HOW TO DO IT.

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“ It is agreed that if any owner of said land, or any partyliable under this mortgage, shall cause any holder of thismortgage to pay any tax on said land, or on said mortgage, oron the debt secured thereby, or shall deduct or seek to deductfrom or set off against any principal or interest due on thismortgage any such tax or any tax paid, or if any law shall bemade in the State of New York , deducting from the value ofland for purposes of taxation any lien on it, the debt securedby this mortgage shall become due at the option of the holderof this mortgage.”

So that if any such law is passed, and the lender werecompelled to pay once, or if there is ever any attempt tomake him pay, lo ! the mortgage is due at once and themoney loaned will take to itself wings and fly to a lessrigorous climate.

Will even the audacity of ardor and ignorance, fetteredby the constitutional prohibition of interference withfreedom of contract, venture to suggest a countercheckto this provision ? Would it not be more reasonable todo as many counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey didmore than twenty years ago—to ask the legislature forpower to exempt mortgages from taxation within theirown boundaries, and to find out by such a county optionlaw whether this exemption would reduce our rate ofinterest for mortgages as it did theirs?

The advocates of the “ Listing ” bills would tax pri-marily everything to the lowest atom ; first for nationalpurposes, and then for State and local purposes, throughseparate boards of assessors. They would require every