St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-07
OVERLOOKED PROVISIONS.
Pertinent Discussion Of the State
Grain Laws.

latlng 10 the grain laws OF the state,
and which is made timely by the recent
entry into operation of the new elevator
law.
The General Laws of this state con-
tain certain provisions with reference
to the facilities which railroad corpora
lions are required to furnish that seem
to have been overlooked in the recent
discussions concerning the control of
grain warehouses, both at terminal
points and at stations in the country.
A reference to these statutes aud to
the decisions of the supreme court of
the state based upon them, and to the
more recent decisions of other courts.
state and federal, upon the subject of
state control of elevators and grain
warehouses, both public and private,
may be of some service in the discus
sIonS which are now going on as TO the
right and power and duty of the law
making department of the state govern
ment in the premises.
Chapter 6. section rs, OF the General
Statutes of Minnesota, 1878, reads as
follows:
1T shall be the duty of any railroad
corporation, when within their power to
do so, and upon reasonable notice, to
furnish suitable care to any and all per-
sons who may apply therefore for the
transportation of any and all kinds of
freight, to receive and transport such
freight with all reasonable dispat eli. and
to provide and keep suitable facilities
for the receiving and handling the same
at any depot on the line of its road"
See General Laws 1875, chapter 103
section 9.
The General Statutes of 1878. chapter
l24, section 7,prohibits any railroad COM
pany or person engaged in the business
of keeping an elevator or warehouse
situated upon the line of any railroad
fer receiving, elevating and handling
grain for other persons, to charge any
greater sum than two cents per bushel
for receiving. eleyating, handling
and delivering such grain. Section
OF the same chapter provides that
whenever any railroad company shall
refuse to receive, store, handle and de-
liver grain at any station on its road, at
the rates above mentioned, then in such
case SAID railroad company shall upon
demand allow any person 4 to
erect and maintain, at such station, adj
joining theirailroad track or side tracks,
warehouses to receive, store and ship
grain, or at the option of the railroad
company such company shall build and
maintain side track 10 and for the use
and accommodation of any warehouse
near the station.
See General Laws 1874, chapter 81,
section 2.
These are not recent enactments.
1t IS safe to say that most of the rail-
roads within this state, and all of the
elevators and grain warehouses in Min
neS0ta. have been constructed since
these statutes have become law.
The supreme court of Minnesota has
passed upon this law in the case of John
II. Rhodes VS.. Northern Pacific Railway
Company, decided July "a. 1885, and
found III Vol. 81, Minnesota Reports,
page 81.
In this decision the court says:
''lnaSmuch as small grain transported
Ill bulk cannot be conveniently loaded
directly frem teams into the cars, but
must ordinarily be first placed in ware
houses or elevators and temporarily
stored there, these duties and obliga-
tons in regard to handling aud storing
grain were undoubtedly imposed upon
road companies as being necessarily
incident to the convenient tranSpOrta-
ton OF it by them as common carriers.
Independently of any statute, common
carriers have an undOubted right to
adopt reasonable rules and regulations
as to the place or places where they
Will receive freight for transportation,
ana In view OF these statutory pTOvis-
ions already cited, we think it was
clearly the legislative intent that if
railroad company itself should furnish
suitable warehouse facilities for re-
ceiving, handling and storing all grain
designed for transportation over its
road, 1t might designate such ware
house or elevator as the exclusive place
at which it would receive grain for
shipment at that station. and that it
lnIUht n fnr lob
cars for its shipment at any other place:
Dut that when it failed or
refused itself to furnish these facilities
on the terms fixed by statute, then it
should be required to allow others to
build warehouses adjacent to its tracks,
or else build side tracks to warehouses
near the station, so that the public
might be furnished with proper facii-
ties. Of course this obligation in such
cases necessarily implies and includes
the further obligation of furnishing cars
upon reasonable notice in which to ship
grain out Of such warehouses;"
The concluding part of this opinion
contains the following sentence:
I'm order to constitute compliance
with the statute the business must be so
conducted that when a proposed ship
per delivers his grain for Transportation
and Tor temporary storage, incident to
such transportation, he can deliver il to
the railroad company. and not be COM
PEELED to deliver it TO some particular
WarehOuSeman, who might or might
not be responsible, and to whom the
shipper might not be willing to intrust
his property"
In October, 1876, the supreme court of
the United States rendered the cele-
brated decision in the case of Mum VS..
Illinois.
See volume 81, United States Reports,
page 1l3.
For the purposes of this article it is
only necessary to furnish briefly Dor
tlou of the syllabus of this case.
l. Under the powers inherent in
every sovereignty government may
regulate the conduct of its citizens to-
ward each other, and when necessary
for the public good, the manner in
which he shah use his own property.
2. 1t has, i'll the exercise of these
powers. been customary in England
from time immemorial, and in this
country from its first colonization, to
regulate ferries, common carriers, hack
men. bakers, millers, wharfngers. inn
keepers, etc, and in so doing, to fix
maximum charge to be made for .serv-
ices rendered. accommodations fur
nlShed and articles sold.
men Tue owner or property de-
votes it to use in which the public has
an Interest, he in effect grants to the
public an interest in such use, and must
to the extent of that interest submit to
be controlled by the public for the COM
mon good as long us he maintains the
use. He may withdraw his grant by
disseminating the use.
b. Rights of property, and to a
reasonable compensation for its use,
created by the common law, cannot be
taken away without due process, but
the law itself, as rule of conduct, NAV.
unless constitutional limitations forbid.
be changed at the will of the legis-
lature. The great office of statutes is to
remedy defects in the common law as
they are developed, and to adapt it to
the changes of time and circumstances.
Z. Where warehouses are situated
and their business is carried ON exclIlc