Dakota Lodge No. 1, I. O. v. Yankton County

We are not concerned in this case with the political or economic desirability or wisdom of exempting any class or classes of property from taxation, but only with the narrower questions of statutory interpretation and constitutional law, namely, Is the property in question exempt from taxation under a fair interpretation of a legislative act? If so, is such legislative act so interpreted repugnant to- any constitutional provisions ?

Prior to the constitutional amendment of 1918 the only exemption which the Legislature could make in this particular field was of “property used exclusively for *…