the laws of this State amounted to the sum of $3,540,000, and at the same period the aggre gate value of the personal property of said companics, consisting of mortgages, loans with collateral security, state, county, and municipal bonds, and railroad bonds and shares of stock of corporations (but not including the bonds of the United States nor the shares of corporations created by the State of New York), amounted

The hearing in the circuit court was had upon an agreed statement of facts, as follows:

"It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the parties to the above entitled suit, that, for the purpose of the trial of this cause, the facts hereinafter stated are true, and that the cause be submitted for trial and decree upon such statement alone, together with the pleadings:

1. That the complainant, on the second Monday of January, A. D. 1885, and for several months prior thereto, had a capital stock of the par value of $1,000,000 and a surplus fund of $200,000; that nearly the whole of said capital and surplus fund was, during that period, invested in bonds of the United States of the par value of $949,000, and of a market value and cost largely exceeding that sum; that its shares of stock were each of the par value of $100 and of the number of 10,000, and were then held by one hundred and forty-two persons and corporations, fifty of whom, owning 1,877 shares, were residents of States other than [141] the State of New York, and the remainder residents of the State of New York.

"2. That, on the second Monday of January, 1885, the proper tax officers of the City of New York, acting under chapter 409 of the Laws of 1882 of the State of New York, did value and assess for taxation the shares of stock of said Bank against the individual shareholders thereof, at the rate of $89 per share, after deducting the proportion of the assessed value of the real estate of said Bank applicable to each share of stock, as by law required, making the total gross valuation of said shares in the hands of the shareholders the sum of $890,000, from which sum the debts of sundry indebted stockholders, amounting to $89,128, were deducted, as by law allowed, leaving the total valuation of said shares against said stockholders upon which taxes were thereafter assessed the sum of $800,872.

"3. That, on the second Monday of January, 1885, the aggregate actual value of the shares of stock of the incorporated moneyed and stock corporations incorporated by the laws of the State of New York deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise (not including life insurance companies, trust companies, banks, or banking associations, organized under the authority of this State or of the United States) amounted to the sum of $755,018,892; that 'Exhibit A,' hereto appended and made a part of this agreement, contains a list of the corporations whose shares of capital stock are embraced in said sum of $755,018,892, and also shows the total par value of the shares of capital stock of each of said corporations.

"4. That, at the period aforesaid, the aggregate actual value of the shares of stock of the life insurance companies incorporated under

"5. That, at the said period, the aggregate actual value of the shares of the capital stock of the trust companies existing in the State of New York and organized under its laws amounted to $32,018,900, as is shown in detail in the schedule hereto annexed, marked 'Exhibit C.' of which sum the amount of $30,215,900 was of trust companies located in the City of New York.

"6. That, at the same period, the aggregate actual value of the deposits due by the savings banks of this State to depositors was $437,107,501 (not including the surplus accumulated by the said corporations, amounting to $68,669,001).

7. That the aggregate actual value of the bonds and stocks issued by the City of New York, subject to the provisions of chapter 552 of the Laws of 1880, at the said period, amounted to $13,467,000.

"8. That the aggregate actual value at the same period of the shares of stock of corporations created by States other than the State of New York, owned by the citizens of the State of New York, amounted to at least the sum of $250,000,000.

9. The assessed valuation of all personal property, after making the deductions allowed by law, in the City of New York (at the said period), as shown by the annual record of the assessed valuation of real and personal estate of the said City for the year 1885, was $202,673,806. This sum included the capital of corporations (after making deductions for investments thereof in real estate, shares of New York corporations, taxable upon their capital stock under the laws of this State, and nontaxable securities), as follows: Insurance companies....... Trust companies..

Miscellaneous companies..
Railroad companies....

"It also included: Shares of national banks. Shares of state banks..

$ 2,146,379 156,506 29,234,409

12,339,871

45,046,074

15,700,220

clusive of said City, after deducting debts due by the owners thereof for the year ending December 81, 1884, as assessed by the assessors and returned to the State Comptroller, is $151,632,369.

