AN IMMORAL FARCE.

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be construed to include all household furniture, money,goods, chattels, debts due from solvent debtors, whetheron account, contract, note, bond or mortgage, public stock,and stocks in moneyed corporations; they shall also beconstrued to include such portion of the capital of incor-porated companies liable to taxation on their capital asshall not be invested in real estate.’ (2 R. S., 7th ed.,982, Part I., Chap. 13, Title 1.)

“This definition of personal estate or personal prop-erty is intended to embrace everything that can be con-ceived of as included in these general terms, and it isreasonably successful in its purpose.

“ The statute is somewhat confusing in its referenceto the stocks and capital of corporations. The practicaleffect of its provisions, taken with others bearing uponthe same subject, is that substantially all corporations ofthis State, except banks, life insurance companies, andsavings banks, are liable to taxation upon all their per-sonal property, except stocks in other corporations ; andthe stockholders of these taxable corporations are notobliged to include in their estimate of personal propertysubject to taxation the stocks of the companies that areliable directly to taxation on their personal property.Banks alone, both State and National, are not directlytaxed on capital and personal property, but their stock-holders are taxed on their stock. This system is peculiarto banks, and rendered necessary by the provisions of theNational Banking Act.