ed for West Superior, and were transferred at West Duluth, in the state of Minnesota, to another train of the same company running thence to the city of West Superior, in the state of Wisconsin, just across the line between the two states. To have stopped the train at Pine City would have caused a loss of time of from five to seven minutes, and an expense of from $1.25 to $1.60. Two passenger trains and a mixed train passed daily each way over the road from St. Paul to Duluth, stopping at Pine City. The defendant, as stated in his bill of exceptions, "moved the court for his discharge on the ground that the statute under which the complaint is made is unconstitutional on its face, not falling within the legitimate scope of the police power of the state, consequently being a taking of the property of this railroad company without due process of law; that, even if it is not unconstitutional on its face, it is unconstitutional as applied to the train in controversy,-in the first place, being an attempt on the part of the state to regulate interstate commerce; and, secondly, being an unlawful interference with, and an attempt to regulate, the United States mail." The court denied the motion, and submitted the case to the jury, who returned a verdict of guilty, upon which judgment was rendered. The defendant appealed to the supreme court of the state, which affirmed the judgment. 57 Minn. 390, 59 N. W. 487. The defendant sued out this writ of error. The principles of law which govern this case are familiar, and have been often affirmed by this court. A railroad corporation created by a state is, for all purposes of local government, a domestic corporation, and its railroad within the state is a matter of domestic concern. Even when its road connects, as most railroads do, with railroads in other states, the state which created the corporation may make all needful regulations of a police character for the government of the company while operating its road in that jurisdiction. It may prescribe the location and the plan of construction of the road, the rate of speed at which the trains shall run, and the places at which they shall stop, and may make any other reasonable regulations for their management, in order to secure the objects of the incorporation, and the safety, good order, convenience, and comfort of the passengers and of the public. All such regulations are strictly within the police power of the state. They are not in themselves regulations of interstate commerce, and it is only when they operate as such in the circumstances of their application, and conflict with the express or presumed will of congress exerted upon the same subject, that they can be required to give way to the paramount authority of the constitution of the United States. Stone v. Trust Co., 116 U. S. 307, 333, 334, 6 Sup. Ct. 334, 388, 1191; Smith v. Alabama, 124 U. S. 465, 481, 482, 8 Sup. Ct. 564; Hennington v. Georgia, 163 U. S. 299, 308, 317, 16 Sup. Ct. 1086; New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. New York, 165 U. S. 628, 632, 17 Sup. Ct. 418. In Minnesota, as in other states, the county seat of each county is the place appointed for holding the meetings of the county commissioners and the sessions of the district_ court, and for keeping the offices of the clerk of that court, the judge of probate, the coun-* ty auditor, the county treasurer, the sheriff, and the register of deeds. Gen. St. Minn. 1878, c. 8, §§ 102, 129, 148, 174, 195, 220, 227, 258 (Gen. St. 1894, §§ 667, 707, 726, 760, 785, 819, 826, 857). The legislature of the state may well treat it as one important object of establishing a railroad within the state, that public officers, parties to actions, jurors, witnesses, and citizens generally, should be enabled the more promptly to reach and leave the centers to which their duties or business may call them. To require every regular passenger train running wholly within the limits of the state to stop at all stations at county seats directly in its course, for the few minutes and at the trifling expense needed to take on and discharge passengers with safety, is a reasonable exercise of the police power of the state, and cannot be considered a taking of property of the company without due process of law, nor an unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce or with the transportation of the mails of the United States. The recent case of Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Illinois, 163 U. S. 142, 16 Sup. Ct. 1096, cited by the plaintiff in error, was essentially different from the present case. In that case the statute of the state of Illinois, as construed and applied by the supreme court of the state, required a fast train, carrying interstate passengers and the United States mail from Chicago, in the state of Illinois, to places in other states south of the Ohio river, over an interstate highway established by authority of congress, to delay the transportation of such passengers and mails by turning aside from the direct interstate route, and running to a station three miles and a half away from a point on that route, and back again to the same point, and thus traveling seven miles which formed no part of its course, before proceeding on its way; and, as the court observed, the question whether a statute which merely required interstate railroad trains, without going out of their course, to stop at county seats, would be within the constitutional power of the state, was not presented, and could not be decided. upon the record in that case. 163 U. S. 153, 154, 16 Sup. Ct. 1096. But in the case at bar the train in question ran wholly "within the state of Minnesota, and could nave stopped at the county seat of Pine county without deviating from its course; and the statute of Minnesota expressly provides that "this act shall not apply to through railroad trains entering this state from any other state, or to transcontinental trains of any railroad." Judgment affirmed. Mr. Justice BREWER did not hear the argument, and took no part in the decision of this case. (166 U. S. 440) FIRST NAT. BANK OF ABERDEEN v. NATIONAL BANKS-TAXATION-PLEADING, 2. Rev. Št. U. S. § 5219, providing that state taxation of national bank stock shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed on "other moneyed capital" of citizens of the state, refers only to moneyed capital which comes into competition with the business of national banks; and the exemption of the stocks and bonds of insurance, wharf, and gas companies, or other noncompeting capital or credits, is not an unlawful discrimination against national banks whose stock is taxed. 3. A bill by a national bank to enjoin the col-❘ lection of taxes on its stock, alleging that moneyed capital in the state, a specified amount of which was invested in stocks and bonds of insurance, wharf, and gas companies, and another specified amount in loans and securities payable to citizens, the nature of which was not indicated other than by the allegation of the legal conclusion that they were "taxable," was exempted from taxation, does not show a discrimination against the bank in violation of Rev. St. U. S. § 5219, by taxing its stock at a greater rate than was assessed on other moneyed capital in the hands of citizens of the state. Mr. Justice Harlan, Mr. Justice Brown, and Mr. Justice White, dissenting. In Error to the Supreme Court of the State of Washington. The complainant took the case upon writ of error to the supreme court of the state, where the judgment was affirmed. 6 Wash. 64, 32 Pac. 1051. The complainant then sued out a writ of error bringing the case here. The essential allegations of the complaint were that the capital stock of the bank consisted of 500 shares of $100 each; that all of the stock was paid up, and was owned in part by citizens of the state of Washington, resident therein, and in part by citizens of the United States residing outside of the state; that the assessor of the said county was charged, under the provisions of an act of the legislature of the said state approved March 9, 1891, entitled "An act to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes in the state of Washington and declaring an emergency," with the duty of preparing an assessment roll of all the property subject to taxation in the said county, as owned and there subject to taxation on April 1, 1891; that thereupon the assessor proceeded to make out an assessment roll, wherein he listed to the complainant, as owner thereof, all of its capital stock, and, though informed by the complainant of the residence of each of the stockholders, and of the amount of stock held by each of them on April 1, 1891, assessed the capital stock in solido to the complainant as owner thereof, at a total valuation of $50,000; that upon the said assessment the defendant Carter, as treasurer, was officially directed to collect from the complainant a tax in the amount of $686.25; that, the tax not having been paid, the said defendant, as treasurer, on March 1, 1892, declared the same delinquent, and added thereto a certain sum by way of penalty for nonpayment, and a certain sum as interest, and was about to proceed to collect the total amount, being $787.22, by levying upon the safes, time locks, and other property used by the bank, and that, if he were permitted so to do, the complainant would suffer irreparable injury; that on April 1, 1891, there existed in the said county moneyed capital, other than that invested in shares of stock of national banks and banking business, owned by citizens of the state resident in that county, and there invested in loans and securities owing by other citizens of the state residing in the county, exceeding the sum of $237,400; that there existed in the state moneyed capital owned by citizens of the state who were residents of other counties thereof (aside from the capital invested in banks and banking business), invested in loans and securities owing by citizens of the state residing in counties other than the county aforesaid, exceeding the sum of $14.000,000; that the total capitalization of national banks located in the state was the sum of $7,000,000, and the total capitalization of banks there located, incorporated under the laws of the state, the sum of $4,000, The First National Bank of the city of Aberdeen, state of Washington, a banking corporation organized under the national banking laws of the United States, filed its complaint in the superior court of the said state for the county of Chehalis, May 16, 1892, against the county of Chehalis and J. M. Carter, as ex officio tax collector of the county, seeking to enjoin the defendants from levying upon the safes, time locks, and other personal property of the complainant for the purpose of collecting a tax upon the shares of its capital stock. The defendants demurred to the complaint, and, the demurrer having been sustained, and the complainant having refused to amend its complaint, Judgment was entered in the said court, Sep-000; that large amounts of moneyed capital tember 13, 1892, in favor of the defendants. were invested in the state, by residents there of, in the stocks and bonds of insurance, wharf, and gas companies, which amounts, together with all the moneyed capital above mentioned, made an