Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 2).pdf/363

 for taxation should contribute. As the property of railroad companies was expressly exempted from taxation by the law of 1883, it follows that § 6 does not refer to or have any bearing on this exempted property.

We must now consider whether the gross earnings law of 1883 is contrary to the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, which provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction “the equal protection of the laws.” The respondent contends that, in so far as the lands granted by congress are concerned, the appellant, as owner, occupies exactly the same position as the farmer, settler, homesteader, pre-emptioner, or speculator occupies; that in respect of the ownership of the lands, the appellant, and every other property owner in the territory, occupies the same position; and that a law prescribing a different method of taxation for one of the constituent members of this general class from that prescribed for the taxation of another constituent member of the same class is void, under the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution. In other words, it is denied that the territorial legislature had the power to place railroad companies in a class by themselves for the purpose of taxation. The law of 1883 unquestionably classifies these corporations by themselves, and seeks to tax them by a method and system far different from the method pursued in taxing the individual citizen or property owner. The question is, can this classification be sustained upon legal grounds? The fourteenth amendment does not prohibit classification by the legislatures of the several states and territories in respect of those subjects properly coming under the exercise of the legislative power. It permits thd legislature to create one class of persons or property, subject to and controlled by one law, another class controlled by another law, and so on; the only limitation upon the power being that all the constituent members of the same class must be treated exactly alike. Discrimination between different classes is permitted, but discrimination between members of the same class is not permissible. It has never been doubted that for purposes of taxation persons pursuing certain trades or occupations could be put into classes by themselves, and be re-