its full value and as your orator is informed and believes, it was designedly so assessed by them, and the universal custom as to other property, taken in connection with defendants action as to the property of your orator, is a wrongful discrimination against it and deprives it of its property without due process of law and denies to it the equal protection of the laws, which is guaranteed to it by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the protection of which it expressly claims.

12. And your orator further alleges that the method of appraisement prescribed by law for the valuation of railroad property is different from that prescribed for the valuation of other property including other corporations. That while under the laws of this State, lands and improvements thereon are assessed for taxes every fourth year, the property of railroad companies, consisting largely of land and improvements thereon, is assessed for taxation annually, in this respect being treated as personal property, but that for the purposes of lien and collection of taxes the acts of the General Assembly treat the property of railroad corporations as real estate, and further by section 60, of the Revenue Law above quoted, it is provided that the assessors in valuing railroad property shall take into consideration the value of the franchise, the gross earnings and the net income of each road; while in the appraisement of the value of other corporations there is no direction to the appraisers to consider the franchises, gross earnings or income, nor is there any direction to the assessors in placing a valuation on the property of individuals to consider the earning capacity of the property.

And your orator further alleges, on information and belief, that the difference in method was intended to cause railroad property to be assessed at its full value, when it was notorious that farming lands are habitually and intentionally assessed at from fifty to sixty per cent of their value, and so make such property bear more than its fair proportion of the burden of taxation, whether so intended or not, the honest application of the prescribed method by the defendants Franklin McNeil, S. L. Rogers and E. C. Beddingfield, constituting the Corporation Commission, does, in fact, result in taxing railroad property partially, unfairly and unjustly, in violation of article 5, section 3, of the Constitution of North Carolina and of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to the great injury of your orator.

13. That there has been a persistent and steady increase in the assessment of your orator's property at each annual assessment for the past several years, while the assessment of all other than railroad property has remained practically the same. In 1898 your orator's property was assessed at $7,482,309, which your orator believed and still believes was too high when considered in connection with the valuation of other property in the State, and wrongfully discriminated against your orator, but it has no desire to embarrass the administration of the State Government and is willing to pay into court for the use of the State and of each county, city and town, the amount of taxes assessed against it for the year 1898.

14. That by section 45 of the said Machinery Act, chapter 15 of the Laws of 1899, it is provided: "The said Commissioners shall first determine the value of each railroad, rolling stock and other property, ascertaining such value from

the earnings as compared with the operating expenses, and taking into consideration the value of the franchise as well as other conditions proper to be considered in arriving at the true value of the property, as in the case of private property, and the aggregate value thus determined shall be apportioned in the same proportion that the length of such road in each county bears to the entire length thereof; and the Commissioners shall certify to the Chairman of the County Commissioners and the Mayor of each city and incorporated town the amount apportioned to his county, city or town, and the Commissioners shall make and forward a like certificate, together with all the reports of the various railroad officers or copies thereof and other papers and evidence which formed the basis of the valuation, to the Auditor of the State. All taxes due the State from any railroad company, except the tax imposed for school purposes shall be paid by the treasurer of each company directly to the State Treasurer within thirty days after the first day of July of each year, and upon failure to pay the State Treasurer as aforesaid, he shall institute an action to enforce the same in the county of Wake or any county in which said railroad is located. The Board of County Commissioners of each county through which said railroad passes shall assess against the same only the tax imposed by the State for school purposes and those imposed for county purposes.

15. That by virtue of said provision, the defendants unless restrained by this Honorable Court, will at once certify their valuations of the property of your orator to the Auditor of the State, and will also certify to the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of each county, and to the Mayor of each city or incorporate town through which the road of your orator runs, the proportionate part of the valuation of your orator's property assigned to them and your orator will then be expected and required to pay the taxes thereon within the time allowed by law. The road of your oratoṛ runs through at least twenty counties and fifty incorporated towns and cities and unless this action of said defendant's is restrained by the Court the plaintiff will be put to a multiplicity of actions and harrassing litigation. Moreover the taxes levied in each county, city and town will be liens upon your orator's property as soon as listed and will cast a cloud upon the title thereto.

