next general election, or until the vacancy be filled by election according to law.

SEC. 10. No person shall be eligible to any county office unless he shall be a qualified elector; nor unless he shall have resided in the county one year preceding his election.

SEC. II. There shall, at the first election at which county officers are chosen, and annually thereafter, be elected in each precinct one justice of the peace and one constable, who shall each hold his office for the term of two years; provided, that in precincts containing five thousand or more inhabitants, the number of justices and constables may be increased as provided by law.

SEC. 12. The general assembly shall provide for the election or appointment of such other county, township, precinct and municipal officers as public convenience may require; and their terms of office shall be as prescribed by law, not in any case to exceed two years.

SEC. 13. The general assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The number of such classes shall not exceed four, and the powers of each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers, and be subject to the same restrictions.

SEC. 14. The general assembly shall also make provision, by general law, whereby any city, town or village, incorporated by any special or local law, may elect to become subject to and be governed by the general law relating to such corporations.

SEC. 15. For the purpose of providing for and regulating the compensation of county and precinct officers, the general assembly shall, by law, classify the several counties of the State according to population, and shall grade and fix the compensation of the officers within the respective classes according to the population thereof. Such law shall establish scales of fees to be charged and collected by such of the county and precinct officers as may be designated therein, for services to be performed by them respectively; and where salaries are provided, the same shall be payable only out of the fees actually collected in all cases where fees are prescribed. All fees, perquisites and emoluments, above the amount of such salaries, shall be paid into the county treasury.

ARTICLE XV.

CORPORATIONS.

SECTION 1. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive privileges, under which the corporators or grantees shall not have organized and commenced business in good faith at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity.

SEC. 2. No charter of incorporation shall be granted, extended, changed or amended by special law, except for such municipal, charitable, educational, penal or reformatory corporations as are or may be under the control of the State; but the general assembly shall provide by general laws for the organization of corporations hereafter to be created.

SEC. 3. The general assembly shall have the power to alter, revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and revocable at the adoption of this Constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be injurious to the citizens of the State, in such manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators.

SEC. 4. All railroads shall be public highways, and all railroad companies shall be common carriers. Any association or corporation organized for the purpose, shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad between any designated points within this State, and to connect at the State line with railroads of other States and Territories. Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with or cross any other railroad.

SEC. 5. No railroad corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning or having under its control a parallel or competing line.

SEC. 6. All individuals, associations and corporations shall have equal rights to have persons and property transported over any railroad in this State, and no undue or unreasonable discrimination shall be made in charges or in facilities for transportation of freight or passengers within the State, and no railroad company, nor any lessee, manager or employé thereof, shall give any preference to individuals, associations or corporations in furnishing cars or motive

power.

SEC. 7. No railroad or other transportation company in existence.

at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall have the benefit of any future legislation without first filing in the office of the secretary of State an acceptance of the provisions of this Constitution, in binding form.

SEC. 8. The right of eminent domain shall never be abridged, nor so construed as to prevent the general assembly from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to public use, the same as the property of individuals; and the police power of the State shall never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of individuals, or the general well-being of the State.

SEC. 9. No corporation shall issue stocks or bonds, except for labor done, service performed, or money or or property actually received, and all fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock of corporations shall not be increased except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the persons. holding a majority of the stock, first obtained at a meeting held after at least thirty days' notice given in pursuance of law.

SEC. 10. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this State without having one or more known places of business, and an authorized agent or agents in the same, upon whom process may be served.

SEC. II. No street railroad shall be constructed within any city, town, or incorporated village, without the consent of the local authorities having the control of the street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street railroad.

SEC. 12. The general assembly shall pass no law for the benefit of a railroad or other corporation, or any individual, or association of individuals, retrospective in its operation, or which imposes on the people of any county or municipal subdivision of the State, a new liability in respect to transactions or considerations already past.

SEC. 13. Any association or corporation, or the lessees or managers thereof, organized for the purpose, or any individual, shall have the right to construct and maintain lines of telegraph within this State, and to connect the same with other lines, and the general assembly shall, by general law of uniform operation, provide reasonable regulations to give full effect to this section. No telegraph company shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in, the stock or bonds of any other telegraph company owning or having the control of a com

peting line, or acquire, by purchase or otherwise, any other competing line of telegraph.

SEC. 14. If any railroad, telegraph, express or other corporation organized under any of the laws of this State, shall consolidate, by sale or otherwise, with any railroad, telegraph, express, or other corporation organized under any laws of any other State or Territory,.or of the United States, the same shall not thereby become a foreign corporation, but the courts of this State shall retain jurisdiction over that part of the corporate property within the limits of the State in all matters which may arise, as if said consolidation had not taken place.

SEC. 15. It shall be unlawful for any person, company or corporation to require of its servants or employes, as a condition of their employment or otherwise, any contract or agreement whereby such person, company or corporation shall be released or discharged from liability or responsibility on account of personal injuries received by such servants or employes while in the service of such person, company or corporation, by reason of the negligence of such person, company or corporation, or the agents or employes thereof, and such contracts shall be absolutely null and void.

ARTICLE XVI.

MINING AND IRRIGATION.

MINING.

SECTION I. There shall be established and maintained the office of commissioner of mines, the duties and salary of which shall be prescribed by law. When said office shall be established, the governor shall, with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint thereto a person known to be competent, whose term of office shall be four years. SEC. 2. The general assembly shall provide by law for the proper ventilation of mines, the construction of escapement shafts, and such other appliances as may be necessary to protect the health and secure the safety of the workmen therein; and shall prohibit the employment in the mines of children under twelve years of age.

SEC. 3. The general assembly may make such regulations, from time to time, as may be necessary for the proper and equitable drainage of mines.

The general assembly may provide that the science of

mining and metallurgy be taught in one or more of the institutions of learning under the patronage of the State.

IRRIGATION.

SEC. 5. The water of every natural stream, not heretofore appropriated, within the State of Colorado, is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the State, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 6. The right to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses shall never be denied. Priority of appropriation shall give the better right as between those using the water for the same purpose; but when the waters of any natural stream are not sufficient for the service of all those desiring the use of the same, those using the water for domestic purposes shall have the preference over those claiming for any other purpose, and those using the water for agricultural purposes shall have preference over those using the same for manufacturing purposes.

SEC. 7. All persons and corporations shall have the right of way across public, private and corporate lands for the construction of ditches, canals and flumes, for the purpose of conveying water for domestic purposes, for the irrigation of agricultural lands, and for mining and manufacturing purposes, and for drainage, upon payment of just compensation.

SEC. 8. The general assembly shall provide by law that the board of county commissioners, in their respective counties, shall have power, when application is made to them by either party interested, to establish reasonable maximum rates to be charged for the use of water, whether furnished by individuals or corporations.

ARTICLE XVII.

MILITIA.

SECTION I. The militia of the State shall consist of all able bodied male residents of the State, between the ages of eighteen and fortyfive years; except such persons as may be exempted by the laws of the United States, or of the State.

SEC. 2.

The organization, equipment and discipline of the militia