Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 2).pdf/352

 ruary in each year, the truth of which abstracts shall be verified by the affidavits of the secretary and treasurer of said company; and for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of such affidavits and the correctness of such abstracts, full power is hereby vested in the governor of this territory, or any other person appointed by law, to examine under oath the officers and employes of said company or other persons; and, if any person so examined by the governor or other person shall knowingly or willfully swear falsely concerning the matters aforesaid, every such person is declared to have committed perjury. And for the purpose of securing to the territory the payment of the aforesaid per centum it is hereby declared that the territory shall have a lien upon the railroads of said company, and upon all property, estate, aud effects of said company whatsoever, personal, real, or mixed, and the lien hereby secured to the territory shall have and take procedure of all demands, decrees, and judgements against said company.” Sections 2, 3 and 4 provide the machinery whereby the tax upon the gross earnings of railroad companies shall be collected in case such railroad companies fail to pay the same. Section 5 reads as follows: “The lands of any railroad company shall become subject to taxation in the same manner as other similar property, as soon as the same are sold, leased, or contracted to be sold or leased; and on or before the first day of April of each year each railroad company having lands within this territory shall return to the county clerk of each county full and complete lists, verified by the affidavit of some officer of the company having knowledge of the facts, and of all lands of such company situated in said county sold or contracted to be sold or leased during the year ending the last day of December preceding; and the list furnished on or before the first day of April, A. D. 1883, and in compliance with the terms of this section, shall include, a complete list of all lands sold or leased or contracted to be sold or leased prior to the last day of December, A. D. 1882.” Sections 6, 7 and 8 are not material in this case.

There is a radical difference between the acts of 1879 and 1883 in respect of the property exempted from taxation. The act of 1879, by its express terms, limited the exemption only to