CENTRAL TRUST oo. v. wssxsn, ST. L. & r. RY. oo. 17
of the city of St. Charles, the payment of the city debt and interest
thereon, and for the improvement of the city, a tax shall be levied
annually upon all the property within the city, real and personal,
taxable by the laws of the state of Missouri."
In the year 1871 the general assembly inaugurated a general sys-
tem for valuation, and the act above referred to, giving the state
board of equalization power to assess railroad property, was passed
in 1877. The act of 1877 has been incorporated in the Revised Stat-
utes of Missouri of 1879, which (sections 6865-6900) prescribe the
manner in which taxes shall be levied on all property in the state
owned, hired, or leased by any railroad company, for state, county, ~
or other municipal or local purposes; require all railroad companies
to furnish annually a sworn statement to the state auditor, giving in
detail the length of the road, of double or side tracks, with depots,
water-tanks, and turn-tables, and the length. of such road, double or
side tracks in each county, municipal township, incorporated city,
town, or village through or in which it is located in this state;
* ` " * and at the same time to furnish to the clerk of the county
court of each and every county in the state in which said road may
be located a duplicate statement of its property in such county; shall
examine the statement so made, and determine the ·correctness as to
description ofproperty and valuation thereof, and forward acertificate
of their action to the state auditor; and provide how any ascertained
errors in the statements may be corrected; direct that the state au-
ditor shall lay before the state board of assessment and equalization ,
the returns made to him by the railroad companies and county clerks;
constitute the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state treas-
urer, and attorney general of the state the board of assessment and
equalization; authorize such board to assess, adjust, and equalize the
property of the railroad companies of the state included in such re-
turns, with power to increase or reduce the aggregate valuations
made by the railroad companies or the county courts in their respect-
ive returns, and to assess, adjust, and equalize any other property
belonging to any railroad company in the state of the character above
stated, as to which no returns have been made, but which may be
otherwise known to them; and shall apportion the aggregate value
of all such property to each county, municipal township, city, or in- `
corporated town according to the ratio which the number of miles of
such road completed in such county, municipal township, city, or in-
corporated town shall bear to the whole length of the road in the
state.
The master, Mr. E. T. ALLEN, from whose able and exhaustive re-
port this statement has been to a great extent copied, found and
reported that "if any conflict exists between the provisions of the laws
of the state rega1·ding valuation of railroad property for taxation and
the charter of the city of St. Charles, the charter must be held to be
superseded to the extent of any such conflict, (State v. Severance, 55
v.27F.no.1——2