16. Upon information and belief, your orator alleges that the valuation of railroad property in North Carolina is out of all proportion to the valuation of other property in the State. The valuation of the railroad property is now practically the same as the valuation of all the town lots in cities, towns and villages, to-wit: about $44,000,000. In 1898 all property in the State other than railroad property was assessed at about $229,000,000 while railroad property was then assessed at $33,000,000 and now at $44,000,000. The farming lands of the State, 28,000,000 acres, were, as it is informed and believes, assessed at $110,000,000 with a yielding capacity of from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000.

17. That the defendant W. H. Worth is the public Treasurer of the State of North Carolina, and the defendant Hal W. Ayer is the public Auditor thereof. Wherefore, your orator prays that the defendant, the North Carolina Corporation Commission and Franklin McNeil, S. L. Rogers and E. C. Beddingfield, members thereof, and Henry C. Brown, Clerk of the same, and William H. Worth, Treasurer, and Hal. W. Ayer, Auditor, be made parties defendant to this bill, and that subpoena thereon may issue in due course, and that each of said

defendants be required to answer this bill according to the usual practice of this Honorable Court, but without oath, an answer under oath being hereby expressly waived; that on the hearing the unjust discrimination against your orator be declared and restrained; that the said Corporation Commission be restrained and enjoined from valuing the property of your orator in excess of the valuation of 1898, that the said W. H. Worth, Treasurer, and Hal W. Ayer, Auditor, be enjoined and restrained from collecting taxes from your orator on the basis of the present assessment, and from taking any steps in the premises till the further order of the Court; that in the meantime the said Corporation Commission and Franklin McNeil, S. L. Rogers and E. C. Beddingfield, and H. C. Brown be enjoined and restrained from certifying the said assessment to the Auditor of the State and the Board of Commissioners of the several counties, and to the Mayor or other authorities of the several cities and towns through which orator's road runs, and from taking any further steps in the matter of said assessment or of the taxation of your orator's property until the further order of the Court; that the said Auditor and Treasurer we enjoined and restrained from collecting any taxes on the basis of said assessment and from certifying the same to any Board of Commissioners, Mayor or any other officer of any county, city or town, and from instituting any suit or suits for the collection of any taxes or of any penalty or penalties on account of the non-payment of any taxes arising on account of said assessment till the further order of the Court, and for such other and further relief as may be just and the nature of the case demands and for costs.

GEO, ROUNTREE,

R. O. BURTON,

Solicitors for Complainant.

NORTH CAROLINA,

NEW HANOVER COUNTY.

Warren G. Elliott being duly sworn, says that he is an oflcer of the plaintiff corporation, to-wit: its President, that he has read the foregoing bill, and knows the contents thereof, and that the matters therein stated as of his own knowledge are true, and those stated on information and belief he believes to be true. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of July, 1899.

BILL.

The complainant, the Southern Railway Company, is a corporation chartered, created, and organized, under the laws of the State of Virginia, and is a citizen of that State, doing business in the State of North Carolina; and the said complainant, brings this, its bill of complaint, against the North Carolina Corporation Commission, Franklin McNeill, Chairman, Samuel L. Rogers, and E. C. Beddingfield, members of the said Commission, and H. C. Brown, Clerk of the said Commission, and H. W. Ayer, Auditor of the State of North Carolina, and William H. Worth, Treasurer.

That the said North Carolina Corporation Commission, was created by act of the General Assembly of said State, entitled “An Act to establish the North Carolina Corporation Commission," ratified the 6th day of March, A. D., 1899.

That a copy of the said act, establishing the said Commission, is hereto attached, marked "A", and is made a part of this bill; that the place of business of the said Commission is in the city of Raleigh, within this, the Eastern District of North Carolina, and within the jurisdiction of this Court. That each and every member of the said Commission is a citizen, and resident of the State of North Carolina. That H. C. Brown, the Clerk of the said Commission, is a citizen of the State of North Carolina, and resident within the Eastern District of North Carolina. That the said Auditor, H. W. Ayer, and the said Treasurer, William H. Worth, are citizens of the State of North Carolina, and residents of the said District.

