In searching for the trend of railway taxation, it would be an error to assume the existence of a separate and independent system of corporate taxes. This assumption has been frequently made by writers upon American finance, but in so doing they fail to distinguish between the underlying principles of a system of taxation, on the one hand, and the machinery for administering that system, on the other. So far as methods of assessment and collection are concerned, it is true that railway corporations are placed in a class by themselves, but it is not true, speaking generally, that the theory of public contributions applied to them differs from the theory which is applied to other classes of property. That system of taxation known as the general property tax, is as strong to-day as it ever was in the history of our country; indeed it is stronger, if we are to judge from the changes that have taken place in the laws of the states during the past twelve years.