Property ex

empt from payipal debts.

SEC. 7. Private property shall not be liable to ment of munic-be taken or sold for the payment of the corporate debts of municipal corporations. The legislature shall not impose taxes upon municipal corporations, or the inhabitants or property thereof, for corporate purposes.

Funding

indebtedness.

Claims upon state treasury.

Area of counties.

Division of counties.

Same.

SEC. 8. The legislature at its first session shall provide by law for the funding of all outstanding warrants and other indebtedness of the state, at a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent per

annum.

SEC. 9. The legislature shall provide by law that all claims upon the treasury shall be examined and adjusted by the auditor and approved by the secretary of state before any warrant for the amount allowed shall be drawn; Provided, That a party aggrieved by the decision of the auditor and secretary of state may appeal to [the] district court.

ARTICLE [x.]-COUNTIES.

SECTION 1. No new county shall be formed or established by the legislature which will reduce the county or counties, or either of them, to a less area than four hundred square miles, nor shall any county be formed of a less area.

SEC. 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken therefrom without first submitting the question to a vote of the people of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the county voting on the question shall vote for the same.

SEC. 3. There shall be no territory stricken from any organized county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for

such division, and no territory shall be added to any organized county without the consent of the majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added; but the portion so stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole or in part into a new county, shall be holden for and obliged to pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the counties from, which it has been taken.

officers.

SEC. 4. The legislature shall provide by law Election of for the election of such county and township officers as may be necessary.

SEC. 5. The legislature shall provide by general law for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any general election, shall so determine; and in any county that shall have adopted a township organization, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county at a general election in the manner that shall be provided by law.

ARTICLE [XI.-RAILROAD CORPORATIONS.

Township organization.

be established.

SECTION 1. Every railroad corporation organ- Public office to ized or doing business in this state, under the laws or authority thereof, of any other state, or of the United States, shall have and maintain a public office or place in this state for the transaction of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in which shall be kept for public inspection books in which shall be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom, the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned

Annual reports.

Property of railroad liable

cution.

by them respectively, the amount of stock paid in, and by whom, the transfers of said stock, the amount of its assets and liabilities, and the names and places of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad corporation, or other parties having control of its road, shall annually make a report, under oath, to the auditor of public accounts, or some officer to be designated by law, of the amount received from passengers and freight, and such other matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.

SEC. 2. The rolling stock and all other movable to sale on exe- property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this state shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals, and the legislature shall pass no law exempting any such property from execution and sale.

Consolidation of stock, etc., prohibited.

Railways public highways;

portation; liabilities of railroads.

SEC. 3. No railroad corporation or telegraph company shall consolidate its stock, property, franchises, or earnings, in whole or in part, with any other railroad corporation or telegraph company owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice of at least sixty days to all stockholders in such manner as may be provided by law.

SEC. 4. Railways heretofore constructed, or rates of trans that may hereafter be constructed, in this state are hereby declared public highways, shall be free to all persons for the transportation of their persons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. And the legislature

may from time to time pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on the different railroads in this state. The liability of railroad corporations as commom carriers shall never be limited.

stocks and

bonds.

SEC. 5. No railroad corporation shall issue any Issuance of stock or bonds, except for money, labor, or property actually received and applied to the purposes for which such corporation was created, and all stock, dividends, and other fictitious increase of the capital stock or indebtedness of any such corporation shall be void. The capital stock of railroad corporations shall not be increased for any purpose, except after public notice for sixty days, in such manner as may be provided by law.

main.

SEC. 6. The exercise of the power and the Eminent doright of eminent domain shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the taking by the legislature of the property and franchises of incorporated companies already organized or hereafter to be organized, and subjecting them to the public necessity, the same as of individuals.

regulated by

law.

SEC. 7. The legislature shall pass laws to cor- Abuses to be rect abuses and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in all charges of express, telegraph, and railroad companies in this state, and enforce such laws by adequate penalties to the extent, if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their prop

erty and franchises.

ganized in

SEC. 8. No railroad corporation, organized un- Railroads or der the laws of any other state, or of the United other states. States, and doing business in this state, shall be

entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain,

Subscriptions prohibited.

Incorporations to be by general law.

Right to construct street railroads.

How sued.

Liability of subscribers to

stock.

or have power to acquire the right of way, or real estate for depot or other uses, until it shall have become a body corporate pursuant to and in accordance with the laws of this state.

ARTICLE [XII.]-MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. SECTION 1. No city, county, town, precinct, municipality, or other subdivision of the state shall ever become a subscriber to the capital stock, or owner of such stock, or any portion or interest therein, of any railroad or private corporation or association.

ARTICLE [XII.]-MISCELLANEOUS CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. No corporation shall be created by special law, nor its charter extended, changed, or amended, except those for charitable, educational, penal, or reformatory purposes, which are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the state, but the legislature shall provide by general laws for the organization of all corporations hereafter to be created. All general laws passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time, or repealed.

SEC. 2. No such general law shall be passed by the legislature granting the right to construct and operate a street railway within any city, town, or incorporated village without first requiring the consent of a majority of the electors thereof.

SEC. 3. All corporations may sue and be sued in like cases as natural persons.

SEC. 4. In all cases of claims against corporations and joint stock associations, the exact amount justly due shall be first ascertained, and after the