aggregate of at least $26,000,000; that these facts were well known to the several assessors and other taxing officers throughout the state, but that the moneyed capital referred to, other than the said capital of the national and state banks, was purposely omitted from assessment and taxation in pursuance of an agreement entered into before April 1, 1891, between the assessors of the several counties, based upon an opinion rendered by the attorney general of the state, advising such omission; that this omission necessarily operated as a discrimination in favor of the other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of the state and against shares of stock of the national banking corporations located within the state, and necessarily resulted in the taxation of the shares of the national banks at a greater rate than other moneyed capital in the hands of the individual citizens of the state. James B. Howe, for plaintiff in error. James A. Haight, for defendants in error. Mr. Justice SHIRAS, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court. It is contended on behalf of the plaintiff in error that an assessment and taxation of all the shares of the stock of a national bank in solido to the bank direct, as owner thereof, constitutes a tax upon the bank, forbidden by section 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. The tax in question was assessed under section 21 of an act of the legislature of the state of Washington approved March 9, 1891 (Laws Wash. 1891, pp. 280-289), in the following terms: "Every individual, firm, corporation or association of persons, carrying on a general banking business in this state, whether the same has been organized under the banking laws of this state or the United States, or conducted under the style of private bankers, shall be assessed and taxed in the county, town, city or village where such bank or banking association is located, and not elsewhere, in the following manner: Annually, at such times as provided for listing property for taxation, any such bank or banking association as contemplated in this section shall, by its accounting officer, furnish the county or city assessor a statement, verified by oath, giving the amount of paid-up capital stock, the amount of surplus or reserved fund and the amount of undivided profits of such bank or banking association. The aggregate amount of capital, surplus and undivided profits shall be assessed and taxed as other like property in the state is assessed and taxed: provided, at the time of listing the capital stock, the amount and description of its legally authorized investments in real es tate shall be assessed and taxed as other real estate is assessed and taxed under this act, and the assessors shall deduct the amount of such investments in real estate from the aggregate amount of such capital, surplus and undivided profits, and the remainder then taxed as above provided." If this section stood alone, there might be ground for the contention that it contemplates taxation of the capital of the bank., But section 23 of the statute provides that "each bank and banking association shall be liable to pay any taxes assessed against them as the agent of each of its shareholders, owners, or owner under the provisions of this act, and may pay the same out of their individual profit account or charge the same to their expense account, or to the accounts of such shareholders, owners or owner in proportion to their ownership." The supreme court of Washington held in this case that these two sections are to be read together, and that, so read, their provisions are not inconsistent with those of the federal statute. That the two sections of the state law should be read together is obviously proper, and, at any rate, we are bound by the judg ment of the supreme court of the state in the mere matter of the construction of that law. In holding that the state law, in the provisions under consideration, was not in contravention of the federal statute, the supreme court of Washington claimed to follow the case of National Bank v. Com., 9 Wall. 353; and we agree with that court in thinking that the case referred to is decisive of the contention now made. In that case it appeared that a statute of the state of Kentucky provided that a tax should be laid on "the bank stock or stock in any moneyed corporation of loan or discount, fifty cents on each share thereof equal to one hundred dollars, or on each one hundred dollars of stock therein owned by individuals, corporations or societies"; and further provided that "the cashier of a bank whose stock is taxed shall, on the first day of July in each year, pay into the treasury the amount of tax due. If such tax be not paid, the cashier and his sureties shall be liable for the same and twenty per cent. upon the amount." It was claimed by the bank that the shares of the stock were the property of the individual stockholders, and that the bank could not be made responsible for a tax levied on those shares, and could not be compelled to collect and pay such tax to the state. In delivering the opinion of the court, Mr. Justice Miller said: "It is strongly urged that it is to be deemed a tax on the capital of the bank, because the law requires the officers of the bank to pay this tax on the shares of its stockholders. Whether the state has the right to do this we will presently consider, but the fact that It has attempted to do it does not prove that the tax is anything else than a tax on these shares. It has been the practice of many of the states for a long time to require of their corporations thus to pay the tax levied on their