"This sum included the capital of corporations (after making the deductions for investments thereof in real estate, shares of New York corporations taxable upon their capital stock under the laws of this State, and nontaxable securities) of the amount of $34,466,612. The aggregate capital stock, taken

at par, of the national banks outside of the City of New York, but within the State of New York, on December 20, 1884, as shown by the report of the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, was... And that of state banks, outside of the said City, but within said State, as shown by the report of the bank superintendent of New York, is..

Total (outside of New York City). The total par value of the shares of national banks in said State, including the City of New York, for the period aforesaid, is.. And of the state banks..

$36,804,160

8,128,000

$44,932,160

$83,054,160 32,815,700 "10. That it is the intention of the defendants, unless restrained by injunction, to collect the said tax levied by them against the shareholders of the said complainant upon said shares by the use of all needful legal process.

"11. That any Statutes of the United States or of the State of New York may be cited and relied upon before the said court as if herein fully set forth."

From a decree dismissing the bill the present appeal is prosecuted.

Section 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United States is as follows:

"Nothing herein shall prevent all the shares in any association from being included in the valuation of the personal property of the owner or holder of such shares in assessing taxes imposed by authority of the State within which the association is located; but the Legislature of each State may determine and direct the manner and place of taxing all the shares of national banking associations located within the State, subject only to the two restrictions that the taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such State, and that the shares of any national banking association owned by nonresidents of any State shall be taxed in the city or town where the bank is located and not elsewhere. Nothing herein shall be construed to exempt the real property of associations from either state, county, or municipal taxes to the same extent, according to its value, as other real property is

taxed."

In the present case no question is raised by the appellant as to the validity of section 312, chapter 409 of the Laws of New York of 1882, considered by itself, nor in reference to the rule of valuation or assessment which it prescribes. No exception is taken to the form of the assess

ment, nor is the case based in any degree upon the dereliction of the assessing officers in the discharge of their duties, there being no allega tion and no proof that they have not performed their whole duty under the statutes of the State.

The proposition which the appellant seeks to establish is that the State of New York, in seeking to tax national bank shares, has not complied with the condition contained in section 5219 of the Revised Statutes, that such taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the [146] hands of individual citizens of such State, "in that, it has by its legislation expressly exempted from all taxes in the hands of the individual citizens numerous species of moneyed capital, aggregating in actual value the sum of $1,686,000,000, whilst it has by its laws subjected national bank shares in the hands of individual holders thereof (aggregating a par value of $83,000,000), and state bank shares (having a like value of $22,815,700), to taxation upon their full actual value, less only a proportionate amount of the real estate owned by the bank." This exemption, it is claimed, is of and renders the taxation of national bank shares a "very material part relatively" of the whole,

void.

The exemptions thus referred to are classified as follows:

1. The shares of stock in the hands of the individual shareholders of all incorporated "moneyed or stock corporations deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise, incorporated by the laws of New York, not including trust companies and life insur ance companies, and state or national banks." The value of such shares, it is admitted, amounts to $755,018,892.

2. Trust companies and life insurance com panies. The actual value of the shares of stock in trust companies amounts to $32,018,900, and the actual value of the shares in life insurance companies amounts to $3,540,000, which life insurance companies, it is admitted, are the owners of personal property consisting of mortgages, loans, stocks and bonds to the value of $195,257,305.

3. Savings banks and the deposits thereid The deposits amount to $437,107,501, and an accumulated surplus to $68,669,001.

4. Certain municipal bonds issued by the City of New York under an Act passed in 1880, of the value of $13,467,000.

5. Shares of stocks in corporations created by States other than New York, in the hands of individual holders, residents of said State, amounting to $250,000,000.

It is argued by the appellant that these exemptions bring the case within the decision of Boyer v. Boyer, 113 U. S. 689 [28: 1089]. In [147] that case, referring to the legislation of Pennsylvania, it was said: "The burden of county taxation imposed by the latter Act has at all events been removed from all bonds or certifi cates of loan issued by any railroad company incorporated by the State; from shares of stock in the hands of stockholders of any institution or company of the State which in its corporate capacity is liable to pay a tax into the state treasury under the Act of 1859; from mortgages, judgments, and recognizances of every kind; from moneys due or owing upon articles

of agreement for the sale of real estate; from all loans, however made, by corporations which are taxable for state purposes when such corporations pay into the state treasury the required tax on such indebtedness."

