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upon railroad corporations for a failure to pay certain debts." And again, referring specifically to this matter, (p. 158): "While this action is for stock killed, the recovery of attorney's fees cannot be sustained upon the theory just suggested. There is no fence law in Texas. The legislature of the State has not deemed it necessary for the protection of life or property to require railroads to fence their tracks, and as no duty is imposed, there can be ro penalty for non-performance. Indeed, the statute does not proceed upon any such theory; it is broader in its scope. Its object is to compel the payment of the several classes of debts named, and was so regarded by the Supreme Court of the State." Indeed, the limit in amount, ($50,) found in that statute, made it clear that no police regulation was intended, for if it were, the more stock found on the track the greater would be the danger and the more imperative the need of regulation and penalty.

So that according to the interpretation placed upon the Texas statute by its Supreme Court, its purpose was generally to compel the payment of small debts, and the fact that among the debts so provided for was the liability for stock killed was not sufficient to justify us in separating the statute into fragments and upholding one part on a theory inconsistent with the policy of the State; while on the other hand, the purpose of this statute is, as declared by the Supreme Court of Kansas, protection against fire a matter in the nature of a police regulation.

It may be suggested that this line of argument leads to the Jonclusion that a statute of one State whose purpose is declared by its Supreme Court to be a matter of police regulation will be upheld by this court as not in conflict with the Federal Constitution, while a statute of another State, precisely similar in its terms, will be adjudged in conflict with that Constitution if the Supreme Court of that State interprets its purpose and scope as entirely outside police regulation. But this by no means follows. This court is not concluded by the opinion of the Supreme Court of the State. Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 366. It forms its own independent judgment as to the scope and purpose of a statute, while of

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course leaning to any interpretation which has been placed upon it by the highest court of the State. We have referred to the interpretation placed upon the respective statutes of Texas and Kansas by their highest courts, not as conclusive, but as an interpretation towards which we ought to lean, and which, in fact, commends itself to our judgment.

That there is peculiar danger of fire from the running of railroad trains is obvious. The locomotives, passing, as they do at great rates of speed, and often when the wind is blowing a gale, will, unless the utmost care is taken, (and sometimes in spite of such care,) scatter fire along the track. The danger to adjacent property is one which is especially felt in a prairie State like Kansas. It early attracted the attention of its legislature, and in 1860-long before any railroads were built in the State-this statute was passed, (Laws 1860, c. 70, sec. 2; Comp. Laws, c. 101, sec. 2): "If any person shall set on fire any woods, marshes or prairies, so as thereby to occasion any damage to any other person, such person shall make satisfaction for such damage to the party injured, to be recovered in an action." As held in Emerson v. Gardiner, 8 Kansas, 452, its effect was to change the rule of the common law, which gave redress only when the person setting the fire did so wantonly or through negligence, whereas by this statute the mere fact of setting fire to woods, marshes or prairies gave a right to the party injured to recover damages. And in the years after the railroads began to be constructed, and prior to the passage of the act before us, the reports of the Supreme Court of that State show that nearly a score of actions had been brought to that court for consideration, in some of which great damage had been done by fire escaping from moving trains. Fire catching in the dry grass often runs for miles, destroying not merely crops but houses and barns. Indeed, in one case, Atchison, Topeka &c. Railroad v. Stanford, 12 Kansas, 354, it appeared that the fire escaping had swept across the prairies for over four miles, and one ground of objection to the recovery was that the distance of the property destroyed from the railroad track was so great and the fire had passed over so many intervening farms that it could

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not rightfully be held that the proximate cause of the injury was the escape of fire from the locomotive. No other work done, or industry carried on, carries with it so much of danger from escaping fire.

In 1887 the legislature of the State of Missouri felt constrained to pass an act making every railroad corporation responsible in damages for all property destroyed by fire communicated directly or indirectly from its engines, and giving the corporation an insurable interest in the property along its road. This statute was, after a full examination of all the authorities, held by this court a valid exercise of the legislative power. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway v. Mathews, 165 U. S. 1. So, when the legislature of Kansas made a classification, and included in one class all corporations engaged in this business of peculiar hazard, it did so upon a difference having a reasonable relation to the object. sought to be accomplished, to wit, the securing of protection of property from damage or destruction by fire.