shareholders. It is the common, if not the only, mode of doing this in all the New England states, and in several of them the portion of this tax which should properly go as the shareholder's contribution to local or municipal taxation is thus collected by the state of the bank, and paid over to the local municipal authorities. In the case of shareholders not residing in the state, it is the only mode in which the state can reach their shares for taxation. We are, therefore, of opinion that this law of Kentucky is a tax upon the shares of the stockholder. • A very nice criticism of the proviso to the forty-first section of the national bank act, -now section 5219 of the Revised Statutes, -which permits the states to tax the shares of such bank, is made to us to show that the tax must be collected of the shareholder directly, and that the mode we have been considering is, by implication, forbidden. But we are of opinion that, while congress intended to limit state taxation to the shares of the bank, as distinguished from its capital, and to provide against a discrimination in taxing such bank shares unfavorable to them as compared with the shares of other corporations and with other moneyed capital, it did not intend to prescribe to the states the mode in which the tax should be collected. The mode under consideration is the one which congress itself has adoped in collecting its tax on dividends and on the income arising from bonds of corporations. It is the only mode which, certainly and without loss, secures the payment of the tax on all the shares, resident or nonresident; and, as we have already stated, it is the mode which experience has justified in the New England states as the most convenient and proper in regard to the numerous wealthy corporations of those states. It is not to be readily inferred, therefore, that congress intended to prohibit this mode of collecting a tax which they expressly permitted the states to levy." This case was followed in Bell's Gap R. Co. v. Pennsylvania, 134 U. S. 239, 10 Sup. Ct. 533, and Van Slyke v. Wisconsin, 154 U. S. 581, 14 Sup. Ct. 1168, and its doctrine that the statutory appointment of the bank to pay the whole tax as agent of the stockholders is not inconsistent with the federal law pertaining to national banks was correctly interpreted and applied by the state court to the case in hand. It was not alleged in the bill, or claimed on argument, that the bank was not in possession of funds belonging to the stockholders severally sufficient to pay the tax proportioned to their ownership of the stock. It is also contended that the supreme court of Washington erred in not holding that the bill of complaint showed that the taxation of the shares of capital stock of the plaintiff was at a greater rate than was assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of the state of Washington, and was, therefore, void under section 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. As the case was disposed of in the court below on a demurrer to the bill, it is proper to have before us the very language of the bill which presents this question, and which was as follows: "That on the 1st day of April, 1891, there existed in the county of Chehalis, state of Washington, taxable moneyed capital (other than and beyond that invested in shares of stock of national banks and banking business) owned by citizens of said state, resident in said county, and there invested in loans and securities to them payable, and owing by other citizens of said state residing in said county, of vast amount, to wit, exceeding the sum of two hundred and thirtyseven thousand four hundred dollars; that on said 1st day of April, 1891, there existed in the state of Washington, in counties other than the county of Chehalis aforesaid, other taxable capital in money and moneyed capital (aside from the moneyed capital referred to in the paragraph preceding, and aside from the capital in banks and banking business) owned by citizens of the state of Washington resident in said state (in counties other than the county of Chehalis), and there invested in loans and securities to them payable, and owing by other resident citizens of said state in counties other than the county of Chehalis, of vast amount, to wit, exceeding the sum, as complainant is informed and believes, of fourteen million dollars; that on the said 1st day of April, 1891, the total capitalization of national banks located in the state of Washington was the sum of seven million dollars; that the total capitalization of banks there located, but incorporated under the laws of the state of Washington, was the sum of four million dollars; and that at the same time large amounts of moneyed capital were invested in the state of Washington by residents of said state in the stocks and bonds of insurance, wharf, and gas companies, and in addition to the foregoing there then existed in said state other moneyed capital amounting to at least twenty-six million dollars, being the other moneyed capital herein before referred to; that in no case, as complainant is informed and believes, and so charges the fact to be, is the stock of any national bank, or the shares of the stock of any national bank located in the state of Washington, valued for assessment for taxation in said state at a less sum or assessed upon a value of less than eightyfive per cent. of the par value thereof; and further, that the total assessment and tota. valuation in the assessment for taxation throughout the state of Washington for the 448 year 1891 of and upon the bonds and shares of banks, banking corporations, insurance, gas, wharf, and other