and furthermore, that it was inconsistent
and improper to blend the duties of Assessor and Collector in
the same officer.

Secondly. It is contended that the office should be abolish-
ed, because the appointment is not vested in the Governor.

The Constitution does not make the Governor the source
of all power. It prescribes that "he shall nominate,
and by and with the consent of the Senate, appoint all civil
and military officers of the State, whose appointment or elec-
tion is not otherwise herein provided for, unless a different
mode of appointment be prescribed by the law creating the
office.

The law creating the office of State Tax Commissioner did
prescribe a different mode of appointment, and for reasons
easily to be seen.

The duty of assessing shares of stock of corporations, being
a matter in which the fiscal officers of the State were more
concerned than any others, the law vested the appointment
in that body, in which the fiscal officers of the State were
purposely given by the Constitution, a preponderating influ-
ence, and in which both of them were represented. It was
proposed at the Session of 1880, to amend the law so as to
make the office elective by the people of the State, but a fear
that the bill, if passed, would not meet with the approval of
the Executive, caused that proposition to be abandoned.

Since the creation of the office, the net increase in the
basis of assessment of corporations has been $18, 806, 731. 20.

Calculating the State and county or city taxes on this
amount, at an average rate of one dollar in the hundred dol-
lars, the net increase in revenue to the State, counties and
2