Opinion of the Court.

the order, their wives, children and families; and solemnly pledged itself that as soon as the said property should be paid for, the whole of the revenue which might be derived from it, after deducting necessary and unavoidable expenses on its account, should be devoted to those objects.

This consideration, however, was not one upon the faith of which the legislature granted the exemption, since the deed had already been in existence for two years, and the property had been purchased under the resolution of the lodge, adopted January 27, 1853, to the same effect as the above recital in the deed. While subscriptions for the purchase of the property may have been obtained upon the faith of this resolution, it cannot be said to have constituted a consideration for the exemption. The alleged contract for exemption was not contained in the charter- as in other cases where such exemption has been sustained-since the lodge had already pledged its revenues to charitable purposes; and when the act was passed it gave no additional pledge, and promised nothing which it had not already promised, and was bound in honor to perform. If additional subscriptions were obtained upon the faith of the act, the subscribers were bound to take notice of the fact that the legislature was at liberty to repeal the act at any time, or, that the people might, in the exercise of their sovereign power, nullify it by an amendment to the constitution.

In the Home of the Friendless v. Rouse, 8 Wall. 430, relied upon by the plaintiff in error, the exemption was contained in the original charter of the Home of the Friendless, which purported in its preamble to be granted for the purpose of encouraging the undertaking, and enabling the parties engaged therein more fully and effectually to accomplish their laudable purpose. The exemption was offered not in view of a consideration which had already passed, but for the purpose of inducing the incorporators to accept the charter and to carry out the enterprise.

So in Asylum v. New Orleans, 105 U. S. 362, the institution was incorporated under an act of the general assembly, which declared that all the property belonging to the institution

Opinion of the Court.

should be exempted from all taxation. The question turned upon the exemption of certain property which was devised to it twenty years after it was incorporated, the revenues of which were applied to enable it to carry on its work; but it was held that the contract applied not only to property in existence when the charter was granted, nor only to that which was in existence when the constitution of 1868 was adopted, but to all which might afterwards be acquired in the due fulfilment of the purposes of the institution.

We are of opinion that the act in question in this case was one which the legislature might properly enact as a matter of public policy, and in aid of a beneficent purpose; but that it was a mere gratuity or bounty which it was competent at any time to terminate, and that this was done by Art. 207 of the Constitution of 1879. The case is practically upon all fours with that of The Rector of Christ Church v. Philadelphia, 24 How. 300, in which the legislature of Pennsylvania enacted that "the real property, including ground rents, now belonging and payable to Christ Church Hospital, in the city of Philadelphia, so long as the same shall continue to belong to the said hospital, shall be and remain free from taxes." Eighteen years thereafter, the legislature enacted that all property belonging to any association, then exempt from taxation, other than that in actual use and occupation of such association, should thereafter be subject to taxation. It was held that this last law was not in violation of the Constitution of the United States; that the former act of 1833 was a mere privilege existing bene placitum, and might be revoked at the pleasure of the sovereign. It would seem from this case that the hospital had been incorporated long before the act containing the exemption was passed, as that act recited that the hospital "had for many years afforded an asylum for numerous poor and distressed widows," and that the exemption was granted on account of its means being curtailed by decay of the buildings, and the increased burden of taxation. So in Tucker v. Ferguson, 22 Wall. 527, and in West Wisconsin Railway v. Board of Supervisors, 93 U. S. 595, it was held that an act of the legislature exempting property of all railroads

Syllabus.

from taxation was not a contract to exempt, unless there were a consideration for the act; that the promise of a gratuity, spontaneously made, may be kept, changed or recalled at pleasure, and that this rule applied to the agreements of States, made without consideration, as well as to those of persons. See also Newton v. Commissioners, 100 U. S. 548, 561, and People v. Roper, 35 N. Y. 629, wherein a law, providing that persons who had served seven years in the militia and had been honorably discharged, were entitled to perpetual immunity from taxation to the extent of $500 each, was held to be repealable at any time by the legislature.

The act of 1855, now in question, clearly falls within the latter class of gratuities or bounties, which are subject to the will of the legislature, and may be withdrawn at any time. The decree of the court below was, therefore, right, and will be

Affirmed.

HENDERSON BRIDGE COMPANY v. KENTUCKY.

ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY.

No. 462. Argued December 11, 14, 1896. Decided March 15, 1897.

The Henderson Bridge Company was a corporation created by the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the purpose of erecting and operating a railroad bridge, with its approaches, over the Ohio River between the city of Henderson, in Kentucky, and the Indiana shore. It owned 9.46 miles of railroad and .65 of a mile of siding, making its railroad connections in Indiana, which property was assessed for taxation in that State, at $627,660. The length of the bridge in the two States, measured by feet, was one third in Indiana and two thirds in Kentucky. The tangible property of the company was assessed in Henderson County, Kentucky, at $649,735.54. From the evidence before them, the Board of Valuation and Assessment placed the value of the company's entire property at $2,900,000, and deducted therefrom $627,660 for the tangible property assessed in Indiana, which left $2,272,340, of which two thirds, or $1,514,893, was held to be the entire value of the property in Kentucky. From this, $649,735.54, the value of the tangible property in Henderson

Counsel for Parties.

County, was deducted, and the remainder, $865,157.46, was fixed by the Board as the value of the company's franchise. From the total value, $1,385,107 was deducted for the tangible and intangible property in Indiana, and the taxes in Kentucky were levied on $1,514,893 of tangible and intangible property in that State. The company paid the tax on the tangible property ($2762.08), and refused to pay the tax on the intangible property ($3675.91). This action was brought to recover it. The Court of Appeals held that the Commonwealth was entitled to recover it. Held,

(1) That the company was chartered by the State of Kentucky to build and operate a bridge and the State could properly include the franchises it had granted in the valuation of the company's property for taxation;

(2) That the tax was not a tax on the interstate business carried on over or by means of the bridge, because the bridge company did not transact such business; that business being carried on by the persons and corporations which paid the bridge company tolls for the privilege of using the bridge;

(3) That the fact that the tax in question was to some extent affected by the amount of the tolls received, and therefore might be supposed to increase the rate of tolls, was too remote and incidental to make it a tax on the business transacted;

(4) That the acts of Congress conferred no right or franchise on the company to erect the bridge or collect tolls for its use; that they merely regulated the height of bridges over that river and the width of their spans, in order that they might not interfere with its navigation; and that the declaration that such bridges should be regarded as post roads did not interfere with the right of the State to impose taxes;

(5) That the tax in controversy was nothing more than a tax on the intangible property of the company in Kentucky, and was sustained as such by the Court of Appeals, as consistent with the provisions of the constitution of Kentucky in reference to taxation; and that for the reasons given, and on the authorities cited in Adams Express Co. v. Ohio State Auditor, 165 U. S. 194, this court is unable to conclude that the method of taxation prescribed by the statute of Kentucky and followed in making this assessment is in violation of the Constitution of the United States.

THE case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. James P. Helm for plaintiff in error. Mr. Helm Bruce was on his brief.

Mr. William J. Hendrick for defendant in error.

Opinion of the Court.

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER delivered the opinion of the

court.

This was an action brought by the Commonwealth of Kentucky against the Henderson Bridge Company to recover the sum of $3675.91, taxes levied against that company on an assessment made of its intangible property by the Kentucky Board of Valuation and Assessment for the year 1893.

The Henderson Bridge Company is a corporation created by the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the purpose of erecting and operating a railroad bridge, with its approaches, over the Ohio River between the city of Henderson, in Kentucky, and the Indiana shore.

The record does not show that it was also incorporated under any law of Indiana, but the company alleged that, being incorporated by the laws of Kentucky, it was granted certain powers and privileges under the laws of Indiana; though it was not denied that the company actually constructed and now owned and operated the bridge and approaches under its Kentucky charter. It was, moreover, averred that the company built its bridge under and in accordance with the act of Congress of December 17, 1872, c. 4, 17 Stat. 398, entitled "An act to authorize the construction of bridges across the Ohio River, and to prescribe the dimensions of the same," which provided that any such bridge should be recognized as a post route; and the act supplementary to that act approved February 14, 1883, c. 44, 22 Stat. 414.

It appeared that the bridge company owned 9.46 miles of railroad and .65 of a mile of siding, making its railroad connections in Indiana, which property was assessed for taxation in that State, at $627,660; that the length of the bridge in the two States, measured by feet, was one third in Indiana and two thirds in Kentucky; that the tangible property of the company was assessed in Henderson County, Kentucky, at $649,735.54; that the capital stock of the company was $1,000,000, and that it had issued bonds to the amount of $2,000,000.

From the evidence before them, the Board of Valuation