St. Louis Lodge No. 9, B. P. O. E. v. Koeln

• Decision Date: 02 December 1914
• Citation: 171 S.W. 329,262 Mo. 444
• Parties: ST. LOUIS LODGE NO. 9, B. P. O. E., Appellant, v. EDMUND KOELN, Collector
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

171 S.W. 329

262 Mo. 444

ST. LOUIS LODGE NO. 9, B. P. O. E., Appellant, v. EDMUND KOELN, Collector

Supreme Court of Missouri, First Division

December 2, 1914

Appeal from St. Louis City Circuit Court. -- Hon. George C Hitchcock, Judge.

Affirmed.

Brownrigg & Mason for appellant.

Edward W. Foristel and Frank H. Haskins for respondent.

BROWN C. Blair, C., concurs in result. Bond, J., concurs in result.

OPINION

BROWN C.

This is a suit to cancel a tax bill issued against a lot in the city of St. Louis for city and school taxes for 1912. The lot is owned by the plaintiff and occupied exclusively by a building containing its lodge room, a hall used by the members and their wives, daughters and friends for entertainments such as dancing, card or other social parties, a rathskeller, where meals and other refreshments, including liquors, are served to the members and such guests as by the rules of the lodge they are permitted to entertain there, and an auditorium in which vaudeville and similar entertainments, including on one occasion a boxing exhibition, are given for the entertainment of the members and their guests. There are also billiard and card rooms for similar use. No admission fee to the entertainments is charged.

The general constitution of the order to which the lodge belongs states that it is established "to inculcate the principles of charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity; to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its members; to quicken the spirit of American patriotism; to cultivate good fellowship; to perpetuate itself as a fraternal organization." The bylaws of the plaintiff lodge provide for the relief of destitute and unemployed Elks to the extent of ten dollars per week out of the funds of the lodge. A liberal construction has been given to this rule and by reason of the fortunate rarity of destitute Elks it has been tacitly extended to cover general charities without limit as to the amount, and in winter, and especially at Christmas time, large sums have been raised from the voluntary contributions of members to be dispensed for such purposes, and for Christmas gifts to children who, it is presumed, would not otherwise be able to partake of the pleasures of that blessed season. Their entire lodge fund, arising from membership dues and including the profits upon refreshments, except the sinking fund provided for the payment of the amount unpaid upon the property in question, has been devoted to these charities.

The lodge is incorporated under the State law providing for the incorporation of benevolent, religious, scientific, educational and miscellaneous associations.

The only question presented for our consideration is whether or not the property in question is exempt from these taxes because it is used exclusively for purposes purely charitable within the meaning of that expression as used in section 6 of article 10 of our State Constitution.

In construing this same section this court recently said: "It must be conceded to the state that whether a tax-exempting clause be viewed from the standpoint of the State down to the people, or from the standpoint of the people up to the State there must be unbending and inviolate rules which as sure words of the law are always to be reckoned with; and those rules (from the standpoint of the State) are that an abandonment of the sovereign right to exercise the vital power of taxation can never be presumed. The intention to abandon must appear in the most clear and unequivocal terms (Pacific Railroad v. Cass County, 53 Mo. 17); and from the standpoint of the people they are that equality is equity in taxation." [State ex rel. v. Johnston, 214 Mo. 656, 662.] The same rule is distinctly stated in the cases cited in that opinion, as well as in State ex rel. v. Casey, 210 Mo. 235, 248, 109 S.W. 1. It is a just and reasonable one, and whatever may be the doctrine of the adjudications in other jurisdictions, must be taken as the well-settled law of this State.

There can no question as to the charitable character of the defendant lodge, nor of its disposition in that respect. While the property is used as the meeting place of the lodge where all its regular business is transacted, it also affords to the members and their families, free of cost, the most liberal facilities for social enjoyment and the entertainment of their guests, and to the unfortunate bachelor member and transient brother, for compensation, something like the culinary and table advantages of home. The surplus of its lodge funds, whatever that may be, together with large sums voluntarily contributed by its members, is dispensed, through the...