Excerpt from Report of the Joint Committee of the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York Appointed to Investigate Telephone and Telegraph Companies The Legislature shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers, and shall pass general laws under which charters may be altered or amended, and shall provide by general law for the payment to the State of a franchise tax by domestic corporations, which shall be in proportion to the amount of capital stock. A foreign corporation shall not do business in the State with out having at least one known place of business and an authorized agent therein and without filing with the Secretary of State a certified copy of its articles of incorporation or association. Corporations shall engage only in the business authorized by its charter. Lands belonging to the State shall never be donated directly or indirectly to private corporations or individuals, nor shall such lands be sold to corporations for a less price than that for which they are subject to sale to individuals, provided, however, that the Legislature may grant a right of way not exceeding 125 feet in width as a mere easement for railroads or telegraph or tele phone lines across State land, and the Legislature shall never dis pose of the land covered by such right of way, except subject to such easement. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.