This enumeration of exempted property, the amounts of which were stated in the bill and admitted by the demurrer, was held to include such a material portion relatively of the moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens as to make the tax upon the shares of national banks an unfair discrimination against that class of property, but no attempt was made in the opinion of the court to define the meaning of the words "moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens" as used in the statute, or to enumerate all the various kinds of property or investments that came within its description, or to show that shares of stock in the hands of stockholders of every institution, company, or corporation of a State, having a capital employed for the purpose of earning dividends or profits for its stockholders, were taxable as moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens.

It is accordingly contended on behalf of the appellees in the present case, 1, that the shares of stock in the various companies incorporated by the laws of New York as moneyed or stock corporations, deriving an income or profit from their capital or otherwise, including trust companies, life insurance companies, and savings banks, are not moneyed capital in the hands of the individual citizen within the meaning of the Act of Congress; 2,that if any of them are, then the corporations themselves are taxed under the laws of New York in such a manner and to such an extent that the shares of stock therein are in fact subject to a tax equal to that which is assessed upon shares of national banks; and 3, that if there are any exceptions, they are immaterial in amount and based upon considerations which exclude them from the operation of the rule of relative taxation intended by the Act of Congress.

In view of the nature of the contention between the parties to this suit, and the extent and value of the interests involved, it becomes necessary to review with care the previous decisions of this court upon the same subject, and to endeavor to state with precision the rule of relative taxation prescribed to the States by Congress on shares of national banks.

The National Banking Act of 1864, 13 Stat. at L. 111, in addition to the restrictions now imposed upon the state taxation of national bank shares, declared "That the tax so imposed, under the laws of any State, upon the shares of any of the associations authorized by this Act shall not exceed the rate imposed upon the shares in any of the banks organized under the 'authority of the State where such association is located." In the re-enactment of this statute in 1868, 15 Stat. at L. 34, this proviso was omitted. The case of Van Allen v. Assessors, 70 U. S. 3 Wall. 573 [18: 229] was decided under the Act of 1864 as originally enacted. In that case, the taxing law of New York, which was in question, was held to be invalid because it levied no taxes upon shares in state banks at all, the tax being assessed upon the capital of the banks after deducting that portion which was invested in securities of the United

States; and it was held that this tax on the capital was not a tax on the shares of the stockholders equivalent to that on the shares in national banks. It was also decided in that case that it was competent for the States, under the permission of Congress, to tax the shares of national bank stock held by individuals, notwithstanding the capital of the bank was invested in bonds of the United States which were not subject to taxation.

It appears, therefore, as the result of the decision in that case, that a tax upon the capital of a state bank, levied upon the value thereof, after deducting such part as was invested in nontaxable government bonds, was less than an equivalent for a tax upon the shares of national banks from which no such deduction was permitted. Accordingly, in the case of People v. Commissioners, 71 U. S. 4 Wall. 244 [18: 344], the complaint was made on behalf of individual owners of national bank stock taxed in New York, that no deduction was permitted to them from the value of their shares on account of the capital of the bank being invested in nontaxable government bonds, while such deduction was allowed in favor of insurance companies and individuals in the assessment for taxation of the value of their personal property; and it was contended, therefore, that the relators in that case were taxed upon their shares of national bank stock at a greater rate than was assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens. In reference to this supposed inequality the court said: "The answer is that upon a true construction of this clause of the Act, the meaning and intent of the law makers 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. This rule seems to be as effectual a test to prevent unjust discrimination against the shareholders as could well be devised. It embraces a class which constitutes the body politic of the State, who make its laws and provide for its taxes. They cannot be greater than the citizens impose upon themselves. It is known as sound policy that in every well regulated 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 ordained that it should be uniform." The court then proceeded to show that the exclusion, as the subject of taxation, of government securities held by individuals, from their moneyed capital, was by authority of the United States, and hence it would be a contradiction to infer that Congress meant to include the same government securities as a part of that moneyed capital which it required to be taxed by the States at a rate equal to that imposed by the latter upon the shares held by individuals of national bank stock.

The other objection taken to the validity of the tax complained of was, that insurance com