The Merriman Bill

Below is given the opinión furnished by the faculty of the law departmeot on the coDBtitutionality of the Merriman bill to Governor Pingree, at his reqnest. The governor has signed the bill: "That the deán be respeotfnlly requested to say, in answer to the governor's communication that in the opinión of the facnlty the bill presents the qnestion whether the system of taxation it perpetuales violates the so-called oornnaerce clanse of the federal constitntion, and tbat, in view of the ntterances of tha United States snpreme oonrt, where the decisión of the qnestion will ultimately rest, the faculty is nnable to say what the jadgment of tbat conrt will be. The bill proposes no new scherne of tasation for railroad eompanies. It proposes simply to raise the rate of taxation in aocordance with a schetne that has obtained in tbis state for many years. This last fact may, in case of donbt, inflaence the oonrt in snstaining the proposed legislation. "