, 1872-12-07

it can fix the price at which the grain ahau be
sold by the producer, or the price per barrel at
which the flour made from such grain shall be
sold.
The law declares these warehouses public, to
the extent that they must receive all grain
offered them. It is not optional, therefore, for
these warahousemen to receive grain or not at
the prices fixed by the State nor can they, BY
contract with the owner Of grain, receive
higher compensation than is fixed by law. They
must either do business at the statutory
rates, or close their warehouses. This
latter resort is not an easy one. The
grain warehouse is 8 costly institution; it
cannot be adapted for other purposes; to close
it involves total loss and to carry on the
business at less than paying rates is but adding
to the inevitable sacrifice. This business Of
Warehousing was lawful long before the State
TOOK cognzance Of it /; it WAS regulated by COM
mon law, and the rates OF compensation we're
controlled by competition or agreement between
the warehouseman and his customers. It stood
on the same footing as al other private busi-
ness where one charged another for labor per-
formed. But this act Of 1871 makes this busi-
ness unlawful, unless performed for GER
tain sums prescribed by law. The want
Of Justice in the exercise Of any such
power is shown in the fact that, if the Legisla-
ture may f1 maximum rate Of storage beyond
which it is unlawful to receive, even by contract,
it may also establish q minimum rate, below
which it shall be equally unlawful for warehouse
men, even by contract, to store grain. The Leg
islature OF 1871 fixed one rate the Legislature
Of 1873 may prescribe, if the power exist at all,
another rate or minimum rate for storage, and
compel the producers Of grain to pay that rate,
even though elevators would readily store grain
for less. Once admit the power Of the State to
OF storing grain; the compensation Of lawyers,
OF doctors the price Of bricks or lumber,
and then there must follow a scale
Of prices for corn, oats, wheat,
-four, and bread; the price Of drawing teeth; for
making mans coat and woman's dress; for
boots and shoes, and so On, until the reward Of
the labor, industry, and production Of the coun-
try shall be taken out Of the hands Of the peo-
pie, and be regulated by statute. There have
been demagogues in all ages and in all countries
that have sought temporary applause by laws
regulating the prices and compensation Of pro-
ductions and labor. but in no instance have
such laws survived the panic in which they were
enacted, and they stand condemned by the uni
versal Judgment of mankind. No one in this
State would advocate general regulation Of
prices and wages by statute; no one will claim
that the State has any power to prescribe such
regulation; and no class would more earnestly
oppose such 8 regulation than the producers OF
grain. It is not surprising, therefore, that the
warehousemen object to being singled out from
the multitude Of private occupations, trades,
and business, and have their compensation arbi-
trarily fixed by law, and forbidden, even by con-
tract with their customers, to receive any other
price.
There are other considerations upon which
this provision Of the act Of 1871 is opposed such
as that private business or property shall not be
injured or damaged; that one mans property
cannot be taken from him and given to another;
but we have stated enough to show that the re-
fusal to take out licenses by the warehousemen
is founded upon strong reasons Of justice and
| private right, which cannot be surrendered until
the Law ia sustained by the highest tribunal Of
the State.