While, as heretofore noticed, no special act of precaution was required, no statutory duty imposed upon railroad corporations in respect to protection against escaping fire, and a similar omission in the legislation of Texas was referred to in the opinion in the Ellis case as strengthening the argument that no police regulation was intended, yet we are of opinion that such omission is not conclusive upon the question of the validity of the statute. We have no right to consider the wisdom of such legislation. Our inquiry runs only to the matter of legislative power. If, in order to accomplish a given beneficial result - a result which depends on the action of a corporation the legislature has the power to prescribe a specific duty and punish a failure to comply therewith by a penalty, either double damages or attorney's fees, has it not equal power to prescribe the same penalty for failing to accomplish the same result, leaving to the corporation the selection of the means it deems best therefor? Does the power of the legislature depend on the method it pursues to accomplish the result? As individuals we may think it better that the legislature prescribe the specific duties which the corporations must

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perform; we may think it better that the legislation should be like that of Missouri, prescribing an absolute liability, instead of that of Kansas, making the fact of fire prima facie evidence of negligence; but clearly as a court we may not interpose our personal views as to the wisdom or policy of either form of legislation. It cannot be too often said that forms are matters of legislative consideration; results and power only are to be considered by the courts.

Many cases have been before this court, involving the power of state legislatures to impose special duties or liabilities upon individuals and corporations, or classes of them, and while the principles of separation between those cases which have been adjudged to be within the power of the legislature and those beyond its power, are not difficult of comprehension or statement, yet their application often becomes very troublesome, especially when a case is near to the dividing line. It is easy to distinguish between the full light of day and the darkness of midnight, but often very difficult to determine whether a given moment in the twilight hour is before or after that in which the light predominates over the darkness. The equal protection of the law which is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment does not forbid classification. That has been asserted in the strongest language. Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 27. In that case, after in general terms declaring that the Fourteenth Amendment designed to secure the equal protection of the laws, the court added (pp. 31 and 32):

"But neither the amendment-broad and comprehensive as it is-nor any other amendment, was designed to interfere with the power of the State, sometimes termed its police power, to prescribe regulations to promote the health, peace, morals, education and good order of the people, and to legislate so as to increase the industries of the State, develop its resources, and add to its wealth and prosperity. From the very necessities of society, legislation of a special character, having these objects in view, must often be had in certain districts, such as for draining marshes and irrigating arid plains. Special burdens are often necessary for general benefits — for supplying water, preventing fires, lighting districts, cleaning

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streets, opening parks, and many other objects. Regulations for these purposes may press with more or less weight upon one than upon another, but they are designed, not to impose .unequal or unnecessary restrictions upon any one, but to promote, with as little inconvenience as possible, the general good. Though, in many respects, necessarily special in their character, they do not furnish just ground of complaint if they operate alike upon all persons and property under the same circumstances and conditions. Class legislation, discriminating against some and favoring others, is prohibited, but legislation which, in carrying out a public purpose, is limited in its application, if within the sphere of its operation it affects alike all persons similarly situated, is not within the amendment."

This declaration has, in various language, been often repeated, and the power of classification upheld whenever such classification proceeds upon any difference which has a reasonable relation to the object sought to be accomplished. It is also clear that the legislature (which has power in advance to determine what rights, privileges and duties it will give to and impose upon a corporation which it is creating) has, under the generally reserved right to alter, amend or repeal the charter, power to impose new duties and new liabilities upon such artificial entities of its creation. St. Louis &c. Railway Company v. Paul, 173 U. S. 404. It is also a maxim of constitutional law that a legislature is presumed to have acted within constitutional limits, upon full knowledge of the facts, and with the purpose of promoting the interests of the people as a whole, and courts will not lightly hold that an act duly passed by the legislature was one in the enactment of which it has transcended its power. On the other hand, it is also true that the equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution forbids the legislature to select a person, natural or artificial, and impose upon him or it burdens and liabilities which are not cast upon others similarly situated. It cannot pick out one individual, or one corporation, and enact that whenever he or it is sued the judgment shall be for double damages, or subject to an attorney fee in favor of the plaintiff, when no other individual or corporation is subjected to the same rule.