Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/355

 under the territorial regime, were to be performed by an officer called a “secretary,” upon a functionary who, under the state statutes, is denominated both “secretary” and “clerk.” The terms “clerk” and “secretary,” as applicd to subordinate ministerial functionaries, are by popular usage, synonymous terms, and are frequently used interchangeably. This use is also strictly accurate, according to the accepted standards of the language. One definition of the term “secretary,” as given in Webster's Dictionary, is: “A person cmployed to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, records, and the like; an official scribe, amanuensis, or writer.” The same authority, under the word “clerk,” says: “In some cases, ‘clerk’ is synonymous with ‘secretary;’” also, that a clerk is “onc who is employed to keep records and accounts; a scribe; a penman; an accountant; as the clerk of the court.” A striking, as well as strictly pertinent, example of the interchangeable use of the terms “clerk” and “secretary,” is found in the law we are considering. As we have seen, § 6, Ch. 126, Laws 1885, expressly authorized the board to appoint a secretary. A salary was provided for such secretary. But a careful perusal of the entire chapter will disclose the fact that not a single duty, clerical or otherwise, was devolved by the act upon any official of that name, while, on the contrary, one duty, at least, of a clerical nature, was expressly cast upon a subordinate of the board, who was, in terms, denominated a “clerk;" and no officer called a “clerk” was authorized to be appointed or employed, by the territorial statute. Section 3 of said Ch. 126 authorized the territorial board, under certain circumstances, to serve a written notice upon railroad corporations. The statute required the notice to be served by leaving a copy thereof, “certified by the commissioners’ clerk, with any station agent.” Unquestionably, such written notice could have been lawfully certified by the secretary of the board, not only because the board had no clerk, and was not authorized to appoint any functionary of that name, but for the further reason, as has been