Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 1).pdf/118

 debtedness be not paid on or before the 20th day of October of that year, it shall then be the duty of the county auditor or county clerk of the said county to cause the amount of said indebtedness to be entered upon the tax-list of said county for that year as a tax on the land on which said seed-wheat was sown, and upon any other land owned by the applicant, to be collected as other taxes are; and the sum so entered and levied shall be a lien upon the real estate owned by such person until said indebtedness is fully paid, when it shall be the duty of the proper officer to cancel the same."

The objects and purposes contemplated by the statute may be readily gathered from the above extracts, and they are clear and unmistakable in their character. The legislature by this enactment, so far as it can do so, has clothed the several counties of the state where there has been a preceding crop failure with authority to lend their aid in procuring seed-grain to such of their citizens as are engaged in farming pursuits, who make it appear, in manner and furm as detailed by the law, that they are unable to procure such seed-grain by any other means. The law empowers the counties to lend their aid out of money to be obtained by the issue and sale of county bonds, such bonds to be paid, principal and interest, from funds obtained by means of a general tax levy upon all of the taxable property situated within the counties that issue such bonds. Two features of this statute stand out in conspicuous prominence. First. All benefits obtainable under the act are confined to persons engaged in the pursuit of farming, and among farmers only those who propose to continue the business of farming after the aid in contemplation has been received by them. Second. No part of the fund is intended to be used in support or aiding such indigent persons as have already become a county charge, viz., paupers.

The objections which may be made to the validity of this statute are twofold: First, it may be claimed that the tax authorized by the statute is not for a public purpose, hence not a valid tax; second, it may be contended that, under § 185 of the state constitution, counties are expressly forbidden to make donations, or lend their aid to either