corporations was the sum of eight million two hundred and five thousand five hundred and three dollars; that the facts alleged in the preceding paragraphs thereof were then and during all of the times intervening between the 1st day of April, 1891, and the time of the return of the several assessment rolls throughout the state of Washington by the county assessors to the county auditors, well known to the assessor of the county of Chehalis and all other county assessors throughout the state of Washington, and during all of said times and until the 1st day of March, 1892, were well known to the several county and state officers hereinbefore referred to, and also to the boards of equalization and boards of county commissioners and the auditor of each of the counties in said state, and since the 1st day of March, 1892, have been, and are now, well known to the defendant the treasurer of Chehalis county; that on said 1st day of April, 1891, the entire capital, surplus, and undivided profits of complainant were invested as follows, to wit, $12,500 bonds of the United States, and the remainder in loans to residents of the state of Washington, in furniture and fixtures; that all of said other moneyed capital referred to in the foregoing paragraphs was purposely omitted from the assessment and from taxation whatsoever by each and every of the county assessors and other taxing officers throughout the state of Washington, and the same, and the whole thereof, has escaped taxation throughout the state of Washington; that the omission by the several county assessors and taxing officers of the several counties in said state to either assess or tax other moneyed property or capital last aforesaid was made through, under, and by reason and in pursuance of an agreement entered into prior to the 1st day of April, 1891, between the several county assessors of the several counties in said state, whereby it was agreed upon between them that such omission should be made by them, and all of them; and said omission and agreement to omit was in pursuance of an opinion rendered by the attorney general of the state of Washington to the said several county assessors at their request, advising such omission, the said attorney general being, by virtue of his office, required by the laws of the state of Washington to render such opinion upon the request of said assessors; that such omission necessarily operated as a discrimination in favor of other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of said state and against shares of stock of national banking corporations located within this state, including complainant, and necessarily resulted in taxation of the shares of such national banks, including complainant, at a greater rate than other moneyed capital in the hands of the individual citizens of said state, all of which was well known to and most wrongfully intended by said several county assessors and taxing officers, and all of which is in direct violation of, and forbidden by, the provisions of the Revised Statutes hereinbefore specifically referred to." *It is claimed by the plaintiff in error that the withdrawal from taxation of so large a proportion of moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens as is shown by these allegations had the effect of taxing national. bank shares at a greater rate than the remaining moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens was taxed. Before we consider the legal import of these statements in the complaint, we shall briefly review some of the previous decisions. of this court in which similar questions have been dealt with. In People v. Commissioners, 4 Wall. 244, the question presented was whether a tax imposed, under a law of the state of New York, on shares of a national bank, was invalid,. as a discrimination against the shareholders, because no allowance or deduction was made on account of investments made by the bank in United States bonds, whereas such a deduction or allowance was made in assessments upon insurance companies and individuals. The answer given by this court was "that, upon a true construction of that clause of the act which provided that taxation of such shares by state authority should not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such states, the meaning and intent of the lawmakers were that the rate of taxation of the shares should be the same, or not greater than upon the moneyed capital of the individual citizen which is subject or liable to taxation; that is, no greater proportion or percentage of tax in the valuation of the shares should be levied than upon other moneyed taxable capital in the hands of the citizens." And it was said that "It is known as sound policy that in every wellregulated and enlightened state or government certain descriptions of property, and also certain institutions, such as churches, hospitals, academies, cemeteries, and the like,-are exempt from taxation; but these exemptions have never been regarded as disturbing the rates of taxation, even where the fundamental law had ordered that it should be uniform." In Lionberger v. Rouse, 9 Wall. 468, a shareholder in the Third National Bank of St. Louis resisted payment of a tax of nearly 2 per cent. on his stock, imposed under a law of the state of Missouri, because there were in that state two banks which, by a contract, the state had, prior to the passage of the national bank laws, disabled itself from taxing at a greater rate than 1 per cent.; and it was claimed that the tax complained of was assessed in disregard of that provision of the federal statute which enacted "that the tax so imposed, under the laws. |