Complaining, your orator, the Southern Railway Company, says:

1. That the amount involved, and matter in dispute, between complainant and respondents exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum and value of two thousand dollars, all of which will appear to the Court in a subsequent part of this bill.

2. That your orator, the complainant, is the owner of, and is operating, a number of railroads in the State of North Carolina, the number of miles covered by the same being about twelve hundred, that the said railroads, the names of which will appear in a subsequent part of this bill, have been managed and operated in a lawful manner, and in response and obedience to the laws, and the rules prescribed by the authorities of the said State.

3. That, as will be seen by reference to an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina, entitled "An Act to provide for the assessment of property, and the collection of taxes," ratified the 8th day of March, 1899, it being chapter fifteen (15) Public Laws of North Carolina, and section forty-two (42), the Commissioners elected from to time, under the authority of "An Act to provide for the general supervision of railroads, steamboat and canal companies, express and telegraph companiess doing business in the State of North Carolina," shall constitute a board of appraisers and assessors for railroad, telegraph, canal and steamboat companies. That copies of sections forty-two (42), forty-three (43) and those following, to and including section fifty (50), of the said act, are hereto attached, and made a part of this bill, marked "B".

4. That, under and by virtue of the provisions of the said act, entitled “An Act to establish the North Carolina Corporation Commission", it being chapter one hundred and sixty-four (164) of the Public Laws of North Carolina, for the

session and year 1899, the Board of Railroad Commissioners ceased to exist as created and established under chapter three hundred and twenty (320) of the laws of North Carolina, session 1891, the same being "An Act to provide for the general supervision of railroads, steamboat and canal companies doing business in the State of North Carolina," having been repealed by the said act of 1899.

5. That, as your orator is advised and believes, the act of the General Assembly of North Carolina, creating said Corporation Commission, created as hereinbefore set out, does not confer upon the North Carolina Corporation Commission the power to appraise and assess the railroad property in the State for taxation; nor does the act of the session of 1899, entitled "An Act to provide for the assessment of property and the collection of taxes," confer upon the said Corporation Commission the power to appraise and assess the railroad property in the State for taxation.

8. That the said Corporation Commission, claiming for itself the right and power to assess and appraise the railroad property of your orator in the State of North Carolina for taxation, under the taxing laws of the State as herein. before set out, has assessed and appraised the railroad property of complainant, your orator, as follows:

Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad (45 miles), $8,000 per mile, $379,690. Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad (11.48 miles), $20,000 per mile, $252,850.

Northwestern North Carolina Railroad (25.37 miles), $12,000 per mile; (74.78 miles), $8,000 per mile, $939,710.

Oxford and Clarksville Railroad (49.35 miles), $5,000 per mile, $269,525.
Oxford and Henderson Railroad (12.72 miles), $5,000 per mile, $69,385.
Piedmont Railroad (42.73 miles), $25,000 per mile, $1,214,850.

Statesville and Western Railroad (20.36 miles), $3,000 per mile, $67,450. Western North Carolina Railroad, main line, (185.48 miles), $16,000 per mile, Murphy Branch (122.16 miles), $4,000 per mile, $3,766,050.

Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railroad (43.19 miles), $20,000 per mile, $956,410.

Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad (41.92 miles), $8,000 per mile, $370,145. High Point, Randleman, Ashboro and Southern Railroad (26.78 miles), $4,500 per mile, $130,725.

North Carolina Railroad (225.90 miles), $20,000 per mile, $4,694,848.
North Carolina Midland Railroad (53.51 miles), $2,600 per mile, $145.456.

State University Railroad (10.14 miles), $2,100 per mile, $24,999.

Yadkin Railroad (44 miles), $3,000 per mile, $131,935.

Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad (161.08 miles), $8,250 per mile, $1,328,910. Rolling stock added with other property making $1,445,283.

7. That the appraisement and assessment of this property of your orator reaches the enormous sum of nearly fifteen and one-half millions dollars, including an assessment of other rolling stocks at a valuation of $399,292.

8. That this assessment and appraisement of the said railroad property is in excess of the value put upon the same property for the year 1898, by the Board of Railroad Commissioners, in a sum exceeding $3,671,000, being an increase of about thirty-five per centum over the valuation of that year. This is shown by