granted to them. These taxes are known generally as franchise taxes. Railroad, telegraph, and telephone companies, for example, are compelled to pay such taxes in return for the special powers which the government gives them. So also street railway, gas, and electric light companies are required to pay franchise taxes for the peculiar use which they make of the public streets.

POLL TAXES. As we have seen, every male resident of Virginia who is over twenty-one years of age is required to pay a tax of $1.50 a year. This is called a poll, or capitation,

tax.

STATE AND LOCAL TAXES. We have seen that there is in Virginia not only a state government, which exercises powers in all parts of the state, but also a local government established over every county, city, and town. Both the state and these local governments have to have means of support. A part of the money that is collected in taxes goes to the support of the state government and a part of it is used for the support of the local governments. The state government in turn distributes to the various communities of the state money for various purposes, such as the maintenance of schools and the building of roads. Under this system it is a fact that about thirty-five of the one hundred counties in the state receive more money from the.state treasury than they actually collect in the form of taxes. In effect, therefore, the people in some of the counties and cities are taxed to assist in supplying services to the people in certain other counties.

CLASS EXERCISES

1. Has any public building been erected in your community recently? Try to find out how much it cost. Did the county, city, or state pay for the building? Why? Try to find out how the money was raised. Explain how this building is used for the benefit of the people of your community.

2. How is money raised for the improvement of roads in your county? Try to find out what the tax assessment for roads is. Who determines this assessment?

3. How are the schools supported in your county? Try to find out what the school assessment is. Have any new schoolhouses been built recently? How much did they cost? Try to find out what part of the school expenses are paid by your county authorities and what part by the state.

4. In what ways that you can think of do the people of your community receive benefits from the taxes they pay? Explain why it is dishonest to avoid paying taxes. Explain why it is wrong to look upon taxes as oppression.

5. What part did the question of taxation play in the causes of our Revolutionary War? What principle of taxation was in consequence established in America?

6. In what ways that you can think of does the owner of property get special benefits by paying the large taxes that are assessed upon him? 7. What is the difference between real estate and personal property? Do you own any real estate? Any personal property? Explain why it is easier to collect taxes on the one than it is on the other. 8. What is meant by assessing property for taxation? Try to find out whether property in your community is said to be assessed high or low. What does this mean?

9. What property that you can think of in your community is free from taxation? Why is it not taxed? Is your school building taxed? Why?

10. Mention all the kinds of taxation that we have in Virginia, and explain what is meant by each.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

IN THE NATION

THE CAPITOL OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D. C,

THIRD PART

POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XVIII

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

THE PURPOSE OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. In spite of all the many things that are undertaken by our state and our local governments in Virginia, as in other states of the Union, there are certain very important powers that are exercised and services that are rendered by the government of the nation, which has its seat in Washington. After our independence was won, there were many reasons which prompted the people of the new states to unite and establish a national government. The people of the several states had numerous interests in common. It was manifest, therefore, that many of their affairs could best be managed by a government that represented the people of all the states.

In a later chapter we shall see how the Union of the states came to be established, and how our national constitution was framed and adopted. This constitution determines what powers the national government shall exercise and in what ways it shall provide for the protection and welfare of the people of the entire nation. The government that is provided for in the national constitution undertakes many things that are of interest to the people throughout the whole United States-things which cannot be satisfactorily attended to by the separate states.