SS6 TBDSSAIi BZPOBTBR. �legislature constitutionally assesB and tax the capital stock of gas companies, while it exempts the stock of purely man- ufacturing companies from taxation ? �By the original aet "for the assessment of property, and for the levy and collection of taxes," approved March 13, 1872, it is provided, in section 3, clause 4, as follows: "The capital stock of ail companies and associations now or here- after created, under the laws of this state, shall be so valued by the state board of equalization as to ascertain and deter- mine, respectively, the fair cash value of such capital stock, including the franchise, over and above the assessed value of the tangible property of such company or association;" and by the thirty-second section of the same act certain en umerated classes of corporations incorporated under the laws of this state, among which are gas companies, are required to make out and de- liver to the assessor a sworn statement of the amount of their capital stock, which was to be forwarded to the auditor, and by him laid bef ore the board of equalization for valuation. and assessment. �The amendment of May 13, 1879, to the fourth clause of section 3 simply inserts in brackets, immediately after the words "the laws of this state," in the second line of the clause as printed in the Eevised Statutes, ("except those required to be assessed by the local assessors hereinafter provided,") and adds to that clause the foUowing proviso: "Provided, further, that companies and associations organized for purely manuf acturing purposes, or for pfinting, or for publishing of newspapers, or for the improving and breeding of stock, shall be assessed by the local assessors in like manner as the prop- erty of individuals is required to be assessed." �While the amendment to the thirty-second section of the same acts consists in omitting the word "manufacturing," as descriptive of one of the classes of corporations who are re- quired to make out and deliver to the assessor a sworn state- ment of the amount of their capital stock, to be laid before the. board of equalization, and the insertion of the words "and the corporations required to be assessed by the local assessors, as hereinbefore provided," after the word "state," ����
