The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-01-11
STATE ELEV .TUR klLLkD
THE SUPREME COURT KNOCKS OUT
THE LAW.
II Holds That the State Has No Pow
er to Act, 1t Not Being in Accord
Rnce With the Police Powers Pro-
yided by the Constitution.

st. Paul, Jan. 6.-The supreme court
has reversed the order of the lower
court in the state elevator case, holding
that under the constitution the state has
no right to engage in the grain buying
business; that il is not q proper eXer-
else of the police power to regulate the
traffic. So it is altogether probable that
the elevator will not be built after all.
In his opinion Judge Mitchell rOasts the
project to a turn, and says the state
could as well go into the brewing or lum
Der business as the grain business. The
title and syllabus of the case are as
follows:
Henry Rippe, appellant, VS.. George L.
Becker ct al, Board of Railroad and
Warehouse Commissioners, respondent.
Syllabus:
Chapter 30 Laws of 1893, entitled
ean act to provide for the purchase of
a site and for the erection of a state ele-
vator or warehouse at Duluth for public
storage of grain, etc." is an exercise of
the police power of the state to regulate
the business of receiving, weighing and
inspecting grain in elevators, 1t has no
relation to the regulation of the business,
but provides for the state itself engaged
In carrying it on. The police power of
a. state to regulate business is to be ex-
ercised by the adoption of rules and
regulations as to the manner in which it
Is conducted by others and not by itself
engaging in it. The act in question is
In violation of section 5, article 6, of the
constitution, providing that "the state
shall never contract any debts for works
of internal improvements or be party IN
carrying on such works
- Ip+o NJ
used in the constitution, means not mere
ly the construction or improvement of
channels of trade and commerce, but any
kind of public works, except those used
by and for the state in the performance
of its governmental functions, such as a
state capitol, state university, peniten-
tiaries, reformatories, asylums, quaran-
tine buildings, and the like, for the pur-
pose of education, the prevention of
crime, charity, the preservation of public
health, furnishing accommodations for the
transaction of public business by state
officers and other like recognized func-
tions of state government. Order re-
versed. Mitchell, j.
Another case of no little Importance
to the people of the northern part of
the state is that of the State of Mime
sofa ex rel. J. n. Marr, relator, appel
liant, VS. Samuel S. Luther, county audit
| or of Aitkin county, respondent. The
state brought the suit to tax the lands
of the st. Paul & Duluth road, claiming
that their exemption should have ended
when they were transferred from the
old Lake Superior & Mississippi road, to
which they were first granted. The
| court holds that they are not taxable.
Following is the syllabus:
Special Laws, 1865, chapter s, entitled
can act in relation to the taxation of
| lands granted to the Lake Superior &
| Mississippi Railroad company" passed
| March 3, repealed the proviso attached
| to section l of the prior act Is. L. 1865,
| chapter q, passed Feb. %, and exempts
| the granted lands from taxation in the
ordinary way as long as they continue to
esuLed by the company.
Assuming, without deciding, that laws
| passed subsequently to the adoption of
| the state constitution providing for the
| payment of a percentage on the gross
earnings of the railroad company in lieu
| of all other taxes on its railroad and
granted lands were invalid when passed,
they were invalidated by the constitu-
tional amendment of 1871 (article 4,
section 32). Order affirmed.
| Mitchell, J.