The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-12
n THE SUPREME COURT
Three Important Opinions Were
Handed Down.
JOHN BLOOR DISCARDED
Tho Court Holds That the Net Proceeds
Of Coal Miners Should b Taxed
and State Banks Pay .
License.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.

special D1spdtch TO the
Helena. April 1.-THE supreme court to-
a rendered three opinions that will be
read with unusual interest. The court
decided that the annual net proceeds OF
coal mines should be taxed. that state
banks should pay a license and that John
Bloor cannot be permitted to practice
law in the state of Montana when he
completes his sentence in the state peni-
Tertiary. The decision of the court in
the matter of taxing coal mine proceeds
will add materially to the tax collections
Of the three leading coal counties of
the state. Carbon. Cascade and Park. The
case came before the court on an appeal
from the district court of Park county
in denying the Montana Coal and Coke
company an injunction restraining Coun-
ty Treasurer Livingston Of Park county
from selling certain coal property Of the
company for the non-payment of taxes.
The coal company claimed that section
3 article XII. of the constitution of Mon
tana, which provides among other things
that the annual proceeds Of all mines
and mining claims shall be taxed, was
not intended by the trainers of the con-
stftution to include coal mines, but that
such net proceeds. together with other
personal property of the corporation.
must be taxed as the property of the
corporation at a uniform rate OF assess
ment and taxation. Justice Hunt, who
wrote the opinion which afirms the or
der of the lower court. holds that such
a construction is too narrow. He says
that the principle Of construction as APP
piled to a written constitution il that
effect must be given II possible to the
whole instrument and to every section
and clause. and in support of that doc
trine quotes from Conley's Constitutional
Limitations:
"When guided by these rules says
the court. cit becomes the duty of the
judiciary to avoid any construction which
will make the word coal used In the
section quoted idle and nugatory. or
which will eliminate 1t from the context
altogether. The subject of the whole sec
ton under consideration pertains to rev.
enue and taxation necessary for the sup
port of the state: and the object intend
ed to be accomplished is the taxation of
the net proceeds of any and all mines
which contain valuab. mineral deposits.
Having collected this intention from the
article and section referred to, we shall
interpret the words used so as to avoid
~repugnances or Inconsistencies with such
intention.
Certainly coal is a mineral. classed as
such generally. and especially so desig-
mated by the trainers of the constitution
"a ~ q VI ihthto anu
mining claims containing or bearing gold,
copper, coal or other valuable mineral
deposits Whether or not from a scien-
tific standpoint coal Is classed by geolo-
gists as placer or rock In place is not OF
great Importance. for we conclude that,
in the absence of a constitutional deini-
tion of la is placer and what is rock
in place-whether scientifically accurate
or not in our Interpretation of these
w~ords-they must be here defined as
sufficiently broad to include all mines
and mining claims containing or bearing
vaiuable mineral deposits of the several
minerals mentioned in the section cited
After discussing the doctrine that gen.
eral terms of a constitution must re-
ceive that Interpretation which will in
clude all the instances enumerated as
comprehended by them. the court cites an
analogous case in the famous Eureka
case decided by the supreme court of the
United States. This grew out of the con-
gressional enactment in regard to pat
ents. This speaks of cinnabar being in
a lode. although contrary to the teach
ings OF geology. In that decision Judge
Field announced that any definition of
lode as used in the act of congress
which did not embrace deposits of CHINA
bar would be as defective as IL 1t did
not embrace deposits of gold and silver"
After a discussion of the legislation upon
the subject of taxing the net proceeds of
coal mines. the opinion concludes: "When
the legislature adopted the code sections
of the net proceeds of mines they were
dealing with the matter of the practical
means of acquiring revenue for the state;
and by including coal miners as those en-
gagged In mining upon quartz veins or
lodes or placer mining claims, they classi-
fled such persons with relations to meth
DDS and conveniences in the assessment
of the proceeds of coal mines rather than
any standard of the scientific defini-
of quartz veins or lodes or placer
mining claims which were to be assessed.
Uncertainties arising out of the meaning
of the words quartz and placer must
be resolved before the easily
ascertained and controlling intent which
was to include persons owning coal mines
and the net proceeds of such mines as
the province of the statutes. Our
Judgment is that the order appealed from
be affirmed"
Chief Justice Pemberton wrote the opin-
ion which holds that state banks must
pay the license provided for in section
1851 political code. The title Of the ac-
ton was The State of Montana vs.. The
Cruise Savings bank. an appeal
from the district court of Lewis and
county which upheld the law.
was a test case i'm every respect.
The amount of license claimed from the
Is $500. Counsel for the bank con-
tended that the law is unconstitutional
In that II legislates against state banks
and In favor of national banks. from the
fact that the latter are not required to
pay a license. In regard to that point
the court says: Legislative discrimina-
ton between persons. corporations or
things occurs when all of such subjects
Of legislation exist by authority of. or
are introduced into the state by its per-
mission and are consequently rightful
,..hsAnx. - The cax~Arf.. oanfrnl - 4